Occupational Therapist

Job Title: Specialist Occupational Therapist (SpLD)

Band Equivalent: 6

Responsible to:

• SENCo; Lead Therapist

Accountable to:

• Head, Deputy Head, SENCo; Board of Governors

Responsible for: The assessment, planning and delivery of high-quality occupational therapy services to students enrolled at Fairley House School.

Job Purpose To provide a high-quality paediatric occupational therapy service to a caseload of children with Specific Learning Differences (SpLD), including children with statutory needs within the school setting. Successful completion of the level 5 Diploma SpLD and providing intervention/teaching of word study, reading or maths to a group of students (up to 12 students).

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Clinical

• Responsible for providing high-quality assessment and recommendations for prospective students referred to Fairley House School and to provide timely verbal and written feedback to parents.
• Provide high-quality assessment and intervention for students enrolled at Fairley House School and to document and disseminate results and progress to relevant staff and parents.
• Write high-quality reports reflecting student strengths and needs, guided by sound clinical reasoning skills and recommendations.
• Contribute to providing optimal education opportunities for students with specific learning differences through a tiered therapeutic framework: the whole school Fairley House transdisciplinary approach, targeted support and direct intervention.
• Responsible for maintaining clinical caseload (in collaboration with senior colleagues) ensuring that clinical governance, quality assurance and OT professional standards are met. This includes working with children on a 1:1 basis and in small groups where students’ specific differences are identified, and appropriate programmes are established and implemented.
• Maintain up-to-date record keeping including progress notes, reassessment reports and other required record keeping.
• Deliver high-quality therapy in class in liaison with teaching staff.
• Consultation with teachers regarding seating, fine motor skills, motor planning and organisation, sensory modulation, handwriting and ocular-motor issues in relation to specific children, groups of children and/or classes.
• Assess the child’s abilities and needs and then, as necessary, plan and instigate appropriate therapeutic intervention.
• Use developing clinical reasoning to review own caseload (in collaboration with senior colleagues) to ensure intervention is meeting the needs of the students.
• Reassess children as required and write a report for parents and the pupil’s file.
• Ensure that relevant staff are informed of the outcomes of assessment and treatment.
• Inform parents if therapy is amended or discontinued due to good progress.
• Assessment, reporting, contributing to and attending Annual Reviews of children holding Statements of Special Educational Need/EHCP.
• Producing termly IEPs, IEP reviews and school reports on children under their care.
• Conducting parent consultation meetings, in conjunction with teachers.
• Be involved in arranging Orthoptic screenings for the new students, reviewing children with persistent ocular-motor differences, informing parents/teachers of the results, and inputting data onto the computer for the attention of staff (in collaboration with OT team). Communicating orthoptic recommendations to parents and teachers, monitoring recommendations and feeding back to orthoptists.
• Assessing handwriting speed for access arrangements where appropriate.
• Providing home programmes for children with differences in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, handwriting, DCD, sensory processing differences where appropriate and relevant and regular review of these.
• Participating in the planning, organising and delivering of in-service teacher training.
• Participate and deliver external courses where required.
• Maintain own clinical skills in line with current evidence-based practice.
• Maintain up-to-date CPD.
• Complete the Fairley House Level 5 Diploma in SpLD.
• Upon completion of the Fairley House Level 5 Diploma in SpLD, deliver specialist teaching/intervention in word study, reading or maths for groups of up to 12 students.
• Work across both sites (Junior and Senior School sites) as required and as determined by caseload needs and the Lead Occupational Therapist.