July / August / September • Issue 3 • 2018
Colleen McDonald, OTR/L
School-Based Practice: Developing a Sensory
Equipment Lending “Library”
If a student is rolling around on the carpet during circle
time, isolating herself and covering her ears, or having a
tantrum when asked to sit down and work, special education
professionals in the school system may turn to the occupational
therapy (OT) practitioner and ask whether some kind of
sensory intervention would help.
As OT practitioners serving our area’s public and private
schools, my fellow therapists and I do our best to keep up with
current research and best practices regarding the use of sensory
equipment and sensory strategies to improve our students’
ability to focus, participate, and learn at school. However, a
couple of years ago we recognized that we were not doing a
good job of keeping up with our equipment needs.
We would start the school year fairly well-stocked with
kinesthetic seat cushions, pressure vests, weighted blankets
and lap pads, and other common sensory tools; available to
be checked out from our therapy department “headquarters.”
However, as the year wore on, our supplies would dwindle,
as the equipment went out to our various schools and to
students who might benefit from using them. Equipment
that “worked” (helped students meet their goals) would no
longer be available for circulation. Also, equipment that
was not being used on a regular basis might stay in certain
buildings (particularly those with special programs for
students with autism), so that it would be readily available to
students with documented sensory needs. As the school year
wore on, many of us found it increasingly difficult to locate
high demand equipment to use or try with move-in or newly
eligible students coming onto our caseloads in the course of
the year.
After this problem had surfaced and resurfaced at a
number of staff meetings, our department decided to form a
special interest group to evaluate the situation and come up
with a new plan. The voluntary group included therapists
who were frustrated with the problem and wanted to be part
of the solution, as well as autism specialists who had ordered
many sensory tools over the years and could offer their insights
as to which products were most effective, and which products
were not worth the money.
The process began at the end of that school year, with a
call to bring back all the equipment that was not assigned
to a particular student. Over the summer, equipment was
washed, repaired, or thrown away. Starting in the fall, the
special interest group met regularly,
came up with an action plan, and
developed a new system.
The group did an inventory
of the equipment on hand and
assessed the need for additional
equipment.
After identifying
various categories-- such as oral
motor tools, hand fidgets, and
weighted
equipment—each
member of the group named
particular pieces of equipment
that were “most necessary,” with a rank ordering of priorities
within each category; these individual lists were then shared
with the whole group, for a decision about what additional
pieces of equipment the group would order, within the
allowed budget.
The group decided they wanted to provide teachers with
written instructions regarding the use of the equipment.
Group members researched protocols and precautions for
major items such as pressure vests and weighted blankets, and
discovered that protocols sometimes varied across different
websites. They discussed the differences they found and then
came to consensus about which protocol they would use.
Further, they developed a “user friendly” data collection form
on which teachers could provide feedback by indicating when
a piece of equipment was used, and to what effect (positive,
negative, or no change).
To launch the new system, the group decided to take the
sensory equipment out of the general supply room and put
it in its own, marked cabinets. They re-worked the check-
out routine, so that, within 3 weeks of checking out a piece
of equipment, the borrowing therapist would be expected to
make a preliminary decision about whether it was benefitting
the student—and, if not, to return it (the exception being
hard-to-sanitize oral-motor tools, which we do not re-use with
other students); or, if it was helping, to order a replacement
to go back into the general supply. They also put together an
eye-catching check-out binder, which included a master list
of our equipment, guidelines detailing the check- out process,
equipment sign-out sheets, instruction and data forms for
teachers, and order forms and ordering information (with
preferred vendors) for replacing equipment.
Continued on Page 13
Page 12