AIC OT Students Partner with Springfield School
SPRINGFIELD — Students at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence in Springfield are getting extra help for free, thanks to a partnership with American International College. AIC occupational therapy students assist the children in kindergarten through third grade with some basic but important skills.
“It’s a great project because the children get much-needed services, while our students get hands-on experience,” said Jeanne Morin, Occupational Therapy professor at AIC.
Morin said the services include everything from help with handwriting to teaching the children how to tie their shoes. “It’s all about helping the children be successful in an educational environment.”
AIC Professor Augustus Pesce, a member of the founding group of Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence is on the school’s board of trustees. He helped design the school’s special education program and suggested a partnership with AIC to provide occupational therapy services.
The partnership includes three parts: Morin provides occupational therapy services to MLK special education students according to their IEPs and serves as the occupational therapy member of the MLK Charter School special education team; AIC graduate occupational therapy students, working under the supervision of Professor Morin, provide occupational therapy services to MLK students who do not have an IEP, but nonetheless will benefit from OT services; AIC undergraduate OT students, under the supervision of Professor Judy Stinson, do classroom observations at MLK Charter School.
MLK Principal Alan E. Katz said he is very pleased with the partnership. “Professor Morin provides excellent services to MLK special education students, and the AIC graduate students allow MLK Charter School to provide occupational therapy, such as handwriting assistance, as part of the school’s mainstream program.”
