Occupational Therapist

The Mission of Brevard Academy is to prepare its students to achieve academic excellence through the Core Knowledge Sequence. Through a partnership involving students teachers and parents the school strives to create citizens with strong moral character and active intellectual inquiry.

Occupational Therapist

Job Description

Reports To: EC Coordinator

Terms of Employment: 10 Months

Qualifications:

• Have successfully completed and graduated from an accredited occupational therapy professional program recognized by NBCOT and have completed all fieldwork requirements.
• Two years of experience as an occupational therapist preferably in a school system or other pediatric practice setting. Special Requirements
• Initial certification by National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy.
• Current license by the North Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy. Disclaimer

Such alternatives to the above qualification as the Board of Directors may find appropriate and acceptable.

Purpose:

Occupational therapists lead the process in the development implementation and coordination of the occupational therapy program. Screening evaluation educational program and transition planning therapeutic intervention and exit planning is provided for students identified with or suspected of having disabilities that interfere with their ability to perform daily life activities or participate in necessary or desired occupations. Professional judgment and clinical knowledge are used to develop individualized programming based on occupational performance deficits in the areas of personal care student role interaction skills process skills play community integration/work and graphic communication. The Occupational therapist regularly collaborates with other disciplines and services at departmental and system levels. The Occupational therapist is expected to independently review outcomes and modify intervention programs. Clinical reasoning and professional judgment are essential to ensuring the safety of students and protecting the liability of the school system and the therapist. Errors may result in serious harm to students.

Abilities

• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing.
• Reason make judgments and maintain effective professional working relationships with others.
• Utilize positive human relations skills with all staff parents and students.
• Resolve problem situations with sound judgment.
• Maintain confidentiality in matters relating to Brevard AcademyA Challenge Foundation Academy.
• Exercise independent judgment and initiative in completing work assignments.
• Be sensitive to the needs of children and parents of different ethnic cultural language educational and economic backgrounds.
• Effectively collaborate with IEP team members when requested or approved by the EC Coordinator to adapt and modify environments equipment and materials including assistive technology.
• Participate collaboratively with the EC team to develop Individualized Education Programs to meet student needs.
• Develop occupationally based intervention plans for a students Individualized Education Plan or for MTSS classroombased intervention development based on evaluation information and student observations.
• Provide evidencebased occupational therapy interventions to improve students performance skills and participation.

Essential Job Functions:

• Collaborates with EC staff to ensure team understanding of student occupational performance strengths and needs through evaluation educational program planning and service delivery.
• Evaluates the students ability and formulates the students occupational profile through a variety of functional behavioral and standardized assessments skilled observation checklists histories and interviews.
• Synthesizes evaluation results into a comprehensive written report that reflects strengths and barriers to student participation in the educational environment; directs program development; and guides evidencebased interventions.

Responsibilities and Tasks Identification Evaluation and Planning

• Develops occupationally based intervention plans based on student needs and evaluation results.
• Participates in EC meetings as directed to review evaluation results integrate findings with other disciplines offer recommendations and develop individual education plans and intervention plans to achieve IEP goals. Service Delivery
• Provides targeted evidencebased therapeutic intervention to facilitate student participation and occupational performance within the school environment.
• Adapts and modifies the environment including assistive technology and collaborates with instructional staff when requested or approved by the EC Coordinator to meet individual needs and help students function independently.
• Educates students and families to facilitate skills in areas of occupation as well as health maintenance and safety.
• Monitors and reassess the effects of occupational therapy intervention and the need to continue modify or discontinue intervention.
• Documents occupational therapy services to ensure accountability of service provision and to meet standards for reimbursement of services as appropriate. Program Administration and Management
• Prioritizes and schedules work tasks independently and provides a weekly service schedule to the EC Coordinator.
• Manages inventory of therapeutic equipment and assessments and project needs for budget planning.
• Maintains clinical and administrative records in accordance with professional standards state guidelines and school policy.
• Adheres to federal and state legislation regulations and policies that affect occupational therapy practice.
• Reviews occupational therapy services for quality improvement and makes changes as needed to ensure quality of services. Professional Growth and Ethics
• Participates in continuing education for professional development to ensure practice consistent with best practice and to meet N.C. Licensure requirements.
• Uses professional literature evidencebased research and continuing education content to make practice decisions.
• Uses professional Code of Ethics and standards of practice to guide ethical decisionmaking in practice.
• Adheres to Brevard Academy Staff Expectations

Knowledge and Skills

• Knowledge of human development throughout the lifespan integrated with the students unique developmental status.
• Knowledge and appreciation of the influence of disabilities sociocultural and socioeconomic factors on a students ability to participate in occupations.
• Knowledge and use of occupational therapy theories models of practice principles and evidence based practice to guide intervention decisions.
• Knowledge of the federal state local legislation regulations policies and procedures that mandate and guide occupational therapy practice in schools.
• Ability to gather and assess outcomes program evaluation data and use to modify services at the programmatic level.
• Skill to maintain current reporting documentation scheduling and billing in accordance with professional standards state and local guidelines and reimbursement requirements.
• Skill to determine the need for an occupational therapy evaluation and to select and administer appropriate assessment tools to evaluate the student.
• Knowledge to interpret the evaluation data and write a comprehensive report that reflects strengths and barriers to students participation and occupational performance.

Working Conditions

• The job functions are performed indoors and outdoors.
• Physical abilities:
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to stand walk bend crouch drive sit talk and listen. The employee must be able to sit on the floor or in a chair and stand for extended periods and must have the dexterity of hands and fingers to write and operate a keyboard.
• The employee must be able to lift and/or move up to ten pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust vision.

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities duties skills efforts requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned.

Evaluation: Performance of this job will be evaluated in accordance with the provision of the Board of Directors policy on evaluation of certified personnel.

Brevard Academy A Challenge Foundation Academy is an equal opportunity employer.

DISCLAIMER: This job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties responsibilities and qualifications required of employees to this job.