Occupational Therapist

Easterseals Academy is a therapeutic school that provides schooling for children with an autism spectrum disorder, emotional disability, developmental delay, or intellectual disability. School districts refer students to Easterseals Academy where the schools provide an alternative school placement for these students to help them to achieve independence. Easterseals Academy has three campuses, located in Chicago, Machesney Park, and Tinley Park.

For more information about our organization, please visit us online at www.eastersealschicago.org.

The primary responsibility of the Occupational Therapist is to deliver occupational therapy services as mandated on student IEPs in accordance with the Illinois State Board of Education’s requirements.

This position is located at the Easterseals Academy - Tinley Park Campus at 17300 Ozark Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477.

MAJOR FUNCTIONS/ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Adhere to all mandated reporter guidelines
• Develop in collaboration with team members, appropriate IEP goals based on formal and informal assessment results and place them at the back of the student main file at least one day prior to annual review
• Submit quarterly progress reports to the clinical coordinator in a timely manner for distribution to parents/guardians via classroom teacher
• Update quarterly benchmarks related to IEP goals at designated times
• Conduct comprehensive evaluation for students and provide professionally written reports as part of the FIE process (3-year review)
• In collaboration with the classroom team, arrange for and perform activities, materials, and prompting hierarchies that relate to IEP goals throughout the school year
• Provide and document directly/consult therapy minutes as required on each student's IEP on caseload throughout the school year
• Participate in all scheduled medical reviews on caseload throughout the school year
• Prior to providing services, obtain an O.T. prescription for each student on caseload and place it in the appropriate section of the student's main file
• Interact with the School Administrator/Program Coordinator/Clinical Coordinator and classroom staff regarding recommendations throughout the school year
• Participate in all classroom team meetings on caseload throughout the school year
• Participate in at least 2 outside training per school year directly related to serving students with special needs, particularly those diagnosed with autism
• Participate in all scheduled in-house training throughout the school year
• Participate in all scheduled clinical meetings throughout the school year
• Assist classrooms during extracurricular activities and field trips as needed throughout the school year
• Complete required in-house and district-mandated documentation and/or billing requirements
• Complete progress/contact notes on the appropriate form and maintain them in specified locations throughout the school year
• Participate in IEP/FIE meetings as needed throughout the school year
• Provide 2-3 in-services, either individually or in conjunction with another clinical area, for the entire staff throughout the school year
• Establish and maintain a consistent form of communication with the parents/guardians of students as needed on caseload throughout the school year
• Provide support, resources, and recommendations for all classrooms on caseload as needed throughout the school year.
• Provide supervision to interns as needed throughout the school year
• All other duties as assigned

Educational Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Occupational Therapy and an Illinois State license

Experience Required:

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience working with the special needs population.
• Completion of required clinical hours for degree/license and two years of clinical experience.

Skills/Abilities:

• Ability to perform all functions necessary to obtain certification in agency-required crisis prevention and intervention training, and CPR
• Ability to multi-task in a high-stress environment
• Ability to interact with diverse personalities
• Ability to participate in all Department of Human Services training requirements

ADA: Easterseals will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act of 1990. Unless exempted by the Americans with Disabilities Act, all persons hired for this position are required to possess the ability to perform the physical tasks necessary, i.e., bending, floor-sitting, etc., as well as to have the ability to lift up to 50 pounds frequently.