The Impact of Occupational Therapy at Our School/Center
Occupational Therapy at MCC is a core “related service” embedded in a transdisciplinary educational framework,
MCCs’ and MBCs’ instructional approach integrates ABA principles alongside speech and occupational therapies, with an explicit commitment to collaboration among disciplines and with families.
In that regard, Occupational Therapy does not function as just a separate add-on service.
Occupational therapists are working “hand in hand” within the larger team of classroom teachers, speech-language pathologists, job coaches, adaptive physical education coaches, and musical therapists to accelerate learning and skill acquisition.
Core OT focus areas (skills and performance domains)
Occupational Therapy School is provided within a notable “lifespan school-age to transition-age” framework (participation, independence, community integration, and inclusion), not limited to fine motor or sensory-only support.
Occupational therapists use purposeful activities that integrate multiple foundational skill sets, including:
Sensorimotor and sensory processing skills
Visual-perceptual and cognitive skills
Fine motor and graphomotor skills
Gross motor coordination skills
These foundation skills translate to occupational performance domains, including:
Sensory processing and self-regulation
Academic skills (handwriting, typing, use of computer technologies)
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) / self-care (feeding, dressing, grooming, and personal hygiene)
Instrumental ADLs (IADLs)
Safety awareness
Assistive technology
Health and wellness
Leisure
Self-determination
Pre-vocational and vocational skills
Service delivery model (how OT is provided day-to-day)
While the service provision model might present with some differences between the Lower and Upper School Division, OT service provision focuses on supporting participation in “meaningful activities” across school, home, and community environments, to promote independent function across all domain of performance and generalization across all environments
Students receive OT through multiple service formats, including:
Individualized OT sessions (student-specific intervention)
OT focused group instruction
Transdisciplinary group instruction for Upper School Students
Lunch/leisure-time consultation
Virtual Reality-based skill development
From an OT lens, this is essentially occupation-based intervention in real or simulated contexts, aligned with IADLs, safety, mobility in the community, and pre-vocational participation.
Generalization of targeted skills to natural contexts is facilitated through
Increased time within treatment sessions spent in the community
Shopping and restaurant routines
Safety skills and emergency preparedness
Leisure skills
Public transportation
Pre-vocational/vocational training targeted both simulated and natural ‘work’ environments
Job exploration
Vocational skills
Units run in 4–6 week cycles
Partnerships with local businesses and first responders (examples given include FDNY and NYPD)
Integrated “co-treat” model to embed OT goals in daily classroom instruction and routines, so students have multiple opportunities to practice and generalize targeted skills.
One weekly OT session includes a co-treatment with the classroom instructor, or MCC also specifies operational features:
Transition services (OT role in assessment, planning, and training)
Occupational therapists are an integral part of the transition planning team, including responsibilities across:
Contributing to “all necessary assessment aspects”
Developing the transition plan
Participating in student training across functional performance areas such as:
Independent living
Vocational training
Wellness habits and routines
Family collaboration and caregiver education
OT collaboration extends to families/caregivers through:
Constant communication
Parent education via in-person/hands-on training
Workshops
Families are “equal partner[s]” in the educational process and are empowered in that role as open-door collaborators with the larger MCC team.
Technology and “future-facing” OT programming (coding example)
OT has always been exploring ways to incorporate the latest technologies into the intervention landscape. These include:
Coding,
Video gaming,
Virtual reality,
How OT supports academic, social, and emotional development.
Occupational Therapy is explicitly positioned to strengthen students’ participation in school routines and learning, while also targeting self-regulation and functional independence through integrated (co-treated) instruction and natural-context practice.
Academic development
Builds “learning-ready” foundations that directly support classroom performance: MCC notes OT uses purposeful activities targeting fine/gross motor, sensory processing, visual-perceptual, and cognitive skills—all prerequisites for accessing instruction, materials, and classroom routines.
Accelerates skill acquisition through embedded collaboration
Pushes practice into daily instruction via co-treats
Supports access through assistive technology and tech-enabled routines)
Social development
OT Targets participation in leisure and real-world community contexts:
Directly contributes to community-based instruction (CBI):
Builds interpersonal and teamwork skills in “life skills” routines, by building interpersonal and leisure skills
Emotional Development at MCC
Sensory-regulation and emotional-regulation is a central OT outcomes. Students are introduced to self-regulation awareness training through the Alert Program and Zones of Regulation curricula, which are closely related to the Social Thinking Curriculum.
Sensory and emotional regulation strategies are promoted through co-treatment and natural contexts:
Examples of student progress due to OT interventions.
MCC has concrete, program-based examples of the types of functional gains students work toward (and practice) through OT-integrated instruction, community-based work, and life-skills programming.
Increased independence in self-care and ADLs
Students become more independent with feeding, dressing, grooming, and personal hygiene:
Tolerating and incorporating a larger food repertoire
Tolerating toothbrushing
Tolerating hair brushing
Tolerating nail clipping
Tolerating Hair cutting
Tolerating and participating in dentist visits
Tolerating and participating in doctor visits
Tolerating vaccinations and blood drawn procedures
Home-management and IADL competence
Folding clothes, making a bed, organizing belongings
Completing household chores like dusting and vacuuming, setting the table for a meal, loading and unloading a dishwasher
Practicing laundry and sweeping
Meal preparation, food routines, and task sequencing:
toaster oven, blender, air fryer safe usage
Completing recipes
Food portioning
Cleaning after meals
Making lunch
Stronger community participation skills (generalization beyond school)
Shopping and restaurants
Safety skills and emergency preparedness
Public transportation
Job exploration and vocational skills
Improved executive-function and “learning-to-learn” behaviors via OT activities
Problem-solving
Planning
Attention
Navigation (The Manhattan Childrens Center – Occupational Therapy School, New York City )
Collaboration between OT and teaching staff.
MCC Occupational Therapy (OT)–teacher collaboration integrated, routine-embedded, and explicitly structured to promote skill generalization, rather than functioning as a separate “pull-out” service.
How OT benefits extend beyond the classroom.
OT is intentionally structured to produce carryover—so skills acquired in therapy translate to students’ functioning in home routines, community participation, and long-term independence, not only classroom performance.
A concrete “beyond the classroom” example is the Life Skills Apartment, which is directly supporting real-life routines—hygiene, meal preparation, home maintenance, and fitness—with tasks like laundry, sweeping, brushing teeth, and making lunch selected to build sensory regulation, motor planning, and executive function.
Evidence or research supporting OT practices in autism education.
Domínguez-Lucio, S., et al. “Occupational Therapy Interventions Using New Technologies in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 53, no. 1, 2023, pp. 332–58, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05431-3.
Mowell, Megan, et al. “Exploration of Common Sensory Interventions Utilized in School-Based Occupational Therapy.” Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools & Early Intervention, vol. 16, no. 2, 2023, pp. 212–24, https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2022.2027839.
Rekoutis, P. A. (2023). Providing Occupational Therapy for Individuals with Autism. In Willard and Spackman’s Occupational Therapy (14th Ed.). Baltimore, MD: Wolters Kluwer.
Rekoutis, P. A., (2013). Parents of Children with Autism: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. AG & Co. KG, ISBN-13: 9783659144165.
Tomchek, Scott, et al. “Occupational Therapy Interventions for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder.” The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol. 71, no. 1, 2017, pp. 7101395010-7101395010p3, https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2017.711003.
Watroba, Anni, et al. “Effectiveness of School-Based Occupational Therapy Interventions on School Skills and Abilities Among Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Systematic Review.” Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools & Early Intervention, vol. 17, no. 3, 2024, pp. 671–703, https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2023.2224793.
The Original Blog is Published at The Impact of Occupational Therapy at Our School/Center















