Promoting community integration
Jennifer O ’ Leary explains why occupational therapy at a specialist school and college for children and young people with language disorders has been instrumental in development a travel training programme .
© Kosamtu via Getty Images
I
am an occupational therapist working within the sixth form provision at Moor House , in Oxted , Surrey . It is a specialist school and college for children and young people with language disorders . Since joining , I have become aware of the variety of skills that students can develop through a travel training initiative .
Our occupational therapists focus on enabling independent life skills among all students . One role is to facilitate travel training at various levels through a whole school approach . As occupational therapists we are aware of the essential need for students to be able travel into the community independently , in order to tackle life after the school day and when they leave Moor House .
Why do we do travel training ?
Travel training consists of a graded approach to integrate students into local communities . It involves appropriately using modes of public transport to get to their desired destination , as well as carrying out other tasks independently , such as going to restaurants , demonstrating appropriate behaviour in the local community , calculating a portion of the bill , paying for their own food , going to the supermarket to find items and paying for them .
Travel training is vital to support students with disabilities to integrate into the community and consequently to enable them to complete necessary daily living tasks such as banking and food shopping as well as leisure and social activities ( Sachdeva and Shashidhar Rao 2012 ).
It frequently takes place in a group and consequently it also offers students an opportunity to strengthen their social skills .
Challenges in the community
Navigating the community requires safety awareness , the ability to read signs and use technology , interaction , money skills , problem solving , time management and confidence ( Precin et al 2012 ).
Seven per cent of children have developmental language disorder ( DLD ) and an additional 3 % have a language disorder associated with other disorders ( Norbury et al 2016 ).
While efforts have been made , current communities are not entirely accessible , particularly to students with language disorders . For example , using an electronic train board requires the ability to read and understand text about the next train , updates to the service and how to use a 24-hour clock showing the time the train will arrive .
It is frequently the case that there is no spoken announcement of this content , particularly in rural stations . Furthermore , it is common that people in the community are not aware of language
26 OTnews May 2023