Occupational Therapy And Disability Services Offices On College Campuses Podcast

Editor's note: This text-based course is a transcript of the Occupational Therapy And Disability Services Offices On College Campuses Podcast, presented by Megan Wolff, MOT, OTR/L (PhD student); Dennis Cleary, MS, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA.

**Please use the handout to complete the exam.

Learning Outcomes

• After this course, participants will be able to:
  • differentiate between the types of roles OTs can pursue in higher education.
  • compare and contrast the needs of colleges and the scope of occupational therapy.
  • analyze one’s own transferable skills as they relate to pursuing a position within higher education as an OT.

Podcast Discussion

Dennis: Hi everyone, and thanks for joining us. I am happy to be joined today by Megan Wolff, who is an occupational therapist and Senior Director of Disability Support Services at Front Range Community College - Larimer Campus. Can you tell us about your background and what brought you to this interesting job of yours?

Megan: Sure. I got my master's degree in occupational therapy in 2013 from Colorado State University. I love everything about OT including the foundation, the lens, treatment, et cetera; however, I did not want to assume a traditional OT role. I had a discussion with my advisor towards the end of my program to explain this and talk about my passion for higher education settings. I have always loved working with transition-age young adults, between 16 to 24 years of age.

My amazing advisor, Pat Sample said, "You'll be fine because no one wants to touch that population with a 10-foot pole. You should be good." I do not think she was entirely right about that, but I was fortunate that CSU has a community outreach arm called the Center for Community Partnerships. They do a lot with supported education and employment in college. I did my second level two fieldwork with them and then was hired as an OT. I stayed there for six and a half years, primarily in supported education, supporting students with disabilities in higher education at CSU.

After this, our local community college, Front Range Community College, had a job opening for a director of disability support services, a very non-traditional role for an OT. I looked at the position, and I checked all the boxes. We had a grant through CCP, Center for Community Partnerships, that extended to Front Range and part of the director's role was to oversee that grant. I knew about the grant because I worked within it at CSU so it was a seamless fit. I was able to show how my skills as an OT and my past experiences fit well in this role.

More recently, in March, I got promoted to the senior director role. Front Range has three different campuses, and I am now overseeing the Disability Support Services Department for all three campuses. That is my trajectory, and how my current role came to be.

Dennis: Wow, that is really interesting. When you said you checked the boxes, what types of skills were part of the job description?

Megan: I do not remember the job description, but it was to support students with disabilities and identify the accommodations that students need. This was not explicitly stated in these words, but another part of the role was completing environmental assessments. We need to make sure that the college environment is set up for students to succeed. There is also a lot of documentation. 

This role was seamlessly aligned with my background and interests. The crux of the job is supporting students with disabilities to access and be successful in their education. A lot of the work is done by figuring out what strategies work and looking at compensatory methods and accommodations. We are accommodating the environment so the occupation of attending school is successful.

Dennis: It sounds like your preparation was perfect. They probably knew what an occupational therapist was because of the grant that they had been working on with Colorado State.

Megan: Yes. I got lucky. At the time, my supervisor's sister was an occupational therapist so she had a good idea of my skills. 

Dennis: I have not looked at this type of job description, but I imagine a master's degree would be a minimum qualification. They would probably expect people to have a background in rehabilitation counseling or social work.

Megan: Many have the requirement of a master's degree in higher education or in education. So, it is not as specific to the disability side of things. I think OT is very rarely listed as one of the degrees under the master's requirement, but it falls into the "related field." 

Dennis: Some of our fellow OT practitioners are not happy right now in some of their settings. This is the beauty of our scope of practice. We do many different things, but in a way that might be a little less traditional.

Megan: Exactly.

Dennis: Most of us are familiar with FAPE, or Free and Appropriate Public Education. Kids or young adults may have 504 plans, IEPs, and some of the educational mandates that are required. What happens once they graduate or they leave high school? What are they entitled to at college?

Megan: FAPE does not apply at higher education levels as that is only specific to K through 12. IDEA also ends at high school. We also do not use IEPs or 504 plans. Kindergarten through grade 12 have modifications made to the curriculum like reduced questions on exams or reduced amounts of homework. We typically cannot provide that at the college level because we have to meet certain technical standards, usually either set forth by the state or for specific career and technical education by the accrediting agencies.

The laws that we follow still allow us to provide accommodations to make sure that students can equitably access their education, but we also do not guarantee success. We focus on success in K through 12, and the focus is access in higher ed.

We follow the ADA, so the Americans with Disabilities Act and higher education typically fall under Titles II, III, and V. Title II is specific to any colleges or universities that receive any federal funding. Title III is any public place of accommodation, including private colleges. Title V prevents retaliation, which is a little more peripheral. It says that we cannot discriminate on the basis of disability and enables us to provide accommodations. It also states that post-secondary institutions must ensure effective communication and accommodations.

The Amendments Act of 2008 broadened the scope of the ADA to include more students with disabilities in higher education. I have gotten some comments from instructors like, "We have more students than we've ever had before. Why is that?" The reason is the Amendments Act.

We also adhere to sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which is in line with K through 12. Section 504 requires schools to make programs accessible to qualified students with disabilities. The 508 requires federal agencies to make their information and communication technology accessible. We have to make sure that all of the communications we send out and the technology that we are using are fully accessible for students with disabilities.

Another one that applies that I think is not very intuitive is the Fair Housing Amendments Act. This does not apply to our community college campuses because we do not have residence halls, but it would apply to any colleges that do. If students are living on campus, the Fair Housing Amendments Act also pertains to service and emotional support animals within the residence hall. 

Dennis: When I used to do clinical placements and had a close relationship with our ADA coordinator, we had to make sure that our students had access to the support they need. His favorite line was, "You can say yes to anything, but if you are going to say no to anything, I need to know first to make sure that you're following the law."

Does the concept of reasonable accommodations, as we think about it in the workplace, apply to college accessibility as well?

Megan: Absolutely. They look very similar. This is anything reasonable that does not create a fundamental alteration in the class. We ensure the student is still meeting the technical standards with the accommodation, and in 99% of cases, they are. We also do not want to provide something that would cause any harm or undue burden. 

Dennis: In my experience with fieldwork or capstones, it sometimes takes a lot of convincing to help occupational therapists in the field understand that students have the right to these accommodations. We are not altering expectations, but we are altering how they are going to meet those standards that have been set.

Megan: Exactly.

Dennis: Historically, the medical field seems to be one of the places where instructors are least open to accommodations. I do not want you to throw anyone under the bus in your organization, but this is what I have seen. Our ADA coordinator at the university spent a lot of time making sure that faculty understood what our role was and making sure students had what they needed.

Megan: It is definitely ironic. At my community college, we have nursing and medical assistance programs. Nationally, this is an issue. Even though these fields work with people with disabilities, they are not quite as open to having people with disabilities employed in these medical positions. I feel like our departments have gotten better and better as the years have gone by, which is really nice. However, in the medical field, it can be challenging, and you have to be creative. It is an interactive process to make sure the accommodations that the student needs are not going to undermine the technical standards.

Dennis: You have a big job overseeing three campuses. Do you have many students disclosing disabilities? If so, what kind of disabilities or accommodations are they requesting?

Megan: Yes, we have many students. Nationally, about one in five, or 20% of college students, have a disability and could benefit from an accommodation. This statistic pertains to both community colleges and four-year universities. I always tell instructors, if you have a classroom of 25 to 30 students, you can reasonably expect that five or six of those students have a disability, and many are invisible. And, not everyone who has a disability needs accommodations.

However, nowhere near 20% of the student body is disclosing their disabilities. Students need to self-advocate and disclose. This is another big difference between K through 12 and higher education. College students need to disclose that they have a disability. I ran these numbers not too long ago, and typically 8 to 12% of students are requesting accommodations. As we know that 20% of students have disabilities, Universal Design for Learning comes in handy to bridge this gap.

The most common diagnosis that we see is ADHD. The number of students who have ADHD and are requesting accommodations has skyrocketed since the pandemic. I think online learning presented a huge challenge for a lot of these students. Instructors were much more flexible during the pandemic, and students tended to be more successful due to this.

Another thing that came out of the pandemic was an increase in the number of students with mental health diagnoses. We often work with students who have depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, et cetera. This is over a third of the population that we serve.

The next largest group is those with learning disabilities, like dyscalculia, dyslexia, auditory processing disorders, and nonverbal learning disorders. I would say about one in five of our students have a learning disability.

The majority of our students have multiple or co-occurring diagnoses. Some definitely have anxiety and isolation, but we also have those that have anxiety, ADHD, and a learning disability. Sometimes it is only one diagnosis, but many times it is not.

The number of students who have autism has also increased in the last few years. As this is a population that I love to work with, this has been cool to see.

Dennis: Obviously, there is a lot more emphasis on encouraging people with disabilities to go on to get higher education, which is a positive thing for everyone. Do they typically present to you with a medical diagnosis from a physician, a psychologist, or a counselor? And if so, what is your office's job in terms of validating that information, and then determining a reasonable accommodation? What's that process look like?

Megan: Students will come to us via an intake appointment to discuss their academic strengths, academic barriers, or needs. They tell us what works well for them, and what does not work well for them depending on their diagnosis/diagnoses.

Documentation is interesting. All colleges and universities have slightly different standards when it comes to documentation. Our national association is AHEAD, the Association for Higher Education and Disability. Their guidance is that the student's self-report should be the primary form of documentation. The student is reporting their barriers, challenges, strengths, and needs, and this should be the primary form. Secondary is our professional expertise. I have been working with students with disabilities in higher education for over a decade, so I definitely have some expertise under my belt. The tertiary area is medical documentation so we also accept IEPs or 504 plans, if a student had those in K through 12.

Again, the typical process is that a student will come in, and we do an intake. Some students will know exactly what accommodations they want to request as this is not their first rodeo. They may have had accommodations in high school or at a previous higher ed institution. We talk about how certain accommodations may remove academic barriers.

However, many students do not know what they do not know. They come to us needing assistance, and we talk through the different academic areas. We ask some of the following questions in these cases. What does testing look like for you? Do you have enough time to take exams? And if not, why is that? Is it taking longer to process? Is it the environment? We guide them through talking about different academic areas to identify the accommodations that are going to be the most beneficial and appropriate for them.

We also review documentation if they have it. If they do not, we can refer them out to get different assessments. This process of referring out may differ among institutions, especially when we are thinking about diversity, equity, and inclusion as testing for ADHD or learning disabilities can typically cost thousands of dollars. Community college students often do not have thousands of dollars in their back pocket so this presents a huge barrier. As I do not want to create more barriers for marginalized students, I support them by finding places that have sliding fee scales or getting them connected for assessments. We also have onsite counselors, which is helpful, that do not charge for their services. We do workarounds whenever possible. We fully accept documentation from any medical provider like IEPs and 504 plans to review what accommodations are going to be most helpful.

Dennis: I think this is where an occupational therapist in your role is such a huge benefit. Many learning about policies and procedures and also having to learn about individual differences and learning challenges may be unprepared for this role. I am glad you are doing what you are doing. If a student is having difficulty, do faculty members refer an individual over to disability services? How does that work?

Megan: Ideally, they do. We have some faculty who are incredible about that. For instance, I get a lot of referrals from our math faculty because math tends to be a subject where many struggles. Our nursing department has been phenomenal about this lately, especially if they are struggling with a subject or have anxiety that is impacting their ability to take exams. It is crucial to create relationships with the instructors and faculty. The more they know and trust us, the more likely they are to refer students who need support. In an ideal world, faculty are referring. Does it happen 100% of the time? No, unfortunately not. 

Dennis: What kind of accommodations do you think are most common? 

Megan: By far and away, the most common accommodation is extended time for exams and quizzes, and next is having an alternate testing location for reduced distractions. I can only speak about the Front Range, but it probably is similar for many colleges and universities. These accommodations support students with a variety of barriers like processing needs or sensory sensitivities. This is another great reason to be an OT in this role because these are two common barriers.

Audio recording lectures can be beneficial, especially for students who have any attention deficit barriers, or for students who struggle to take effective notes. We work with students on these strategies because we want to help students build their skills. We have some cool assistive technology to help with this stuff and use a lot of different programs for recording lectures. One that students tend to like is called Glean. You can upload your PowerPoint to this program, and it syncs the recording to the PowerPoint. You can then put in your own notes and tag areas of the lecture that you want to review later. They have developed this program with college students in mind. Other great ones are Fireflies.ai and Otter.ai. Our students have benefited from being able to audio record lectures as they are interacting with the content differently allowing them to engage and employ more active learning strategies.

Another tool we have found to be helpful is using text-to-speech software. People typically use this if they have dyslexia or low vision, but we have found that it can be helpful for a variety of diagnoses. For example, students with ADHD may struggle to stay focused and read the same paragraph five times, never absorbing the information. If we get the information to them in multiple formats or engage multiple senses, this can increase comprehension. Thus, there are many reasons to use text-to-speech beyond what people tend to think. 

I have a list of 60 to 70 common accommodations that students use because it is never a one size fits all scenario. "You have ADHD so I'm going to give you X, Y, Z accommodations" is not what usually happens, as every diagnosis presents differently in every individual. It is based on the individual's needs and what they are experiencing. We need to tailor our accommodations and supports to what the student's experiencing and not to the diagnosis itself.

Dennis: Great. Would you be able to share those common accommodations?

Megan: Oh, absolutely.

Dennis: Wonderful. There will be some supporting documents in the handout.

I know you do not have an occupational therapy assistant program at your community college, but if you think about nursing, what accommodations would people need in a clinical environment? It is relatively easy to have extended time or a low-distraction environment for a test, but how do accommodations work in clinical practice?

Megan: That is a great question and one of the things for which we have been developing a more intentional process. We encourage students to look at the job accommodation network, askjan.org because it is a phenomenal resource.

Dennis: They have upped their game in the last few years.

Megan: They are great.

Dennis: I do not know if they spent Covid time updating their website, but it used to be a little clunky. Now, it is a terrific resource.

Megan: It is a phenomenal resource for individuals with disabilities that are going into internships, clinicals, and employment, but it is also a fantastic tool for employers.

I have sat down one-on-one with students to assist them in crafting a letter of introduction to their clinical supervisor. "Here's a little bit about me." In this letter, if students want to disclose a diagnosis, they can, but that is never a requirement on our end. We talk through with them the disclosing impacts, benefits, and drawbacks. Again, students will say, "This is what I do well, and here is where I struggle. Based on this, here's what's helpful for me." Their supervisor has this information from the get-go, and it opens up lines of communication.

In terms of some specific accommodations, these are individualized depending on what the person needs. Being presented with information in multiple formats is a big one that I have seen across the board. Some of my students struggle to fully process verbal information in an effective and efficient manner. I had a student in a graphic design internship who had a job coach from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. This person went with her, and she also had additional time for training and any assessment needed as part of the job.

Nursing is a little hard, but modified schedules or a modified break schedule can help. I had another student who had POTS and was doing a clinical. Instead of standing to do documentation, she would sit. Simple accommodations, she as these, can make a big difference for students.

Dennis: My favorite recent accommodation was for one of our employees at Cincinnati Children's who was having difficulty putting on a latex glove on one of her hands due to cerebral palsy. We went over many ideas, and the one that worked was her putting on her right glove first. She laughed and said, "My whole life that was how I did it, and this works much better." Again, it can be simple things.

Megan: That's funny. I had a student who struggled to put on latex gloves because she had anxiety, and her hands would get sweaty, especially during a clinical assessment. We had her switch to powdered gloves. 

Dennis: There you go. I know lifting is one of the accommodations at some of our clinical sites if the person either used a wheelchair or had a back injury. Can you talk about how you might handle that?

Megan: We have not had that come up too much. Is something an essential function of the job, or a marginal function of the job? If it is more marginal, then oftentimes those functions can be reallocated. If it is an essential function, perhaps we can use equipment like a lift machine or bring in someone to help with that lift. You will have to stay tuned.

Dennis: That will be next semester.

Megan: Yes, now that we have talked about it.

Dennis: You mentioned the Americans with Disabilities Act, 504, and vocational rehabilitation. Are there other types of federal or state legislation that you need to make sure that you are accountable to as an organization, like IDEA?

Megan: We collaborate with them pretty frequently. The other one that everyone in higher education has to follow is FERPA, which is the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. This says we cannot provide any information that is not already available on a website to anyone beyond the student unless we are given explicit permission from the student to do so. Information is on a "need-to-know basis." We never share disability-specific information or their specific accommodations unless they have given us permission to share that with their instructors or advisors.

Another area in which FERPA has helped is concurrent enrollment. These are students who are still in high school but also taking college classes or classes for college credit. When students are enrolled in college classes, we treat them as an adult and follow FERPA very differently than K through 12, even if a student is 15 to 16 years old. When they are taking college classes, we cannot share any of that information with their parents. When a student does an intake with us, we go over this information intentionally with families and parents because that is a huge shift for them.

Dennis: Speaking as the father of a now sophomore in college, it is amazing how little information we get about them other than the bill. It does make sense to maintain students' privacy, as this is a transition into life. This is the time they need to be accountable to themselves and not to Mom and Dad.

Megan: Concurrent enrollment is a nice bridge, especially for students with disabilities as the onus of responsibility shifts from the parents to the student. I would encourage any student in high school, whether or not you have a disability, to take concurrent enrollment classes because it is free college.

Dennis: Absolutely as that helps us as well. Let's talk about your occupational therapy skills. I understand there is another occupational therapist in your department and a third that started today. Talk about how occupational therapy skills are beneficial to your job.

Megan: A huge piece is a lens that we have as OTs that is different from others. My students grumble a little bit with the theoretical models and stuff like that, but I like to use the PEO when considering accommodations and environmental adjustments. At the end of the day, we are supporting the student in their role as a student to fully engage and participate in their classes and activities on campus.

We also want to know how to build the student's skills and strategies by adjusting the environment. The student role does come down to that so it is a little shocking that OTs have not been in higher education more, especially as we consider that students in college are in a constant state of transition. Oftentimes, working with people through transitions is a big part of our role. When transitioning from high school to college, many have to develop effective study skills (enhanced executive functioning). They also have to transition from semester to semester and from college to the workplace. What do college accommodations look like in the workplace? Again, we are constantly working with people in transition.

We also need to think about the big picture when we think about occupational justice. Do higher ed students with disabilities have the same opportunities as other students? If not, what can we as OTs do to make sure that they do? There are so many ways.

Dennis: Who is the other occupational therapist that is in your group now?

Megan: We have another OT, Shea McCowen. Shea and I just presented at AOTA together, which was super fun. Shea is the disability support services coordinator and does more one-on-one work with students, including intakes. She also does a lot of work with assistive technology including evaluations. There are many tech options that are mainstream but people just do not know about it. She looks at what tech options are going to support individuals in their role as students.

Additionally, she does ongoing support meetings to help students develop the skills and strategies that they need to be successful in college and beyond. I talked about executive functioning. Here are some things we can ask. How do you effectively manage your time? How do you effectively manage your medication? If they have ADHD and not taking their medication consistently, this will affect their performance.

We also had a level two fieldwork student start today. She is going to be phenomenal. She did level one with us in the spring, so it is a nice transition into level two. She will also work one-on-one with students that are requesting accommodations and need support. We have an OT-based supported education program through our department where we provide a higher level of support to students who have some needs that go kind of above and beyond accommodations. She will get to work with these students.

Dennis: Is that mentoring and social support type of stuff?

Megan: Yes. It is OT-based, and we get to look at students holistically. We use a modified version of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) across 10 areas. Executive functioning and academics are two of those. Others are general health and wellness, independent living, stress, accessing the community, and anxiety management, which is a big one. We use the COPM to hone in and determine which of these areas a student need to focus on the most to develop an intervention plan. We do not call it that because it sounds too clinical. Instead, we develop a "coaching plan" with the student to develop skills and strategies, utilize assistive tech and apps, and connect them to other community and campus resources.

Dennis: Wonderful. Does Shea consider what she is doing as occupational therapy? How does that work?

Megan: That is a great question.

Dennis: Did I stump the band?

Megan: I would like to assume that, yes, she does. We have frequent conversations about the OT role. We have also both maintained our OT licensure. I am going to ask her after this, but I am going to say yes, she would.

Dennis: Was your AOTA talk well attended? 

Megan: This talk was specific. We work with a lot of students who have intersecting marginalized identities, like those that are gender diverse, gender non-binary, or transgender. There are many different identities under that gender-diverse umbrella. We also know that there is a correlation between students who have disabilities and are gender diverse. I cannot remember the exact number, but autistic people are like five times more likely to also be gender diverse. That is a huge correlation.

There is a very large population of students that we work with who are gender diverse. We used an OT lens to look at their experiences, needs, and barriers, and how we as OTs can support this population. This is what our AOTA presentation was based on, and it was well attended. As it was at the end of the day on Saturday, so we were not sure what that would look like. This was Shea's first time presenting at AOTA, and she did a phenomenal job. I am also a PhD student, and as part of my dissertation, we are going to run a qualitative study looking at gender diversity and disability and the intersection of the two in college.

Dennis: Awesome. Were there a lot of other OTs that are involved in college campuses that came to your talk?

Megan: It is still such an emerging practice area, so maybe? I am not sure.

Dennis: If you do not have an AOTA special interest section, that might be something to discuss with AOTA. The word needs to get out because it is such a phenomenal role in our profession, and you are the prime example of that. 

Megan: There are some great resources for OTs who are interested in this area. There is the OT-U collaborative, which was started by doctors Karen McCarthy, Karen Keptner, and a big name in this area, Jeanne Eichler. There are also different Facebook groups. I know Facebook is a little outdated for the youth these days, but that is okay. I am showing my age.

Dennis: All the faculty will be on there, just kidding.

Megan: Exactly. There are aspiring practitioners in colleges and OT services at the third level. And there are quite a few OTs in higher ed across the pond, like in Ireland. I think, "We should take a field trip and see how they do things out there."

Dennis: It could be part of your PhD.

Megan: I am trying to convince my advisor of that. The OT-U collaborative is a fantastic resource, and it does webinars every couple of months for anyone who wants to attend. I presented a webinar back in August. Since that, I have had a number of OTs reach out to me to ask about this field. There is one in particular who works in an assisted living facility. As our skills are so transferrable, she actually got a job as a coordinator at the University of Colorado in Boulder and wanted to chat about that. We are emerging, and it is growing slowly.

Dennis: Awesome. I think you mentioned a little bit about universal design. Can you talk a little bit about how you talk with other faculty about that? 

Megan: We have an AT and accessibility specialist. She is the expert on our team and trained under OTs, believe it or not. We call it Universal Design for Learning, UDL, or Universal Design for Higher Education, UDHE. It is the idea that what is necessary for some people can be beneficial for everyone. My favorite example and this is definitely something that we work to educate faculty and staff on is building UDL principles into a course from the get-go. We can be proactive rather than reactive when there is a student who is deaf or hard of hearing. Can we use closed captioning (CC) for everything? A student who is deaf or hard of hearing has to have closed captioning to be able to equitably access content, but it is helpful for everyone. I use closed captions when I am watching TV 90% of the time. My kids get mad.

Dennis: This is especially helpful for the British murder mysteries that I like to watch.

Megan: Exactly.

Dennis: I love Scotland. I just cannot understand what they are saying much of the time.

Megan: Scotland is my favorite.

Dennis: It is a great country.

Using multiple senses helps with processing and comprehension. Let's also allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple different ways because what may work for me might not work as well for you. I may do well with tests, and you may do much better with an essay or an oral presentation. The University of Washington has a phenomenal program called the DO-IT program that focuses on accessibility and universal design for higher education. 

Speaking of universal design, it makes me think of lifestyle redesign. I think everyone should know about this. How does your community college address wellness for students? 

Megan: It is a huge area. The number of students who have mental health diagnoses has skyrocketed. We need to address it at the foundation. There are many OTs working in mental health within universities. Front Range has free counseling for all of our students, whether it is onsite or remote. We want to ensure we are meeting students where they are.

Something I would love to do is offer a one- or two-credit class for new students focused on health, well-being, and how to effectively manage life as a student. It could also address executive functioning, time management, and occupational balance. I believe that Cleveland State University, which is where Dr. Keptner worked, has a class devoted to that. I too love the lifestyle redesign stuff, and it is the foundation of a lot of those classes.

Dennis: One of the things that the University of Southern California has done well is ensuring that OT services are embedded in their health plans. For example, the student health insurance is going to cover, a certain number of OT visits. It makes good sense as we bring different tools to the table than a typical counselor, social worker, or psychologist would bring to the table. It can be quick interventions to help students develop some strategies.

Megan: I wish that was universal. It is such a huge area for OTs.

Dennis: Now that we have been chatting about your job and how cool it is, I am sure many listeners are interested either as students or as practitioners. If an OT student feels like they have a need for accommodations, and they do not feel like they have received what they need, what are some recommendations that you might have for that student? How can they work better with faculty or the Office of Disability Services?

Megan: Every university or college is going to have an office like mine, but they may be called something different. Some of them offer accessibility services. Ours is Disability Support, but it might be the Office of Disability Services. I know Colorado State University has a Student Disability Center or SDC. You can go on to a college's website and look for that specific page.

Often, I get students who have already been a student for a couple of semesters and have not had any accommodations. They come to our office and are floored when they hear about the services we offer.  Even just meeting with a coordinator or a specialist can be helpful to a student. They are not tied into any accommodations. However, I think it is better to have accommodations in place in case you need them than to not have them in place and end up needing them. Again, I encourage all students to write a letter of introduction to instructors and 99.9% of the time, it goes over very well. The faculty professor gets a better sense of who the student is and what they need. 

Dennis: Absolutely. For practitioners who are looking to do something a little different, what is your recommendation for them?

Megan: New practitioners often pigeonhole themselves into a position that specifically says, "This is an OT position." However, with our skills and lens, there is so much more that we can do beyond just a traditional OT position. I would recommend individuals look at higher ed job positions. If they are able to get some experience working with young adults with disabilities, this is a huge opening in to this field. 

It is also important to speak the language of higher ed and identify how OT is a "value add" to higher education. The big words in higher ed are retention and completion. Leadership is always looking at this. They need to reflect on how with an OT lens, they can support students to complete their degree programs. How they can support their mental health needs. This is a hot-button topic right now. They also should think about how to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. DEI is huge across the nation but in higher ed specifically. 

Dennis: Well, Megan Wolf, Senior Director of Disability Support Services for all of Front Range Community College, thanks so much for being with us today. I know I learned a lot, and I am sure a lot of our listeners learned a lot as well. 

Megan: Thank you.

References/Resources

Available in the handout.