Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. OT programs include practice education that is a vital aspect of professional practice preparation. The Community–Academia Student Tutoring (CAST) program was developed to enhance OT students’ perceived readiness for their practice placement. The results of the study revealed that the CAST is a useful model of a prefieldwork program for fostering students’ feelings of competency and readiness for their practice placement. Primary Author and Speaker: Miri Tal-Saban Additional Authors and Speakers: Naomi Weintraub

Date Presented 03/26/20 Culture plays an important role in daily life and is expressed in family and educational values and practices. This study examined the impact of culture and gender on children’s participation in preschool activities. One hundred twenty children from two subcultural groups were observed. A significant gender and culture interaction effect was found in play and social areas. These findings suggest that cultural values may influence gender expectations, as well as children’s participation in daily activities. Primary Author and Speaker: Anat Golos Additional Authors and Speakers: Naomi Weintraub

Date Presented 03/27/20 OT programs include clinical practice as a vital aspect of preparation for professional practice. The CAST program was developed to enhance OT students’ perceived readiness for their practice placement. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the CAST program as a useful prefieldwork program for fostering students’ feelings of competency and readiness for their practice placements. Primary Author and Speaker: Miri Tal-Saban Contributing Authors: Naomi Weintraub

Importance: Students with dysgraphia often receive test accommodations to enhance their handwriting legibility or speed. However, these accommodations are seldom individualized to ensure that they actually improve the performance of a specific student. Therefore, a need exists for an evidence-based protocol (henceforth, the Protocol) for selecting individually tailored test accommodations for students with dysgraphia. Objective: To establish the Protocol’s content validity, interrater reliability, and preliminary outcomes through a pilot study. Design: Descriptive and exploratory design. Setting: Research laboratory at a large university in central Israel. Participants: The sample consisted of 25 students (mean age = 24.9 yr, standard deviation = 2.1), of whom 88.0% were male. Inclusion criteria included a previous diagnosis of a specific learning disability and handwriting difficulties. Exclusion criteria were a physical condition or medication intake that may have affected students’ handwriting or typing ability. Results: The Protocol was found to have face validity and high interrater reliability (κ = .80). Its initial use showed that the most suitable accommodations for students with dysgraphia varied and were not always intuitive (e.g., extended time was not always the best accommodation for students with slow handwriting). Conclusions and Relevance: The Protocol appears to be a promising tool to assist occupational therapists in selecting the most appropriate accommodations for students with dysgraphia in a systematic manner. However, additional studies are required to further support these results. What This Article Adds: This study indicates that the selection of the most appropriate accommodation for students with dysgraphia is not always intuitive. It describes a Protocol that enables occupational therapists to select accommodations that are tailored to students’ writing abilities, following a systematic process, while considering the students’ writing performance with and without accommodations.

OBJECTIVE. We aimed to corroborate the effectiveness of the Collaborative Consultation for Participation of Students With Intellectual Disability (Co-PID), intended for enhancing participation in classroom-related activities. METHOD. The study took place in two special education schools and included students with moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities ages 7–20 yr. The schools were randomly assigned to intervention (Co-PID; n = 28 students, n = 4 teachers) and control (In-Service [IS]; n = 32 students, n = 7 teachers) groups. Participation was evaluated at pre- and posttest of an 8-mo intervention. RESULTS. The Co-PID improved students’ ability to choose among provided options. Additionally, the Co-PID group achieved more goals (measured by goal attainment scaling) than the IS group in all participation areas, and their enhanced participation transferred to other school environments (as measured by the School Function Assessment). CONCLUSION. The Co-PID was found to be an effective program for enhancing classroom and school participation.

Date Presented 4/7/2016 The study highlights the associations among orthographic–motor integration, reading speed, visual–motor control, and handwriting performance. The findings indicate that at different stages of handwriting development, the focus of assessment and intervention related to these underlying skills may differ. Primary Author and Speaker: Abeer Salameh-Matar Contributing Authors: Naser Basel, Naomi Weintraub

Date Presented 4/16/2015 The association among physical fitness, obesity, and gender in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typical children was studied. Findings show that children with DCD are less physically fit and more overweight. Girls weighed more and had a significantly higher percentage of body fat than boys. Further studies are essential.

OBJECTIVE. We examined the efficacy of a crisis-based intervention in improving mother–child interaction and children’s play functioning for families who had experienced domestic violence. METHOD. Using a pretest–posttest two-group control study design, we assigned the intervention group (n = 20 mother–child dyads) to the Family Intervention for Improving Occupational Performance (FI–OP) program and the control group (n = 17 dyads) to a playroom program. Both programs consisted of eight 30-min sessions. We videotaped dyads during free play and used standardized tools to assess interactions, play skills, and playfulness. RESULTS. After the intervention, mother–child interaction was significantly better in the FI–OP group than in the playroom group. The children in the FI–OP group also demonstrated significantly greater improvement in play skills, but not in playfulness. CONCLUSION. FI–OP is a promising program for improving aspects of mother–child interaction and children’s play functioning among survivors of domestic violence.

OBJECTIVE. We report the results of a preschool-based multidisciplinary intervention program. METHOD. This study took place in two educational settings and included 81 preschool boys from unique cultural backgrounds and of low social economic status (SES). The settings were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. In the intervention group, boys identified as at risk for or with developmental delays received 8 mo. of intervention through a monitoring model. Additionally, a collaborative consultation model was used with all participants. Performance skills (visual–motor integration, motor, and cognitive) and performance and participation in preschool activities were evaluated at pretest and posttest. RESULTS. At termination of intervention, all children in the intervention group scored significantly better than control children on most performance skills and more fully participated in preschool activities. CONCLUSION. A multidisciplinary preschool early intervention program appears to assist children of low SES with improving their performance skills, and participation in preschool activities.

OBJECTIVE. We examined the relationship between handwriting and keyboarding performance and between these writing modes and underlying performance skills. METHOD. Sixty-three young, healthy adults who used the computer daily were recruited for this study by means of a convenience sample (mean = 25.3, standard deviation = 3.0); 15 were slow keyboarders and 17 were fast keyboarders. Participants were administered handwriting and keyboarding assessments, as well as measures of finger function, kinesthetic processing, and eye movement. RESULTS. Although handwriting and keyboarding speed were moderately correlated, these activities did not share underlying performance skills. In addition, different correlation patterns between written communication modes and performance skills were found among slow and fast keyboarders. CONCLUSION. Results suggest that occupational therapists and educators should consider a variety of factors before recommending keyboarding as an alternative written communication method for people with handwriting difficulties. Moreover, different recommendations appear to be warranted for slow and fast keyboarders.

OBJECTIVE. We describe the development and examination of the construct validity of the Quality of Life in School (QoLS) questionnaire for elementary-age students. METHOD. The QoLS evolved through four phases in which we devised its items and examined its construct validity. Examination of the construct validity of the final version of the QoLS included 353 students in third through sixth grades. RESULTS. Factor analysis identified four categories within the questionnaire’s items: student–teacher relations, school and classroom physical environment, positive feelings toward school, and negative feelings toward school. Internal consistency indicated a high correlation among the items in each of the factors. In addition, third-grade students reported significantly higher perception of school quality of life (QOL) than their older peers. CONCLUSION. The QoLS may assist clinicians and educators in evaluating students’ school QOL from a multidimensional perspective, including the school’s physical environment, which has received little attention.

PURPOSE. To determine whether there is a correlation between handwriting and keyboarding speed and accuracy, and whether handwriting and keyboarding share common underlying components. METHODS. Sixty-three typically developing 5th-grade students attended a series of 15 keyboarding lessons for a total of 5 hours. Prior to the lessons, cognitive, sensory, and motor skills related to handwriting were evaluated. Prior to and following the lessons keyboarding and handwriting accuracy and speed were also tested. Correlations were employed to examine relationships between handwriting and keyboarding skills and multiple regression analyses were used to examine the contribution of performance components to handwriting and keyboarding performance. RESULTS. Following keyboarding instruction, a significant correlation was found between handwriting and keyboarding speed, but not in accuracy of these tasks. Similarly, some of the specific tests measuring tactile and oculo-motor functions were found to be related to both handwriting and keyboarding speed, yet accuracy of these tasks did not share common underlying components. CONCLUSIONS. It appears that handwriting and keyboarding accuracy may entail different skills, suggesting that keyboarding may be a potential alternative writing tool for students with handwriting difficulties. It also appears that when students write slowly, handwriting speed should be considered prior to recommending keyboarding for these students. Additional research is required to further support these findings.