Head Start Program: A Case Study

The Search In November of 2004, I was hired, as the Special Education Teacher/Disabilities, by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Head Start Program, fresh out of college with some experience substituting in the local school districts. The Special Education Department for Head Start was nonexistence and shared the Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech and Language Pathologist with their Daycare Program or services were contracted out to other companies. However, the services were often limited to specific hours and days of the week. Head Start found that the needs of the students were not being met and evaluations were not completed in a timely manner and personnel change frequently. Head Start began working on hiring a full time Occupational

The Occupational Therapist looked at who students struggled with focusing, transitioning, and more. The OT worked with our Birth to 3 Program as well. Referrals to the Occupational Therapist for fine motor skills and sensory processing difficulties increased tenfold over the last three years. A majority of the students are qualified and serviced for sensory processing difficulties not for there being a deficiency in their fine motor skills. Schools around the nation are seeing an increase in the amount of students being born drug effected. Sensory processing is believed to play a big part in their learning difficulties and struggles with transitioning and focusing. Referrals to the Occupational Therapist has increased tenfold over the last three years. A majority of the students are qualified and serviced for sensory processing difficulties not for a deficiency in their fine motor skills. However, the benefit of receiving services for sensory processing was not in evidences, students continue to still struggle with the same difficulties in their classroom. Once children graduated from Head Start, they would and did not receiving the same supports or services outside but continued to struggle with transitioning and focusing in their new classroom. Since 2012, we have hired two Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) and one Occupational

I have found that the research and discussions surrounding sensory processing disorder is very heated and is on the rise. Some groups are in total agreement with sensory processing being a disorder and needing services and treatment where others disagree completely with the whole idea and believe that it is just the next “it” diagnosis. It was extremely difficult to find research and discussion dealing with sensory processing disorder own its own. Most of the research and discussion I found sensory processing disorder was studied along with other disabilities like Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I am hoping to come out with a better understanding how sensory processing affects students’ ability to learn, how can we help them learn, and are treatments beneficial. I strongly believe that sensory processing difficulties is something that we all have and deal with on a daily basis, for some it is noise, others it is texture, or combination of the other senses. However, most of us have learned what helps us deal with our own sensory