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OT student tells Benton County board rural schools underutilize occupational therapy
Summary
An occupational therapy student presented data to the Benton County Board of Education saying only a small share of students who might benefit currently receive OT services and urged the district to consider expanding school-based therapy and billing options such as Medicaid.
Cindy Baker, an occupational therapy student doing a capstone placement in Benton County, told the Benton County Board of Education that district students who could benefit from school-based occupational therapy (OT) are receiving services at very low rates and at infrequent intervals.
Baker said the district has about 65 students with Section 504 plans and about 662 students overall who might benefit from OT; of those, she said roughly 43 students (about 6 percent) were receiving OT services in school. "It's a big misconception that OTs only do handwriting in the school because there's so much more that they're able to do," Baker said, listing supports such as sensory regulation, emotional regulation, social skills, attention and classroom adaptations.
Baker described her capstone needs assessment at an elementary school, where she observed teachers pausing class an average of about 9.36 times per 45-minute session to manage behavior or attention issues. She said her review of comparable rural districts found others provide school-based OT at least once per week, and she urged Benton County to consider increasing frequency and staffing.
Why it matters: Baker told the board that students with unmet OT needs can fall further behind academically and that teachers face burnout when classroom disruptions are frequent. She identified potential local funding paths including IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) allocations for students with IEPs and billing Medicaid (school-based Medicaid) as options to expand services without requiring the district to bear the full cost.
Supporting details and district context: Baker explained the difference between a licensed OT and an OT assistant (assistant carries out treatment plans; licensed OT provides evaluations and oversight). She said ideal school-based delivery commonly used elsewhere is about 30 minutes once per week in the natural classroom environment, though clinicians may pull a child for one-on-one work where appropriate. Baker reported that in Benton County contracted OT services currently deliver far fewer sessions (she cited "about three times a year" as the frequency she observed from contract records).
Baker also presented a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis: strengths included engaged teachers and existing related services (speech, counseling); weaknesses included limited licensed OT/PT availability, limited dedicated therapy space, and the small number of students receiving frequent services; opportunities included an existing contract with a local provider (Therapy and Learning Center) and Medicaid billing; threats included students falling further behind and potential legal repercussions if parental rights are perceived as unmet.
Board response and next steps: During questions, a board member asked whether an OT would typically pull a child from class or work in the classroom; Baker and district staff said push-in (in-class) services are preferred and that one session per week of about 30 minutes is a common standard when capacity allows. Director of Schools (present at the meeting) acknowledged Benton County uses therapy assistants and contracts to provide services and said billing and contracting practices have improved, but added that hiring licensed therapists would require budget decisions.
Baker closed by urging the board to consider the data when setting related-services priorities and budgets; she said her goal was to start conversations rather than propose an immediate overhaul.
