Occupational Therapy News July 2020 | Page 13

NEWS
Keeping young people engaged and supported at a special school during lockdown
© GettyImages/ljubaphoto
Managing anxiety and finding occupations to engage with during
lockdown have been difficult tasks for all children, but it has been
particularly hard for those with special educational needs and
disabilities.
Occupational therapists at a school in Derbyshire have been
working with the students on their caseloads to make sure they
are provided with stimulating and engaging activities throughout
the pandemic.
Alderwasley Hall School in Derbyshire supports young people
aged five to 19 years old, with Asperger’s syndrome or high
functioning autism and associated communication difficulties.
Some of the students stay residentially but many come from the
surrounding areas on a daily basis.
Krissy Walker, one of 10 specialist paediatric occupational
therapists at the school, says they have been thinking hard
about ways to engage the students and provide therapy during
lockdown. ‘As most of our students have ASD there has been a
lot of anxiety,’ she says. ‘Everyone has rallied together and a lot of
creativity has been used to help support them.’
Each young person has been assigned to a small working
bubble, with just three other young people and additional staffing,
unlike the groups of ten in mainstream schools, due to the high
level of need and support.
Therapists have worked together to support the young people’s
emotional wellbeing and ensure they understand the current
situation, can follow the school’s new one-way systems, and wash
their hands regularly. This is supplemented by activities planned out
by the occupational therapists every week, helping to replace the
extensive individual and group work that normally takes place on
site – baking, Lego building and countryside walking and talking
have been some of the activities that have featured.
Each week the therapy team has planned out activities for their
caseload, creating resources such as written or filmed instructions,
and then distributed these via Microsoft Teams for people to use at
home or in the school. The therapists have also run online one-toone
therapy sessions via Microsoft Teams and have also facilitated
online groups for students who feel able to access the system. The
therapists have provided emotional support throughout the
pandemic, both to the students and to their families.
The online therapy activities have been a huge success. Not
only have the school’s pupils largely engaged with them, but some
students have found some virtual therapy easier to engage with
than face to face therapy.
‘Some students find virtual therapy easier than working in
person,’ says Krissy. ‘A lot find social communication, such as eye
contact, difficult with someone stood in front of them, but if they
struggle on video, they can turn off the camera and this reduces
their anxiety, enabling better engagement. They also have an option
to type and respond through written text. It’s less daunting for some
of our students so we have had more engagement from some
children.’
The pupils have also had special support to help them
understand stories in the news, resulting in some creating NHS
posters and anti-racism posters. A lot of joint calls with speech and
language therapists have also been made to individual children,
particularly if their parents feel they are struggling to understand or
manage their anxiety around news stories on coronavirus or Black
Lives Matter protests. ‘The calls are worth their weight in gold to
help them understand,’ says Krissy.
RCOT calls on government to extend prescribing rights to the profession
RCOT has called on the government to extend prescribing rights to its members.
Alongside the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the British and Irish Orthoptic Society and the Society
of Radiographers, RCOT has written a joint letter to Jo Churchill, the minister for prevention, asking the government to extend
occupational therapists’ legal ability to become non-medical prescribers as a means to enhance patient care.
The current Medicines and Medical Devices Bill has the power to extend prescribing responsibilities to new professional groups
where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Karin Orman, RCOT assistant director – professional practice, said: ‘With occupational therapists at the forefront of the UK’s
response to COVID-19, we want to arm them with all the tools they need to help the millions of people and their families across the
UK who have been directly affected. This includes expanding the profession’s legal prescribing responsibilities.
‘Our members could enhance patient care even further. By extending prescribing responsibilities for occupational therapists,
they can deliver better and timelier patient care, which will reduce pressure on the wider health and social care system. We hope
the government grasps this opportunity to help maximise the impact of occupational therapists.’
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