Tearing Down Walls: How a PP-OTD class empowered one student to increase OT/PT collaboration in her school district

Last year, when Jenna Fanelli, Occupational Therapist for the Bronxville Union Free School District in New York, saw the announcement for the Bronxville School Foundation grant cycle, the prospect of applying for a grant seemed out of reach. She was still fairly new to the district and the profession, so adding in a grant application to her workload felt like a goal for the future.

Fast forward to the following year, and the announcement of the 2023 grant cycle hit inboxes again. But this time, the timing could not have been more perfect.

Fanelli is currently a student in Baylor University’s Post-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy program with an expected graduation date of December 2023. As the Bronxville School Foundation grant cycle was opening for the year, Fanelli was enrolled in OTD 6240: Program Evaluation and Development. This course covers concepts and strategies for assessment of practice outcomes and program evaluation—including grant-writing.

“The purpose of the class was to see where you need your program to develop the most. We learned to analyze data to examine the needs of a community for occupational therapy,” Fanelli explained. “We developed outcome tools and a needs assessment and conducted interviews.”

The learning outcomes and requirements of this course provided the ideal mechanism for Fanelli to actually develop and submit a grant application to the Foundation.

“Everything landed in the perfect spot,” she said.

Throughout the project, Fanelli partnered with her colleague Nicole Abbate, Physical Therapist for Bronxville Union Free School District. Along with two other certified occupational therapy assistants, Fanelli and Abbate provide services for children ages five to 21 in the district. They have two rooms—a fine motor room and a gross motor room—available for their sessions.

After conducting their needs assessment, Fanelli and Abbate determined that the best use of the grant funds would be to knock down the wall between these two rooms and to upgrade their equipment, providing significantly more opportunities to work with each other and for their students to learn from one another.

“We wanted to really promote OT and PT together because we believe in a collaborative approach to best serve our students here at Bronxville,” Fanelli said.

Together, and using Fanelli’s coursework, the two colleagues submitted their grant application to the Bronxville School Foundation, and much to their delight, they received the award.

“I love my job. I have amazing, supportive coworkers. To get the grant was just the cherry on top of this whole year!” Fanelli shared.

Fanelli and Abbate are hopeful for the wall to come down this summer and are excited for the possibilities to come from this expanded OT/PT suite. They emphasize the opportunity to work more closely together and for their students to gain social skills and experience by sharing the same space.

“We serve a high population of autistic students, and one of our main goals for them is communication and socialization,” Fanelli said. “This gives them an outlet to interact with other students and hopefully carry that over into the classroom.”

“We also don’t have a lot of gross motor equipment,” Abbate added. “It’s going to be huge to be able to introduce new sensory integration and peer modeling.”

Reflecting on the grant application process, Fanelli credits her course instructor, Jana Hickman, OTD, Clinical Lecturer for Baylor’s Department of Occupational Therapy, for her assistance.

“Dr. Hickman was a huge help,” she said. “She has the patience of a saint. I asked her for a few extra Zoom sessions and one-on-one help to make sure I was doing everything correctly. She was helpful in every way possible. She always challenged me, but when she challenged me, she was also very supportive.”

Fanelli and Abbate also expressed their deep gratitude for their school district, noting Bronxville’s commitment to innovation and support of its staff. Many school districts contract out occupational and physical therapy services, but Fanelli and Abbate are both district staff members.

“In a lot of New York City schools, the PTs have to use the hallways or any space they can find for services. We’re really lucky that we get to do this and that we have a very supportive community,” Abbate said. “Our administration wants to see these kids thrive.”

“Sometimes people don’t see how important our services are, but we are giving the kids their basic needs to be able to function in the school,” Fanelli added. “Our administration sees that and supports what we have to say.”

Together, Fanelli and Abbate are redefining what OT and PT services can look like in a school setting. As the wall between their spaces comes down, hopes rise high for increased collaboration between these two professions and, ultimately, an even more positive experience for the students of Bronxville Union Free School District.