Second-Year OT Students Learn by Working in Harvard Kent Elementary School Classrooms

In the bustling halls, classrooms, and outdoor spaces of Harvard Kent Elementary School in Charlestown, MGH Institute occupational therapy (OT) students step into the heart of their education. Their classroom? A dynamic space, filled with smiling kids, where theory meets reality, and every moment is a chance to learn. 

For the past two years, OT students have spent time with children and teachers at Harvard Kent during the school day as part of their level one fieldwork and advanced doctoral experiences (ADE). In the fall, groups of second-year students have the opportunity visit the school for a hands-on experience working with pre-school children while taking the practice-based pediatrics course. 

“The [MGH Institute] students lead a small group to teach them how to work with these young kids,” said Mary Beth Kadlec, an assistant professor in the OT program. “They assess them to the best of their ability because they're in the middle of taking their core courses, so they don't have the content yet. But they're getting exposed and they're getting practice. They get to have some agency with choosing the activity with guidance and input from me and the teacher.”

The OT program had previously partnered with Harvard Kent on after school programs but there are advantages to having the OT students there during the school day. 

“Working in the classroom allows the students the opportunity to actually communicate with the teacher and see what the students are in a classroom and see what they do in the classroom, at recess, and in the hallway,” said Assistant Professor Mary O’Donnell. “We know that that performance and participation can look really different with two adults in the quiet one-on-one setting versus in a classroom full of 20 kids.”

O’Donnell teaches the School-Based Practice and Occupational Therapy elective in the spring and second-year OT students who take that course also work with students at Harvard Kent. 

“This course really dives into the specific models of OT practice in schools,” said O’Donnell. “There is content around educational law and policy, the process of writing individualized education plan and ISP writing, working with interprofessional team members in the school system, and developing interventions that are specific to the school context and appropriate whether that be in the classroom, at gym, at recess, or in a separate one-on-one intervention space.

“They get the experience of leading sessions, they write goals, they do a screening and work together to develop treatment plans. It's an extra layer of not just knowledge but application.”

The treatment plans the students create before each session are reviewed by O’Donnell and two third-year students who took this course last year and are now completing their Advanced Doctoral Experience (ADE). 

Natalie Dye is one of those students. 

The ADE comes after level 1 fieldwork which includes five part-time fieldwork experiences, the level 2 fieldwork which includes two full-time, 12-week external placements, followed by the doctoral experiential component where Dye not only assisted O’Donnell in the elective and during the school visits by the second-year students, but also went to Harvard Kent separately working on several projects. This experience helped her gain knowledge surrounding child development, how the Participation Environment Occupation Participation (PEOP) model and Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Support (SCERTS) can help OTs best support young students, and how the roles of OTs, parents, and school staff are all intertwined. 

“I screened one of the preschool students using the HELP (Hawaii Early Learning Profile) model and checklist, developed plans for and led a preschool physical education class, and created a reusable, Velcro, visual schedule for the gym teacher to use during preschool physical education classes, and supported students opening packages during snack time,” explained Dye. 

Kadlec explained how valuable those last two projects were. 

“The visual schedule is a tool that can help the youngsters understand the routine, the different activities for gym class, and what is going to happen next,” said Kadlec. “It is working in vivo to help them be successful. And then in snack time, the kids would typically just hand the packages to the teachers to open. We said the kids can learn to do that. It is teaching the OT students understand how to help the kids and then how to teach the teachers. And that has really been the model.”

By designing activities that match the children’s developmental stages, and help them build crucial skills in coordination, motor skills, education and emotional growth, the children will be better equipped to navigate the challenges ahead, setting them up for success as they grow and progress in through school. Both O’Donnell and Kadlec hope to develop a sustainable model that integrates the Institute’s students and faculty resources into ongoing educational initiatives at Harvard Kent. 

“I see this as a long lasting mutually beneficial relationship with Harvard Kent,” said O’Donnell. “We love working with our community partners and it's such a great example of how we can leverage our student and faculty support and address student learning needs with meeting a community need.” 

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