The OT Schoolhouse Podcast for School-Based OT Practitioners

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is often talked about as a framework for inclusive education—but what does it actually look like in day-to-day school-based occupational therapy?

In this episode, Jayson welcomes back Deborah Schwind, DHSc, OTR/L, BCP, SCSS, FAOTA to explore how school-based OTPs can use UDL to help students access, engage in, and demonstrate learning without lowering expectations. Drawing from decades of experience, Debbie shares how activity analysis helps her uncover what an assignment is truly measuring and how creative adaptations can remove barriers while keeping students meaningfully included in general education.

Proactive sensory breaks can make all the difference for students — but only when they're built into the school day before dysregulation starts, not after. In this episode, Denise Campbell, MS, OTR/L, and Terri Dinkelaker, PT, DPT, co-creators of Skillz 2 Thrive, join Jayson to talk about how school-based OT and PT teams can design simple, proactive sensory-motor routines that teachers, aides, and students can realistically use every day.

Denise and Terri walk through their stoplight break system — a visual, structured approach using red (movement), yellow (heavy work), and green (calming) activities — and explain how it can be indivi...

Many school-based occupational therapists are working with students who have cortical visual impairment (CVI) but don't recognize it. Unlike ocular visual impairments, CVI is a brain-based processing issue that affects functional vision in ways that fluctuate with environment, fatigue, and sensory complexity. In this episode, Lauren Andelin, OTD, OTR/L, BCP, assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and assistive technology clinician at Children's Hospital, explains what CVI looks like in school settings and why it matters for OT practice.

This episode is for school-based OT practitioners who may be working with students with CVI without fully recognizing...

What if the way we've been supporting autistic students is missing the mark? In this groundbreaking episode, Jayson sits down with Kieran Rose—autistic advocate, researcher, and author—to tackle the tough questions school-based OT practitioners submitted about autism, masking, stimming, and neurodiversity-affirming practice.

This isn't your typical autism training. Kieran challenges core assumptions about behavioral interventions, handwriting goals, conformity in classrooms, and what "support" really means for autistic students. You'll hear why masking isn't just "acting neurotypical for a bit," how monotropic attention changes everything about learning, and why occupational therapy is uniquely positioned as the most...

What if occupational therapy wasn't confined to pullout sessions and IEP goals? Nicole Pfirman, M.Ed., OTR/L, shares how she brought an OT lens to every role—designing multi sensory environments for behavioral regulation, creating prevention and wellness teams that operated outside of special education, and reframing the "mental health crisis" as an intensity crisis that demands systems-level change. 

You'll learn why sensory regulation and mental health can't be separated, how to advocate for OT involvement at tier one and tier two, and what it takes to shift from waiting for an IEP to meeting student nee...

What's really happening in school-based OT practice across the country? In this episode, Jayson sits down with Hannah Smiles, OTD, OTR/L, to unpack findings from a national survey of 331 school-based occupational therapists across 41 states, published in the open-access Open Journal of Occupational Therapy.

Hannah and her research team examined the entire OT process — from referral through intervention — using the OTPF as a guiding framework, revealing that narrow referral patterns persist (handwriting, sensory, and fine motor still dominate), over two-thirds of OTPs aren't using formal environmental assessments, and most practitioners are operating in a "blended" workload/caseload mode...

What if we've been asking the wrong question all along?

For years, school-based occupational therapy practitioners have debated whether challenging student behaviors are driven by sensory processing differences or behavior. But what if that distinction isn't the most important one?

In this episode, Jayson is joined by Kristen Brokamp, OTR/L and Breanna Lynch, OTR/L, co-founders of Holding Space Collaborative, to explore how OTPs can move beyond labels and instead focus on participation, regulation, trauma-informed care, and systems-level change.

Together, they discuss why behavior is often a signal—no...

In this episode, Jayson Davies sits down with Kelli Fetter, founder of Handwriting Solutions, to explore the world of dysgraphia — from the challenges of diagnosis and assessment to evidence-based, school-based intervention strategies. Kelli shares her personal journey as both an OT and parent of a child with dysgraphia, and explains why she believes school-based OTs are the most well-positioned experts to lead the charge on handwriting support.

Kelli and Jayson dig into practical topics including how to assess handwriting across different cognitive load levels, the difference between top-down and bottom-up intervention approaches, and how MTSS frameworks can be...

If you're a school-based occupational therapy practitioner feeling burnt out, dysregulated, or overwhelmed by your caseload, this episode is for you. Robyn Chu, MOT, OTR/L, author of Sensory Wellness: The Art and Science of Thriving, joins us to flip the traditional sensory conversation on its head. Instead of focusing solely on how to support students' sensory needs, Robyn discusses how understanding your own sensory processing can be the foundation for everything else you do.

Robyn discusses why "calm all the time" isn't the goal, how sensory input actively creates emotions (not just reactions to them), and...

Struggling to figure out how occupational therapy fits within your school's MTSS framework?

In this episode, Dr. Courtney Boitano shares findings from two groundbreaking studies on sensory processing interventions for kindergarten and fifth-grade students. As a faculty member at San Jose State University and a school-based OT with over 15 years of experience, Courtney provides practical insights into implementing tiered sensory supports that actually work. You'll learn how to use free screening tools like the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to identify students who need additional support, why teacher consultation may be more impactful than you think, and...

Are you still relying on the Peabody or BOT as your go-to assessment? You're not alone, but you might be missing something critical. In this episode, we dive deep into occupation-based assessment with Dr. Alysha Skuthan and Dr. Erin Gaby, who recently published groundbreaking research on the occupational profile in school-based practice.

This conversation is for every school-based OT who has ever wondered: What actually makes an assessment occupation-based? Why does the occupational profile matter? And how can I fit it into my already overwhelming workload?

The research reveals surprising findings from their research showing...

When a student refuses to eat at school, it affects everything—academic performance, regulation, social interactions, and the afternoon meltdown that follows.

In this episode, @Jayson Davies sits down with Alisha Grogan, MOT, OTR/L, founder of Your Kid's Table, to talk about feeding challenges in school-based OT. Alisha brings over 20 years of experience working with extreme picky eaters and shares what school-based practitioners need to know about supporting students who struggle with lunch and snacks.

You'll learn how to identify when picky eating crosses into extreme territory, why the cafeteria environment can be so ov...

This course explores the evolving landscape of school-aged mental health in a post-COVID world and the expanding role of occupational therapy in supporting students’ emotional, behavioral, and functional participation.

Dr. Monica Keen examines current mental-health trends, trauma-informed care, behavior changes following the pandemic, and evidence-aligned OT strategies for school settings.

Participants will learn practical, occupation-based approaches for addressing emotional regulation, engagement, and school participation within a tiered model of support.

This course is part of the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative Community, where school-based practitioners come together to deepen clinical reasoning, explore meaningful to...

Transitioning from OT student to practicing clinician isn’t always a straight path—and in this episode, Chandler Sarkozi shares her real, unfiltered journey into school-based practice. From taking the NBCOT multiple times to navigating job options and ultimately choosing a travel-based school position, this conversation highlights the challenges many new grads face but don’t often talk about.

Chandler dives into what it actually looks like to start mid-year as a contract OT, including figuring out housing, building rapport with students and staff, and working through imposter syndrome. She also shares practical insights on the interview proces...

In this episode, Jayson discusses the often-overlooked but critical role that state and national occupational therapy associations play in protecting and advancing the profession. He highlights major advocacy wins from the past year, including AOTA's successful defense of Section 504, California's groundbreaking administrative credential legislation, Nevada's prevention of ABA encroachment on ADL services, and Nebraska's modernized OT Practice Act.

Whether you're already a member or considering joining your state or national association, this episode offers compelling reasons to get involved—from joining and volunteering to simply sharing advocacy updates with colleagues. Listen now to discover how your support ca...

In this episode of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, host Jayson Davies is joined by Aimee Piller and Dr. Sultan Alfawaz to explore a powerful shift in school-based occupational therapy practice. Together, they break down how aligning OT services with academic standards can transform both student outcomes and how practitioners advocate for their role in schools.

You’ll learn practical strategies for linking evaluation data and sensory processing patterns to educational goals, including how to connect assessments like the EASI, SOCM, and BOT-3 to specific academic standards. The episode also unpacks proximal vs. distal outcomes and helps you co...

Artificial intelligence is quickly entering healthcare and education, and occupational therapists are asking an important question: How can we use AI responsibly without losing the clinical reasoning that defines our profession? In this episode, Jayson Davies sits down with OT educator and researcher Tara Mansour to explore practical, ethical ways school-based OT practitioners can begin using AI tools.

Tara shares how she teaches future occupational therapists to use AI as a “first draft partner” while still prioritizing evidence-based practice, professional judgment, and student-centered care. They also discuss privacy considerations, prompt strategies, treatment planning idea...

Join us in this episode where Nicole Dahl shares her powerful journey as a parent navigating occupational therapy services for her son on the autism spectrum. She opens up about the challenges of understanding the "why" behind therapy activities and the frustration of disconnected communication between providers, teachers, and home.

Through Nicole's story, school-based OT practitioners gain invaluable insight into what parents truly need: clear explanations in plain language, collaborative communication between all team members, and practical strategies they can implement at home. She emphasizes that while the journey wasn't always smooth, consistent OT support—combined with st...

Supporting teachers can be one of the most powerful ways to create lasting change for students—but it requires a shift in how we view our role as school-based OTs. In this episode, Dr. Ellen Cullen shares her groundbreaking doctoral capstone work on occupation-based coaching, where she treated teachers as clients and used MOHO to support their self-efficacy and align their practices with their professional values.

Ellen reveals how experienced teachers often don't lack competence—they lack alignment between what they value and what the system demands of them. By becoming co-designers rather than experts, OTs can empo...

Walking into a classroom filled with visual clutter, constant noise, and lingering smells from an air fryer might leave you wondering how any student can focus—let alone those with sensory processing challenges. In this episode, Dr. Heather Kuhaneck joins school-based OT practitioners Linda Kinkade and Dana Hawkins to introduce the Classroom Sensory Environment Assessment (C-SEA), a tool designed to help teachers assess and modify their classroom environments to better support students with sensory needs.

Unlike traditional assessments that focus on individual students, the C-SEA evaluates the entire classroom across five sensory domains: visual, sound, movement, touch, an...

Dr. Aimee Piller joins the OT Schoolhouse Podcast to explore how school-based occupational therapists can apply their sensory expertise within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). 

She shares practical strategies for moving beyond traditional IEP-based services to support entire classrooms at Tier 1 and small groups at Tier 2, helping OT practitioners maximize their impact while managing their caseloads more effectively.

Learning Objectives

In this Episode of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, Jayson Davies welcomes Dr. Jaime Hunter and Dr. Kaisa Syväoja from The College of St. Scholastica to discuss how OT practitioners can utilize grants to advocate for mental health services in schools. Learn how grants can expand your OT practice beyond traditional tier three services, whether you're looking to fund a sensory room, provide professional development, or implement a school-wide mental health initiative.

This conversation demystifies the grant-writing process, offers practical tips for finding and applying for grants at the federal, state, and local levels, and highlights the p...

Get ready to blast off into a powerful new way of understanding sensory processing in schools. In this episode, Danielle Pluth and Ruth Isaac—Canadian occupational therapists and creators of the Good Sense OT Rocket Ship—share the innovative visual framework that’s transforming how OTs assess, communicate, and support student participation.

The Rocket Ship helps therapists differentiate sensory-based behaviors from other performance factors, guiding you from foundational sensory regulation all the way up through sensory-motor, reflexes, perceptual motor skills, interoception, and cognitive functions at the top of the “rocket.” This structure gives OTPs a cle...

Dive into groundbreaking research on the transition from caseload to workload models in school-based OT with Stanbridge University MOT students Jalen, Michelle, Jared, and Ari. Their nationwide survey revealed striking results: practitioners using a workload model reported significantly lower burnout scores compared to those using a caseload model and majority strongly agreeing that the workload approach reduces stress levels.

The students' research identified key barriers to making this transition—primarily lack of administrative support and scheduling conflicts—while highlighting successful facilitators including peer support and improved collaboration with teachers. Their findings emphasize the importance of data collection for...

Everyday Ethics in School-Based OT: Navigating Challenges with Clarity & Confidence equips school-based occupational therapists with the tools to confidently address real-world ethical dilemmas that arise in educational settings. Through case studies, decision-making frameworks, and updated guidance from AOTA, FOTA, and state-level regulations, participants will strengthen their ability to apply ethical principles to complex situations involving service delivery, documentation, advocacy, and the use of emerging tools like AI.

This course enhances professional judgment, reduces uncertainty when facing ethical pressures, and promotes alignment with best practices and legal requirements. Ultimately, attendees will leave with actionable strategies to advocate for...

Matthew Husband, OTD, OTR/L shares his innovative "Get to Work" program, an after-school initiative providing realistic work experiences for high school students who could succeed in employment with the right supports. The program follows a monthly pattern with on-campus training focused on hard and soft skills, followed by community-based experiences at actual workplaces including pizzerias, box stores, grocery stores, and laundry facilities.

Matthew discusses how occupational therapists can support transition planning through self-determination skills training and standardized resource guides for students and families. He emphasizes the importance of starting small with on-campus work opportunities if off-campus...

OTs hold the key to school-wide success by grounding self-regulation in sensory-motor regulation—not just in emotions. In this episode, Sherry Shellenberger and Jennie Largent show how the Alert Program provides a foundational layer many SEL programs miss, share practical strategies for piloting change, and explain how to talk with administrators to secure support and funding. Tune in to learn clear steps to expand OT impact from individual support to whole-school change.

Listen now to learn the following objectives: