Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Occupational Therapy in Schools

What is Occupational Therapy? Occupational Therapy is the used of therapeutic activities to increase or enhance motor skills.  In the schools, an occupational therapist assists students to develop core strength, fine motor development, and become independent with self-help skills.  Typically, we help students improve handwriting skills, self-help skills, and overall fine motor development.  Occupational Therapists use purposeful activities to further develop fine and gross motor skills. 

You can watch the following video for an overview of Occupational Therapy interventions for handwriting difficulties.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Study Tips

Study skills are crucial for academic success.  Follow this link to see the top 10 study tips that can help you this school year.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Best Buddies

In the last few years, I have been working with other schools in the area with a group called Best Buddies. The group was started in an attempt to provide social experiences to students with multiple disabilities. The students in this program participate in a number of outings each year. The outings are one time a month and are done with other schools within our county. The place of the outing differs each month. I am excited to be a part of this group.


The Best Buddies Group works to provide a variety of community and transition experiences for students in the Special Education Program. Our group has raised money for outings by selling trail mix at lunch and though the use of donations. I would like to expand the participation this year to include all students that work in my room. The expectation would be for students to help raise money through school projects and collecting milk caps. The students would be responsible for ordering supplies and “keeping the books.” They would have to budget the group’s money and make preparations for each event.

Students would be expected to be peer leaders when attending Best Buddies outings. My vision for the Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah group would be to have students with better communication skills attend outings and provide good examples and modeling for other students. The peer leaders would rotate the number of outings they attend, as not to miss out on too much school.

Participation in this group is strictly voluntary. Students would need permission to attend each event. Also the student must be in good academic standing to participate.

Welcome Back to School

Welcome back to the 2010-2011 school year. I am excited to start the school year. I will be teaching 7th & 8th grade special education reading, language arts, and math. This is my 10th year in Elkhart Lake. I also do Occupational Therapy for the district. I attended Mount Mary College in Milwaukee for my Occupational Therapy training. A few years later, I attended Silver Lake College in Manitowoc and recieved my special education certification. I live in Glenbeulah with my husband and two sons.



In addition to my teaching schedule, I am the 7th grade girls volleyball coach as well as one of the middle school track coaches. I look forward to working with the students here at Elkhart Lake. If you need to reach me, my school number is (920)876-3307 ext. 4209 or you can contact me via email: aroth@elgs.k12.wi.us