Aurora Murphy <auroramurphy@danvers.org>
Wed, Mar 29, 2023, 11:59 AM
to me, Eileen, Brenda, Dana, Rebecca, Eric
Good morning Mrs.Keefe,
I want to elaborate a little bit more on the email that Ms. Ganley sent out regarding Chase's ability to access his meals in the cafeteria. Chase is currently on our caseload and Brenda and I continue to biweekly provide consultation to the team to better help Chase access his school curriculum. As you indicated, Chase may at times have a hard time opening containers, selecting food items, and eating in the allotted amount of lunchtime. But it appears that it might be a combination of his emotional state and the need for planning. This is why Brenda and I are compiling a list of modifications and adaptations to be able to allow Chase to access his environment. We thought it is most appropriate to have the school cafeteria staff help open containers for him in the line so it doesn't impact him when he is with his peers.
When we discussed it with the team, Chase doesn't like it when others help him directly so having other staff support him within his environment seemed to be the most applicable. In regards to Chase's fine motor skills, he does have the ability to access other school materials that are within his school environment which is why providing direct services isn't indicative at this time.
We will continue to discuss this as a team to make sure that Chase continues to access his environment to the best of his abilities. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Also, to answer another OT question, I want to share our other roles in the schools, which besides addressing writing in the schools is to ensure that students have access to modifications/adaptations as indicated above to allow students to access their curriculum and environment to the best of their abilities.
Sincerely,
Aurora Murphy OT
Occupational Therapist
Danvers Public School
Hours: Tuesday to Friday
On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 9:45 AM Amie Keefe <info@kcfilmsandphoto.com> wrote:
Good Morning! The hot dog is not the issue. Below is part of my e-mail to Eric.
When he buys, he typically doesn't grab anything off of the line extra. Sometimes he does but he picks and chooses and I believe it is due to some things being difficult for him. If he gets a hot dog, it's a dog and a drink. No bun either. That's not enough food for him. Some of the sides are packaged and that is a difficult thing for Chase. It's the fine motor piece that goes beyond writing but it's within school so it's part of "accessing the curriculum". I also sent Cheerios to school with him a few weeks ago. He didn't eat them because he had a hard time opening the cover so he barely ate his lunch.
Sometimes he has success opening items but every day is different for him as far as difficulty. If he's having a rough day, he won't even try. He also barely eats his lunch as it is whether I send it or not. I notice this when I send him lunch because he is just slow at everything he does as far as opening the lunch bag, the drink straw, etc. Everything is very slow and when he comes home with a full lunch he says, "There's not enough time to eat."
On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 9:15 AM Eileen Ganley <eileenganley@danvers.org> wrote:
Hello Amie,
The team was discussing the difficulties you mentioned that Chase was having at lunch, while opening the bag to get his hot dog. I went down to speak with the cook, the bag is open on one end, Chase should only need to dump the hot dog out of the bag. She and I thought that by eliminating the bag, we could eliminate the problem. She will no longer put the hot dog in the bag.
Eileen Ganley
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Amie Keefe
Photographer/Filmmaker
KC Films and Photography