Occupational Therapist - Long Term Sub

**Term of Assignment:  A Long term OT sub is needed from approximately February - May 2024.  

POSITION TITLE:  Occupational Therapist - Long Term Substitute                                              

POSITION STATUS:  Exempt

DIRECT SUPERVISOR: Special Education Coordinator

CORE HOURS: Monday – Friday, 7:45 am – 4:15 pm

DUTY DAYS : February 7, 2024 - May 24, 2024 (approximately)

POSITION PURPOSE

To support academic and nonacademic outcomes in a grade 7-12 charter school environment. This position will work with individual students, small groups of students, and support professionals in the classroom.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Provides student specific direct and indirect occupational therapy services as determined by Individual Education Plan (IEP) team, including: :
  • social skills and sensory/regulation strategies
  • academic needs
  • behavior management
  • activities of daily living
  • fine motor and visual motor skills
  • assistive technology use
  • functional skills and pre-vocational/vocational participation
  • increasing motivation for students with disabilities
• Conducts appropriate occupational therapy screening, evaluation, and intervention services to support students with disabilities who are referred by Lionsgate Academy personnel and parents. This includes collaboration with the student's mental health team and assessing skills in the community.     
• Creates and manages a sensory regulation space appropriate to the needs of the students within the building.
• Develops and documents present levels of performance, IEP goals, and objectives based on outcomes of assessment.
• Teaches or co-teaches small groups on topics related to acquisition of daily living skills, fine motor skills, and self-regulation skills for students with DCD/ASD with a cognitive impairment.  
• Follows departmental and state guidelines for providing screening, evaluation, and intervention services for children with disabilities including maintaining compliance with due process requirements, professional peer review, and administrative review policies.
• Evaluates the student’s ability and formulates the student’s occupational profile through a variety of functional, behavioral, and standardized assessments, skilled observation, checklists, histories, and interviews.
• Communicates regularly with district personnel, building principal/site director, students, care providers, parents, etc.
• Supports parents of children with disabilities to understand the role of occupational therapy services in schools.
• Participates in multidisciplinary meetings to review evaluation results, integrates findings with other disciplines, offers recommendations, and develops individual education plans and intervention plans to achieve IEP goals.
• Co-teaches and collaborates with classroom teachers, manages special projects related to occupational skill development (including the LGA Cafe) and consults with the school regarding implementation of universal interventions, including flexible seating and other assistive technology use on a universal level.
• Provides student-specific technical behavioral and visual support.
• Adapts, constructs, and/or recommends specialized equipment to facilitate student performance.
• Supports classroom personnel to effectively use classroom-based technology and assistive technologies to facilitate student success.
• Works with students and school personnel to support and implement proactive behavior management and sensory regulation (i.e. sensory diet) strategies.
• Maintains positive, professional relationships and uses appropriate verbal, nonverbal, and written communication with all individuals.

OTHER POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides professional development/ in-services for school personnel on topics including, but not limited to:
  • universal design
  • use of the school based regulation station sensory room
  • motor skills
  • self-help skill development in children with disabilities as it impacts success at school.
• Serves as a resource for campus administration concerning the interpretation of the occupational therapy program and also addressing barriers limiting the participation of students with disabilities across educational environments.
• Participates in the Assistive Technology committee.
• Coordinates, schedules, and monitors movement space.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

COMPETENCIES

• Commitment to the mission and vision of Lionsgate Academy
• Willingness to work with middle and high school students on the autism spectrum
• Flexibility
• Knowledge of autism and other disabilities and their effects on sensory, motor, psychosocial, and cognitive development and function
• Ability to communicate effectively with education personnel, administrators, parents, students,and community members.
• Ability to explain the role of of occupational therapy within the school settings to education personnel, parents, students, and community members
• Ability to engage in collaborative decision making with IEP team members
• Professional reasoning and behavior
• Initiative

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

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. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is very active and requires standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, crouching, crawling and climbing all day.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

MENTAL DEMANDS

The mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job:

• Ability to read, analyze and interpret periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations 
• Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals 
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, students, parents, and the general public
• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as percentages, mean, mode, and median 
• Ability to draw and interpret bar graphs
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Current MN Occupational Therapy license

• Ability to operate a computer and the software necessary to complete required job tasks

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• One year previous experience in a middle or high school setting

• Knowledge and experience working with students with autism and mental health diagnoses (including emotional-behavioral disorders and moderate-severe developmental disabilities).

• Experience developing IEPs and communicating with parents and interdisciplinary team members

• Experience creating sensory-motor programs for students within the school setting in grades 7-12

This position description is intended to indicate the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty that will be required of positions that will be given this title and shall not be construed as declaring what the specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position shall be. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his/her supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned. Ability to competently perform all of the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation, demonstrated commitment, and the ability to work productively as a member of a team or work group are basic responsibilities of all positions at Lionsgate Academy.