Services We Offer to Schools
Trellis Occupational Therapy partners with schools to help students participate more fully in learning, classroom routines, social activities, and daily life. Services may include teacher consultation, student screenings, small-group clinics, staff training, and parent education. Trellis OT can also provide schoolwide guidance on sensory supports, accessibility, classroom tools, visual systems, and inclusive participation. For middle and high school students, programming may address organization, daily living, community safety, and practical pre-vocational skills. Every service is tailored to the school community’s needs, with a focus on meaningful participation, growing independence, and student success.
Screening Services
Possible screening offerings include:
- Handwriting screenings
- General classroom participation screenings
- Sensory and self-regulation screenings
- Executive-function and organizational screenings
- Playground and gross-motor participation screenings
- Screening days for teachers who have concerns about several students
Note: A screening identifies whether further evaluation or intervention may be appropriate; it is not the same as a comprehensive OT evaluation. North Carolina’s rules define a screening as obtaining and reviewing information to determine whether further evaluation or intervention may be needed.
Classroom and Teacher Consultation
Possible classroom and teacher consultation offerings include:
- “Ask an OT” office hours for teachers -designated time for teachers to come individually or as a small group to ask general questions/ advice
- Recommendations for seating, positioning, desk setup, and classroom organization
- Classroom observations followed by a teacher consultation on general classroom-wide implementation ideas:
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- Analysis of difficult routines, such as arrival, cleanup, circle time, centers, assemblies, lunch, recess, and dismissal
- Classroom movement-break planning
- Sensory-supportive classroom recommendations
- Strategies for supporting attention, initiation, organization, and task completion
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- Visual schedules, first-then supports, checklists, and task-analysis systems
- Consultation regarding handwriting demands and classroom tools
- Recommendations for inclusive participation during specials, recess, field trips, and school events
Schoolwide and Organization Consultation
Including:
- Recommendations for classroom tools and equipment purchases
- Sensory-supportive campus review
- Classroom accessibility review
- Playground accessibility and inclusive-participation review
- Bathroom accessibility and independence review
- Consultation on calm spaces and regulation areas
- Review of handwriting or fine-motor expectations across grade levels
- Assistance developing schoolwide visual supports
- Development of referral pathways and teacher concern forms
Small Group and Short Term Clinics
Multiweek groups such as:
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- Handwriting Foundations Group -for younger students or elementary age using HWT
- Fine Motor and Classroom Tools Group -scissor skills, tape dispenser, handheld pencil sharpener, push pins, threading, paperclips, binder clips, binder rings, stapler, stickers, paper management/ putting papers in folders, etc.
- Executive Function and Organization Group -memory strategies, using agendas, organizing backpack or classroom materials
- Self-Regulation and Interoception Group
- Cooperative Play and Social Participation with Games Group
- “We Thinkers” Social Skills Group -targeted towards ~ 4-8 yr olds
- Bike Riding or Scooter Skills Clinic
- Daily Living Skills Group -for older students; i.e. meal prep, gardening/yardwork, etc. (or perineal hygiene for female anatomy and managing periods)
- “Lunch Bunch” Social Participation Group -middle or high school age
Transition and Older Student Services
Service ideas targeted toward middle- and high-school school students:
- Meal prep and independent living skills related to mealtimes
- Community mobility and safety education (i.e. driving safety class)
- Pre-vocational skills group (i.e. learning simple work-related skills)
- Trellis OT has experience working with teens with high support needs who are transitioning out of high school. We’ve worked on simple pre-vocational skills to prepare for independent living and entering the work force.
Some specific examples of skills Trellis OT have worked on in the past include:
- sorting silverware, folding napkins, rolling silverware in napkins
- setting a table, refilling salt and pepper shakers and condiments
- folding pizza boxes
- folding mail and placing in envelopes, addressing envelopes and putting stamps on mail
- laundry skills: putting detergent in washer, starting washer/dryer, folding towels, folding clothes, hanging clothes
- loading/unloading dishwasher
- emptying/replacing trash
- sorting coins and cash in a cash register
- organizing paper and making handout folders
- gardening, raking leaves, pulling weeds
- feeding pets, walking dogs
- meal prep, cooking simple meals, organizing kitchen utensils/equipment, grocery shopping
- tool use with hammers, screwdrivers, etc.
- and various other simple job activities to hopefully prep young adults for providing part-time help in the work field under supervision
Parent and Caregiver Programing
Possible parent offerings include:
- Free introductory presentations -What is OT?
- Parent workshops on self-regulation, sensory processing, handwriting, routines, or executive functioning
- Parent consultation days
- Written resource guides for home routines
- Workshops on helping children become more independent with morning, homework, bedtime, dressing, and mealtime routines
Staff Professional Development
Possible in-service topics include:
- Understanding sensory processing in the classroom
- Sensory needs versus intentional behavior
- Co-regulation before self-regulation
- Creating neurodiversity-affirming classroom environments
- Practical movement supports that do not disrupt instruction
- Supporting executive functioning in everyday classroom routines
- Development of handwriting skills and when an OT referral may be appropriate
- Fine motor development in Kindergarten and early elementary school
- Supporting students during transitions
- Using visual supports effectively
- Developing effective calm spaces without using them as punishment
- Inclusive recess and playground participation
- Ergonomics, seating, and backpack safety
- Supporting independence with toileting, dressing, and school belongings
- Recognizing when a student may benefit from an OT screening or evaluation.