GUIDELINES FOR PROVIDING Occupational Therapy in NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOLS JANUARY 2011 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION June St. Clair Atkinson, Ed.D., State Superintendent www.ncpublicschools.org EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN DIVISION Mary N. Watson, Director |
[email protected] 6356 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-6356 | (919) 807-3969 | Fax (919) 807-3243 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER INTRODUCTION North Carolina has a strong tradition of providing guidance, consultation, and technical assistance to school- based occupational therapy practitioners and administrators as Local Education Agencies (LEA) have sought to implement best practice in occupational therapy services to students with disabilities. With the enactment of Public Law (PL) 94-142, which provided the foundation for the education of children with disabilities, North Carolina legislators and North Carolina Department of Public (NCDPI) leaders recognized the need for specific expertise in the provision of related services, like occupational therapy. As such, Jane Davis Rourk began serving the state as the Occupational Therapy Consultant to NCDPI in 1978. Ms. Rourk provided expert guidance until 2007 and was the only state-level occupational therapy specialist in American public education for many years. She was a national leader in school-based practice and led the development of both the American Occupational Therapy Association (1989) and NCDPI guidelines (1992) for occupational therapy services in public schools. This manual and NCDPI’s ongoing provision of related services consultation build on that tradition. The value of occupational therapy in public education continues to grow. Increasingly, interventions and strategies occupational therapy practitioners use with students with disabilities are being found effective with all children.