#37: School-based OT Workload Trends with Jayson Davies (CE Course)

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Learn more about our guest: Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L

Read the article and discussion upon which this podcast is based.

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Released August 8, 2022 from Aurora, NE

The change from “caseload” to “workload” may not seem that dramatic, but make no mistake it is a quiet revolution that is happening in school-based OT.

It fundamentally shifts how we deliver care.

The article we are discussing on the podcast encourages a shifting away from an individualist, medical model “caseload” based approach. And, encourages us to embrace a “workload” approach, which hypothetically yields opportunities to focus more on population health.

This shift has been underway for a while now, and the research we are looking at gives us an update on how this change is playing out on the front lines.

After our article review, I’m so excited to talk about this with Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L of the OT School House! Jayson has experienced this shift in his own practice, and has a wealth of experience supporting school-based OTs.

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

Seruya, F. M., &; Garfinkel, M. (2020). Caseload and workload: Current trends in school-based practice across the United States. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(5).

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

Bolton, T., &; Plattner, L. (2019). Occupational therapy role in school-based practice: Perspectives from teachers and Ots. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, &; Early Intervention, 13(2), 136–146.

Ball, M. A. (2018). Revitalizing the OT role in school-based practice: Promoting success for all students. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, &; Early Intervention, 11(3), 263–272.

Learning Objectives

  • You will be able to recognize how a workload approach could benefit your students.
  • You will be able to identify barriers to implementing a workload approach.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

  • Intro to caseload versus workload
  • What research and writing has been done on the workload paradigm?
  • Let’s get real: Barriers to switching to a workload paradigm
  • What was the purpose of this paper?
  • What were the methods?
  • What were the results?
  • Conclusions and discussion
  • Implications for OT practitioners
  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Jayson Davies) (50 minutes)

  • Jayson, can you tell us how you found OT?
  • What drew you to school-based OT?
  • From your vantage point, how much of the conversation about caseload versus workload is happening in academia versus on the frontlines?
  • How do we meet the needs of individual IEP goals with a workload paradigm?
  • How are school OTs’ positions funded, and what are the forces that dictate your time?
  • What are the challenges to push-in therapy, and how can we get better at it?
  • Do you know of any success stories where OTs have transitioned to a workload paradigm?
  • How have you adjusted your personal practice based on research like this?
  • I think the push toward population health in the school setting is a bellwether for the rest of OT. Do you agree, and how do we continue to make this shift?

Contact Hours

1 hour (0.1 AOTA CEUs)

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about School-based OT Trends. The educational level is introductory.

Instructional Methods/Registration/Special Needs Requests/Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Explore your listening options on the OT Potential Podcast page.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If this course were to be canceled, please see our cancellation policy on our terms page.

Course Completion Requirements

In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first listen to the podcast in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the test (found at the top of this page) and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. Our guest, Jayson Davies does sell courses related to school-based OTs, but these will not be promoted in this episode and OT Potential has no financial connection to them.

Speakers

Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L:

Jayson Davies, M.A., OTR/L

Jayson Davies, OTR/L has been a school-based occupational therapist since 2012. With experience as both a contracted therapist and a district employee for three distinctly different districts, Jayson has had the opportunity to appreciate the differences between both small-rural and large-suburban districts.

Recently, Jayson has put forth his efforts in implementing full classroom and small group collaborative RTI lessons with general and special education teachers. Jayson enjoys helping build knowledge among school-based OTs and educators through the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, website, and online courses.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L headshot

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

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Please share any other feedback below! Including, ideas for future programming, and most importantly, how you feel this podcast will impact your practice!

3 Likes
3

This was an excellent podcast. It focused on all the goals it set out to achieve. Explanation of caseload vs workload, the school environment, how, why and why not it is not or only partially being achieved and take away tips to roll the tide in the direction of workload and begin to get your voice heard. It talked also about how funding is a restriction in and of itself. It touched on how to describe OT at a party and I was happy to hear that I had the same approach! Excellent podcast and thanks for the CEU.

7 Likes
4

This warms my heart! I recently earned my CEUs for my own OT license. And, it really inspired me to keep my episodes tight and focused on achieving the objectives. (It is hard work, but I edit out parts that don’t align with the objectives.)

I DO leave in parts that help listeners connect with the guest- because I think that is an important memory aid- to associate the info with stories and a specific person!

2 Likes
5

It was great. I wish I could earn more than 12 through you.

Mary Lawrence, OT/L

4 Likes
6

This podcast was refreshing and inspiring… I agree we need to invest time in committees…for advocacy of our profession and skills, but also because they are good places to learn (often steep learning curves, and good for networking with people that we don’t normally meet. But why inspiring? Because it made me think there are many workplaces we need to reconsider the way we work and rejuvenate /re engineer it. Nobody will do it for us. In many countries most OT student placements are in medical and caseload contexts… then they go into a social or educational context often as sole therapist and find it very difficult to innovate. Thanks.

3 Likes
7

As Im a teacher at a small school in SA and we do have a lot of different cultures this was very helpful.
Thank you so much for your advice.

3 Likes
8

Having been a school-based OT for 15 years, this podcast and article covered a challenging topic with data to support a switch to workload vs. caseload approach to school-based practice. The bottom line in our district was that OT was EC based, as Jayson highlighted, and that was where our paychecks were assigned, limiting administration support of working outside of the EC box. I believe school-based OT practitioners need to keep having this conversation with administration based on student population changes post-COVID and the mental health conditions of the students in our schools. We can support students struggling with mental health issues to stay in school, improving students’ overall quality of life. Jayson and Sarah, thank you for this timely podcast!

5 Likes
9

Listening to this as I prepare for a school OT interview! This gives me some good questions to ask in the interview.

2 Likes
10

I really enjoyed this course - such a hot topic! And such an important one - I left school-based for exactly the reason of far too many kids on my caseload.

11

Excellent discussion and overall topic regarding school based workload vs. caseload. Jayson was highly informative, articulate and gave excellent examples and practical/realistic suggestions on how to tackle some of the issues OTs are up against in the schools. I definitely appreciated this discussion and the resource provided. Would love to hear more about the project regarding collaboration he was working on!

1 Like
12

I enjoyed many parts of this podcast. I work in mental health, but I look at how I can take the information I learn here and apply it to my area of practice. For many years we have indicated that our caseloads do not represent what we are doing. And each caseload is different in the amount of work that needs to be completed. We have completed time studies in the past, but that has had no impact on how we look at our services. We are starting another time study again and I hope that we see changes this time around. I loved that you said if you cannot move up into administrative roles where decisions can be made, to be a voice at the table and advocate for change as often as possible. About one year ago I volunteered to chair a committee that the focus was on expanding OT services into other departments within the agency. This committee has made slow progress but continues to work towards the ultimate goal. Currently we are gathering numbers to bring back to leadership in terms of hiring, contracting, etc… I will be sure to point out what we have tried already to create balance with our workloads. I also wanted to have a larger voice (if possible) and went back to school to earn a degree in Healthcare Administration. The hope was to blend my OT knowledge with the business side of healthcare. I recently interviewed for a supervisor position in our current therapy department. I plan on using information learned from this podcast and apply it the best way I can moving forward no matter what my role is at the agency. You also mentioned how school therapy is funded and how the medical model is trying to fit school therapists into that framework. The medical model also does not always align with the mental health area either. Thank you for sharing this information.

13

Since Aug 22, have there been any updates to the “workload movement”? I have seen this as well as Jayson’s (OT School House) podcasts previously and they always positively power my passion, (my Tripple P), … I am getting ready to return, (2nd yr), to a District \where the entire staff is contracted … and OT services are drastically under met… and OT caseloads range - 65- 100+… and OT retention is catastrophic… and admin just keeps increasing staff … and minimal headway is being made … while our OT team war for workload, RTI, MTSS, ESSA ect… is being waged!
I can see the light in the retirement tunnel… and it may be an approaching train… but this OT is going down fighting! LOL
Excellent as always… and best CEU earning opportunity out there!

1 Like
14

I love reading this, @janyce! @Jayson_Davies_OTRL do you have any updates for us on this front? Or new resources to look into?

And, I was literally just thinking Jayson about how I need to figure out a way to get you (and @OT4LyfeSarah!) to be regulars on my podcast!

1 Like
15

@SarahLyon sign me up! You know @Jayson_Davies_OTRL and I love talking about OT!

1 Like
16

Fantastic Course, however as you identified clearly, conveying these ideas is the biggest road block. Thank you for your efforts!!!

1 Like
17

Love this episode so much! As a school-based OT of less than one year and feeling somewhat burnt-out, this was super refreshing! One question I have is revolving around push-in services. How do you provide push-in services during education times in classrooms that don’t really do any sort of writing, FMS, VMS activities? Right now, I usually will push-in during times when the students are completing IT sessions/manding and bring my own beads/kinetic sand/writing supples/etc. to work with the kids but I would love to come up with a way to be even more integrated into the classroom than that. My classrooms mainly complete IT/manding.

1 Like
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Hi @taryn4!! This is such a great question. @Jayson_Davies_OTRL have you created any new resources around this since we’ve done this episode? I did find this blog post of yours!

19

Hi Can you tell me what these abbreviations are? RTI, MTSS
ESSA