Occupational therapy students show learning can be fun and games

The occupational therapy (OT) students are completing a seven-week placement in the classroom with the aim to observe the children and undertake a project to improve the students’ social skills and cognitive function.

The Living School is currently operating from Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus after their building on Conway Street was inundated by floodwaters in February 2022.

Occupational therapy student Kora Schaefer and her partner Sam observed that the children were having issues with boredom during playtime and difficulties in choosing an activity, so they developed a game spinner to help the students decide on a game to play.

The wooden spinner includes a number of different types of play for the students to engage in. The games included in the spinner were chosen based on popularity and opportunities to improve occupational performance issues.

“Because the kids are in a temporary school, there isn’t a playground for them to play in,” said Kora. “After observing their play, we started to notice that they really love games and are very competitive. But they have issues deciding what to play and what groups to play in.

“We wanted to give them a game for games. They come up to it, spin it, it lands on a game and that’s their choice decided for them.

 “The students formed groups of people that they didn’t normally play with which was something we really wanted to see. It was definitely a success.”

Kora chose to study occupational therapy to combine her experience as an artist and a support worker. “When I did art, I found it really therapeutic for myself and I’ve realised that a lot of people with disabilities turn to art to get them through hard times. I thought, how can I blend together health, healing and art? I found with OT, because it is quite a broad creative therapy, I could incorporate artistic values.”

Occupational therapy students Ruby Livesey and Anne Johnson have focused their project on how organisation in a classroom can affect productivity for students.

“We’re focusing on the transition periods through the day. So, coming back from lunch and getting back into focus and working,” said Ruby.

“The kids were struggling with organisation and making sure they have everything to learn. We have researched and put together a checklist as well as a teacher resource on the benefits of organisation in a classroom and how that improves productivity.”

Anne said there are great benefits to introducing occupational therapy to the classroom.

“The more I study, the more I realise that occupational therapy is everywhere. In regards to its application, you could have an OT employed at every school full-time,” Anne said.

After working in the construction industry for ten years and reading occupational therapy briefs – and having a partner who is a builder – Anne felt inspired to pursue her goal of creating accessible housing.

“There is a big market for that and a lot of need for it. That was my push to get into OT,” Anne said.

The Living School Care Maker and student placement supervisor Bhavni Stewart said it’s been great to see the occupational therapy students deliver projects to improve social interaction for a range of different children.

“What I love about what they have done is they’ve made it very non-specific, it’s not gender or age-specific. It allows a cross-section of kids to join in,” Bhavni said.

“The OT students were the ones engaging with the students and asking what they need and want. So, as far as the school community goes, we just stepped back and allowed this relationship to develop.”