Autism School- Pranaah Ability School-School Readiness program with OTs and SLPs
Pranaah Ability School's therapy team comprises of Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Speech and Language Therapists (SLPs) who work as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team. The OTs and SLPs provide specialised, pupil-centred services to support all pupils to access their education and social development opportunities.
We endeavour to include neurodiversity affirming practice in our approach to support pupils at Pranaah Ability School. This includes:
A focus on developing communication and self-advocacy skills.
A focus on developing self-esteem and recognising strengths and needs within ourselves.
Exploring balanced perspectives from both neurodiverse and neuro-typical viewpoints.
Individualised targets that are based around things that are important to our pupils, and meet their interests and needs.
Approaches that have been co-developed by neuro-divergent people such as Autism Level Up!
Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy at Pranaah Ability School aims to promote wellbeing, identity, and independence in our kids. The Occupational Therapy service is committed to all pupils through a child-centred, to develop their skills to support their access to education, and functional independence.
Each pupil receives input from qualified Occupational Therapists with training in Sensory Integration and experience in working with autistic people. This input consists of direct 1:1 therapy sessions, OT programmes and integrated OT targets, OT groups, and integrated OT strategies throughout the school at a universal level (e.g. staff training; close multi-disciplinary working; consulting on the environment and equipment. The OT team also work with parents and carers through training and liaison to support the pupil and their family at home.
The OTs work with all of the pupils at the school to develop the following skills where needed:
1. Sensory processing
2. Play skills
3. Gross motor
4. Fine motor
5. Visual motor integration
6. Visual perception skills
7. Motor planning and sequencing
8. Organisation
9. Handwriting and typing
10. Independent living skills
11. Developing interests and hobbies
12. Self-care
The focus of Occupational Therapy may change as the pupils move from primary provision.. For example, a primary pupil’s OT programme is likely to have an emphasis on developing fine and gross motor skills, whereas, Managing sensory differences is an area of priority throughout the pupil’s school life for OT at Pranaah Ability School.
The OT team are also on hand and available to support pupils and families at home with issues such as:
Toileting
Independent living skills
Sleep needs
Sensory regulation and co-regulation
Speech and Language Therapy
Speech and Language Therapy at Pranaah Ability School is embedded throughout the daily experience and learning opportunities of the students. Alongside 1:1 therapy sessions and therapist led groups, our support includes training for staff throughout the year. We also work closely with families and care teams to support generalisation of our pupil’s skills across home and school. This may include learning opportunities such as workshops for parents and carers.
Pranaah Ability School uses a Total Communication approach, where all forms of communication are valued and supported. Methods of communication supported at Pranaah Ability School include:–
Speech and Verbal Language–
Hand signs (Signalong) and gestures–
Paper based visual communication strategies such as communication books/boards, PECS, choice boards etc.–
Hi tech communication (such as apps on iPad/iPod or other electronic Talkers)–
Development of literacy skills for pupils who can communicate through text to speech apps.
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