Abstract
Occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech/language pathology
services, traditionally, have been provided as isolated direct services. This
approach has proven to be inadequate in educational settings, and a barrier to
inclusive education. In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act of 1997 (and all predecessors, dating to 1975) defines these
therapy services as "related services" that are "required to assist a child
with disabilities to benefit from special education." The implications of this
definition are that
(a) the need for therapy services should emanate from a
student's educational needs, based on assessment in routine educational
activities (rather than a medical diagnosis or evaluation), and
(b) therapy
services should be planned and provided as integral components of the
educational program, so they do, in fact, assist the student to derive greater
benefit from education than if separate or no services were provided.
As students receive special education support in regular education
settings, it is appropriate to expect that therapy services also can and will
be provided in regular education settings. Providing therapy so it supports
inclusive education requires therapists to assume several new roles, including
(a) novice general educator,
(b) co-planner of curriculum and
instruction, and
(c) co-teacher.
In turn, these changes require certain administrative supports,
including
(a) team planning time and
(b) alternatives to traditional
therapy schedules (e.g., 45 min twice a week).
In this session, roles of therapists in inclusive education will be described and illustrated with slides, and strategies to schedule planning time and integrated therapy services will be presented.
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