assistive technology service is defined as “any services that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.” As related service providers, occupational therapy practitioners should be key members of the teams that assist individuals with disabilities in AT services delivery. Occupational therapy, as defined in the occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and Process–Fourth Edition (2020), is the “therapeutic use of everyday life occupations with persons, groups, or populations for the purpose of enhancing or enabling participation.” The American Occupational Therapy Association’s Position Statement regarding AT devices and services in occupational therapy practice (2024) clearly states the relevance of AT across every aspect of service delivery for OTPs in a variety of practice settings, age groups, and disability profiles. While AT services were once considered a specialized area of practice for OTPs, the influx of commercially available assistive technology as well as the integral role of technology across all aspects of occupational participation, makes it essential for all OT practitioners to have foundational skills related to AT across the OT process (AOTA, 2024). While “assistive technology” can be used to encompass the general areas of devices, services, and systems, the AOTA Position Statement (2024) categorizes AT devices into general functional categories including personal mobility, community mobility, communication technologies, computer and mobile technologies, robotics, technologies for the home, and activities of daily living and self care. CHALLENGES IN AT EDUCATION The 2023 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education guidelines contain two curriculum standards directly referring to education around AT. In general, OTP students must implement AT "to reflect the changing needs of the client, sociocultural context, and technological advances" (B.3.8). In addition, ACOTE specifies that OT and OTA students must “apply the principles of assessment” and “describe the collaboration process with OT” respectively “to identify appropriate features of assistive technologies and durable medical equipment to support the client’s participation”. OT students must demonstrate the ability to “design, fabricate, apply, fit, and train in assistive technologies and devices used to enhance occupational performance”(B.3.15). Since AT encompasses such a wide breadth of categories and services and the language supporting its integration in occupational therapy education is general, it is not possible for each program to have the same activities and learning objectives for specific types of AT. Therefore, while each program must demonstrate learning activities to achieve these minimum standards, the depth of material and access to AT is variable across accredited OT and OTA programs. In addition, advanced training in AT varies across OTP faculty, further limiting the generalizability of curricular materials.
While some occupational therapy programs dedicate whole courses to the implementation of assistive technology across practice settings and among a variety of clients, other programs include less than a full day of content directly relating to assistive technology. Furthermore, research demonstrates (Penman et al, 2024) the value of hands-on learning and exposure to the different types of equipment and AT that clinicians might encounter in practice, but financial resources and variability in equipment cause further variability in the experience of students in their pre-services training to AT. As new OT and OTA graduates enter the field of occupational therapy, their individual fieldwork experiences and programmatic exposure to AT typically dictate their interest in pursuing further advanced training in AT, perpetuating the cycle of limited exposure. NEAR-PEER TEACHING Near-peer teaching (NPT), generally understood to be a method of peer teaching where the student in the teaching role is at least one year ahead in the same academic program than the students in the student role, can be an effective method to enhance learning outcomes for both the student teacher and the peer (Pinter, et al, 2021). NPT, a subset of peer-assisted learning and sometimes referred to as near-peer mentoring, near-peer tutoring, or cross-peer assisted learning, often occurs in small groups where the more experienced peer models and reinforces learning of their less experienced peers, thereby both teaching peers and learning through teaching (Penman et. al, 2024). The idea behind NPT is that both the near peers and the near learners are cognitively and socially congruent. The more advanced near-peers can explain difficult topics and/or how they learned a more complex technical skills or concept to less academically advanced peers with shared student roles, problems and demands (Loda et. al, 2019). Students learning from near-peers have reported lower pressure when learning from near-peers, leading to more willingness to take risks in their learning. In addition, the near peer teachers gain confidence and teamwork skills to help them in their future practitioner roles (Markowski et. al, 2021). HARNESSING NEAR-PEER TEACHING IN ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STUDENTS During their final semester of academic programming, entry level occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students are required to complete a doctoral capstone experience (DCE). The DCE consists of a 14 week full-time experience and final project, demonstrating the synthesis and application of knowledge gained during in- depth exposure to one or more focused areas. The OTD program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) structures capstones around three central tracks (Education, Community, and Research), encompassing the eight knowledge areas identified by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE,
21
April / May, 2025 | www.closingthegap.com/membership Closing The Gap © 2025 Closing The Gap, Inc. All rights reserved.
BACK TO CONTENTS
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator