Some refugee kids have extra challenges to overcome whilst preparing for school in Australia. We want them to be able to access specialized help at school when they need it. And ultimately we want them to thrive and participate fully in our community.
We work to support University of Queensland and Milpera State High School as they prepare to establish the first life skills OT service of it's kind! At the bottom of the page is an update about the OT students who have been involved in semester one 2008.
The basic idea: a “Life Skills” OT service in the school
Student teams will deliver OT services alongside a clinical educator at the school. The clinical educator will also coordinate and supervise the year long project. The project is the first in Australia that we know of, so it's important to gather data along the way to inform further projects and funding. The beauty of this project is that it's so highly leveraged and such a sustainable use of resources! Also having a relationship with a local university opens up other opportunities to access student input.
Target: students who are unaccompanied minors, fleeing domestic violence, have adult or caring responsibilities, head of household in a functional sense.
Occupational problems: Refugee students struggling in other life roles (taking care of themselves, home, accessing services etc) may undermine their school attendance, health, safety, or academic performance.
Occupational solutions: Occupational therapists are experts at determining where and my occupational performance breaks down once teachers refer for a screen of life roles and life skills. The occupational therapist may uncover needs better redirected elsewhere, or may provide direct services to develop life skills and strategies to function in the life roles impacting school performance.
Why this OT role: Milpera is the time and space refugee students are acculturating significantly in terms of new life skills for a new world – whilst trying to maintain and improve school performance. The more energy students have for school, rather than surviving in other life roles, the faster they’re able to transition through Milpera. Assessing and intervening to enhance life roles and life skills is “bread and butter” occupational therapy practice.
How and why did the project emerge?
Occupational Opportunities for Refugees & Asylum Seekers (OOFRAS) is a collaborative of occupational therapists working towards making services more accessible for refugees and asylum seekers experiencing problems with daily occupations.
Clarissa Wilson is a practicing occupational therapist, OOFRAS coordinator, and student supervisor. Student supervision affords opportunity for OOFRAS, the organisation, and the student to learn together as we work towards solutions for the real and complex issues that individually, OOFRAS, the organisation, and the student, don’t have the resources to address. Paul Lamprecht was a final year occupational therapy student from James Cook University.
Milpera State High School prepares students, many from a refugee background with multiple barriers to school performance, to thrive in a mainstream school. Milpera is a community of expert staff, passionate volunteers, and networks of community agencies well aware that how a student performs at school is a function of many, many other variables other than the quality of teaching.
Mia Robinson, a University of Queensland occupational therapy student participated in Milpera for two days a week in class room activities in December 2006. The placement concluded with a meeting with Milpera staff identifying student needs where occupational therapy services would assist; living skills, learning, and developmental difficulties.
The University of Queensland’s occupational therapy “Life Skills Clinic” met with OOFRAS February 2007. The clinic provides paediatric services to schools and individual children with developmental, learning, and school difficulties. The University sends teams of students to provide services under the coordination and supervision of a clinical educator for a semester block.
Paul Lamprecht, a James Cook University occupational therapy student participated in Milpera February – May 2007 with project aims of exploring where and how an OT service could add value to Milpera whilst he engaged with individual student, groups, staff, and volunteers. Of the project report recommendations, the Life Skills OT service was the most warmly received by the school and university.
In summary, the basic problem and solution.
1. Milpera staff noted children with occupational problems that affect their progression through Milpera and/or function in new life roles in Australia.
2. Milpera students had limited access to occupational therapy services (cost of private services, eligibility criteria for Education Queensland and Queensland Health therapists)
3. A relationship with the University of Queensland “Life Skills Clinic” is a highly leveraged way to access occupational therapy services considering return on investment. (i.e. part time clinical educator = team of students providing services for a semester block) It would also add value to the Milpera community with potential for sustainability.
The university and school are warm and ready to explore this opportunity, and funding for the clinical educator will be the spark to light the fire!
Finding this spark is the job of the Brisbane OOFRAS group - talk to us if you want more info or to partner with us!
(In the meantime, buy a Tshirt or book your ticket to the Eritrean dinner -- see home page!)
Summary of Occupational Therapy Involvement at Milpera Semester One 2008
Four students are working in pairs at Milpera this semester. Two students in the Foundation Class (earliest level class for combined age groups) and two students in the Young Beginners Class (second level for the Junior school).
Students have selected one pupil, in collaboration with the class teacher, who is having difficulties learning and accessing the school curriculum
At request of Milpera, and consistent with the culture of the school, the students have integrated much of their assessment and intervention into the fabric of what is occurring already in each classroom.
The approach to assessment and intervention is focussed on occupational performance concerns and how these can be addressed through task and environmental adaptation in the classroom environment.
In the Young Beginner Class - One student has been able to successfully complete her intervention with one pupil regarding handwriting and is now able to work with a different pupil who is having difficulties participating in classroom activities. The second student has been working with a pupil who has had significant and ongoing
difficulties with reading and is seeing progress with her in this task.
In the Foundation Class the students have had the opportunity to participate in both classroom and excursion activities (excursions occur on the day we work at the school). Pupils in this class have the least English language and/or education background. This has been a challenge for students to be able to effectively assess the factors that are limiting performance. However the students have been able to use opportunities to observe and test hypotheses. These students are at the stage of implementing goal based strategies relating to participation, reading, spelling, drawing and organisational based difficulties.
The plan for conclusion of our involvement this semester is to provide practical summary reports of the work we have been doing with individual pupils and to host a forum/in-service where staff members will be invited to hear about the development of the role of occupational therapy at Milpera and to ask questions.
