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The second-year students of the occupational therapy assistant program from Kent State East Liverpool took a lot of what they are learning and incorporated it into activities for children at the Lighthouse Kids Learning Center in Wellsville.

The facility provides daycare services for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged youngsters. The children range in age from six weeks to five years old.

OTA students designed and presented hour-long programs for each age group that met the groups’ development levels while interacting with the daycare teachers.

This provided the Kent State students with hands-on learning experiences with a pediatric population and helped them transfer their own classroom learning to a live setting with play-based occupational therapy interventions.

 

The daycare children engaged in finger painting for sensory input; movement activities choreographed to children’s music to promote gross motor movements; and art activities that reinforced fine motor skills.

The OTA students created sensory boards with trees decorated with socks and mittens that were given to the daycare children.

Not long after the visit to the Lighthouse Kids Learning Center, the OTA students also visited the Robert Bycroft School and engaged in activities with its students.

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Cutline A: Showing off their sensory items are OTA students (first row, from left) Aurora Leguard, Mackenzie Sturgeon, Matisyn Joseph, Veronica Keenan and (second row, from left) Brenna Pawlowski, Sara Dalrymple, Heidi Herman, Bryna Jenkins, Arliegha Gaudio

Cutline B: Hand print at Lighthouse Kids

Cutline C: OTA students at the Lighthouse Kids Center (seated) included Bryna Jenkins and Matisyn Joseph; and (standing) Heidi Herman, Veronica Keenan, Aurora Leguard, Arleigh Gaudio, and Mackenzie Sturgeon