Occupational Therapy News OTNews March 2020 | Page 24

FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION
Unlocking Potential:
meeting the needs of both
students and marginalised children
Elle Souden talks about a London charity’s schools programme, which is
providing direct input for children with special educational needs by university
students on their final placement, under the supervision of an experienced
qualified therapist
I
t is common knowledge that health and social
services are under enormous pressure to provide
quality and effective services within tight budget
constraints. This has led to services having to
adapt their way of working, streamline and reduce
services in inventive ways.
This is certainly the case in paediatric allied health
services, with the implementation of the Special
Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Act
in 2001 resulting in a higher demand for services as
more children with special educational needs (SEN)
attend mainstream schools.
As a result, a large number of children that would
benefit significantly from therapeutic input slip through
the cracks and do not receive support.
Some of the contributing factors to this are that
children do not meet the increasingly stringent criteria
for referrals, and their families are not able to advocate
for them or attend appointments, due to mental
health or social constraints (Hutton 2009). Innovative
solutions are needed to support these children.
Improving life chances
Unlocking Potential is a social, emotional and mental
health charity based in London that is working to meet
this need.
The charity aims to work with London communities
in innovative and sustainable ways to improve the
life chances of children and young people who are
experiencing or are at risk of experiencing social,
emotional and mental health difficulties.
The school’s programme is one of the ways we
are working to achieve this. It delivers psychotherapy,
occupational therapy, speech and language therapy,
24 OTnews March 2020
additional in-class support provided by volunteers and
short ‘talk based’ therapeutic interventions.
Children are referred for support by school staff and
the service is free to the children at point of access.
What sets the school’s programme apart from
current and more traditional services is that direct input
is primarily provided by university students on their final
placement, under the supervision of an experienced
qualified therapist.
This approach to supporting student learning and
service provision has been well established in other
professions, for example in psychotherapy, and is
being seen more frequently in occupational therapy,
with the development of role emerging placements
and the introduction of apprenticeship courses.
The charity’s approach of using students to
provide therapy alongside qualified therapists initially
started with psychotherapy, but later expanded to
occupational therapy and speech and language
therapy, following a demand for paediatric placements.
The placements were very successful, fulfilling two
sets of needs: the needs of the children and the need
for paediatric placements.
The school staff and the children were delighted
with the presence of the students and the students
reported that they had gained valuable experiences
and new skills from the placement.
The positive response to this approach has resulted
in the development of the service and now we typically
place 20 occupational therapy students into schools
across London over an academic year.
A positive experience
Students are placed in a primary school and take on
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