In this episode of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, host Jayson Davies is joined by Aimee Piller and Dr. Sultan Alfawaz to explore a powerful shift in school-based occupational therapy practice. Together, they break down how aligning OT services with academic standards can transform both student outcomes and how practitioners advocate for their role in schools.

You’ll learn practical strategies for linking evaluation data and sensory processing patterns to educational goals, including how to connect assessments like the EASI, SOCM, and BOT-3 to specific academic standards. The episode also unpacks proximal vs. distal outcomes and helps you confidently determine when to use Ayres Sensory Integration® versus sensory-based interventions in school settings.

Whether you're looking to strengthen your evaluations, improve collaboration with teachers, or better justify your services in IEP meetings, this episode provides a clear, actionable framework you can start using right away.

🎧 Listen now to learn how to connect your OT services to what matters most in schools—student participation and academic success.

Learning Objectives

— Learners will identify how to link occupational therapy interventions to academic or state standards to improve educational relevance and advocacy in school settings.

— Learners will differentiate between proximal (sensory processing) and distal (participation/academic) outcomes to strengthen clinical reasoning and goal writing.

— Learners will identify how to integrate state standards into the referral and evaluation process.

Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks for tuning into the OT Schoolhouse Podcast brought to you by the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative Community for school-based OTPs. In OTS Collab, we use community-powered professional development to learn together and implement strategies together.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show and check out the show notes for every episode at OTSchoolhouse.com

See you in the next episode!

Artificial intelligence is quickly entering healthcare and education, and occupational therapists are asking an important question: How can we use AI responsibly without losing the clinical reasoning that defines our profession? In this episode, Jayson Davies sits down with OT educator and researcher Tara Mansour to explore practical, ethical ways school-based OT practitioners can begin using AI tools.

Tara shares how she teaches future occupational therapists to use AI as a “first draft partner” while still prioritizing evidence-based practice, professional judgment, and student-centered care. They also discuss privacy considerations, prompt strategies, treatment planning ideas, and how AI can support data collection, documentation, and intervention development.

If you're curious about how AI might fit into your school-based OT workflow—or concerned about how it could impact clinical reasoning—this episode provides a thoughtful and practical perspective. Tune in to learn how AI can support occupational therapy while keeping the human clinician firmly in the loop.

Listen now to learn the following objectives:

— Learners will describe appropriate ways AI tools can support school-based OT practice, including treatment planning, documentation drafting, and intervention idea generation.

— Learners will explain ethical and privacy considerations when using AI, including FERPA and HIPAA concerns and strategies for de-identifying student information.

— Learners will identify the "human-in-the-loop" approach to AI-assisted practice, distinguishing between AI-generated versus AI-assisted work and the role of critical clinical reasoning in evaluating AI outputs.

Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks for tuning into the OT Schoolhouse Podcast brought to you by the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative Community for school-based OTPs. In OTS Collab, we use community-powered professional development to learn together and implement strategies together.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show and check out the show notes for every episode at OTSchoolhouse.com

See you in the next episode!

Join us in this episode where Nicole Dahl shares her powerful journey as a parent navigating occupational therapy services for her son on the autism spectrum. She opens up about the challenges of understanding the "why" behind therapy activities and the frustration of disconnected communication between providers, teachers, and home.

Through Nicole's story, school-based OT practitioners gain invaluable insight into what parents truly need: clear explanations in plain language, collaborative communication between all team members, and practical strategies they can implement at home. She emphasizes that while the journey wasn't always smooth, consistent OT support—combined with strong parent education—transformed her son's trajectory from struggling in isolation to thriving as a high school senior and water polo team captain.

Ready to hear how better communication and parent partnership can make all the difference in a child's IEP journey? Listen now to gain perspective that will transform how you work with families and create lasting impact beyond the therapy session.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the critical importance of communicating the "why" behind OT interventions to parents in accessible, non-clinical language to increase understanding and home carryover
• Recognize the value of collaborative communication between school-based OT, outpatient providers, teachers, and parents to create cohesive support systems for students
• Identify practical strategies for empowering parents as active IEP team members through education, consistent feedback loops, and actionable recommendations they can implement at home

Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks for tuning into the OT Schoolhouse Podcast brought to you by the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative Community for school-based OTPs. In OTS Collab, we use community-powered professional development to learn together and implement strategies together.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show and check out the show notes for every episode at OTSchoolhouse.com

See you in the next episode!