1. KINDERGARTEN PARTICIPATION
CHECKLIST
Bringing Natick Up-to-Date One Step at a
Time

2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
 To improve the current occupational therapy
evaluation process in the Natick Public Schools, an
occupational therapy checklist covering typical skills
needed by kindergarteners to participate in
classroom and school related activities was
developed to be filled out by kindergarten teachers.
 A survey assessing the administering occupational
therapist’s perception of the checklist was developed
to measure the effectiveness of the checklist for the
purpose of writing participation-based occupational
therapy evaluations.

3. PROJECT PURPOSE
 To bring Natick OT evaluations and therapy up to date with the
1997 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education
Act.
 At the onset of this school year my case load was 100% pull out
services.
 Headings for our current evaluations address component areas
(e.g., ocular motor skills, postural strength and stability, fine/visual
motor skills).
 Referral information, classroom observations, and teacher
interview are not the norm when performing OT evaluations.
 Formal opportunities for general education curriculum training for
OTs and PTs do not exist.

4. THE PROCESS
 Reviewed course content from PASS institute.
 Contacted 3 kindergarten teachers (2 out of district, 1 in district)
to get a sense of a typical daily schedule and expectations for
their students across performance areas (e.g., self-help
skills, classroom participation, social participation, materials
management).
 Reviewed Massachusetts Kindergarten curriculum guidelines
 Envisioned new headings for OT evaluations to use as headings
in the kindergarten checklist. Decided to go with headings
suggested by Jan from PASS institute.
 Initially intended to make a questionnaire, but checklist format
won out because of ease in completion for teachers.

5. THE PROCESS CONTINUED….
 Planned on having teachers rate the checklist for effectiveness.
After reflection and feedback from peers, I realized the true
intention of the project was to facilitate improved OT
evaluations, so I needed to survey the OTs to see if this tool was
useful for that purpose.
 Then developed a kindergarten checklist survey for the OTs to fill
out to assess the usefulness of the information gathered from the
checklist for writing participation based OT evaluations.
 In the spirit of collaboration and improving teacher’s
understanding of the role of OT in the school system a question
was added to the end of the checklist to assess whether it was
helpful in improving the teacher’s perception of the role of OT.

6. THE PROCESS GOES ON….
 Planned on having all the OTs in Natick (a whopping 3 total!)
administer the checklist to a kindergarten teacher whose
student was being evaluated this fall.
 This backfired since there were no kindergarten kids up for
OT evaluations.
 Instead had the OTs use the checklist with a current teacher
and kindergartener on their caseload, explaining the
intension of the project was to use the information gathered
from the checklist to inform our clinical reasoning when
writing a participation-based OT evaluation.

7. MORE PROCESS….
 Met with the principal of one of my elementary schools, and with
the special education director, to discuss the content of the
institute.
 Both were very excited and supportive of the shift toward collaborative
goals, working in the least restrictive environment (moving away from pull out
services), and developing an evaluation template that reflected classroom
participation.
 The OT and PT department was a different story!
 One OT was in favor of the change.
 The other OT and two PTs were resistant to change.
 The main fear was loosing their “professional identity” and in turn job
security.
 The less favorable OT was under the impression that the checklist was
intended to replace a classroom observation (instead of complimenting
one), which skewed her responses when completing the survey.

8. END GOAL
 I set out to create a questionnaire for kindergarten teachers to
fill out to gain participation-based referral information for
students who were going through the OT evaluation process.
 While I did not get to test-run the checklist on a student going
through the evaluation process, four checklists were utilized
with a total of 4 teachers and three OTs (myself included) for
students currently receiving OT services.
 In retrospect, the beginning of kindergarten is not the best time
for a student to be evaluated since they have not had a chance
to be exposed to the curriculum and the routine of being in
school. Administering the checklist in the middle of the year
may have been more realistic.
 The checklist provided a framework to initiate a paradigm shift
among the OT/PT staff toward more collaborative and
participation based evaluation and treatment processes.

9. MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS
 Results of the two Occupational Therapists who
completed the effectiveness survey……..

10. YES SOME NO N/A
MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS WHAT
1.)Was the checklist easy to administer? ✓✓
2.)Was teacher feedback positive toward the ✓ ✓
checklist?
3.) Did you receive it back from the teacher in a ✓✓
timely fashion?
4.) Did the checklist support your rapport ✓ ✓
building with the teacher?
5.) Did the checklist include relevant information ✓ ✓
needed to write a participation-based
evaluation?
6.) Did the information gathered from the ✓ ✓
checklist assist you in writing participation-
based goals and objectives?
7.) Did the information obtained from the ✓ ✓
checklist drive your evaluation process
(e.g., influence your classroom observation –
scheduling/inform your clinical
observations, assist in choosing evaluation

11. MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS CONTINUED
 Teacher question response of the four teachers who
utilized the checklist:
Did this checklist assist you in gaining a better
understanding of school participation-based areas
supported by school-based occupational therapy
services?

12. THE RESULTS……
25%
50%
YES
25% NO
SOMEWHAT

13. UNEXPECTED EFFECTIVENESS MEASURE
 Checklist proved to be a good tool to use for the
Child Study and RTI process.
 Used the checklist to provide strategies for a
struggling kindergarten student.
 Completed checklist and strategy suggestions were
reviewed by child study team with positive
feedback.
 The checklist will now be use for future child study
cases.

14. NEXT STEPS
 Create student participation-based checklist for other grades.
 Revamp the evaluation template – in the works!
 Write collaborative participation based goals and objectives.
 Continue to educate myself and related service staff on current
research regarding best-practices for school-based clinicians.
 Move from direct service model to in-class therapy and consultation
on upcoming IEPs.
 Develop a “work load” schedule and an operational definition of the
role of the occupational therapist in the Natick public school system.
 For related service providers to participate in general education
professional development opportunities.
 Develop a related services website for the Natick Public Schools.