The Opportunity for Occupational Therapy in Pediatric Disaster Recovery.

As natural disasters increase in frequency throughout the world, more children and families are exposed to disaster-related stress and trauma. Many children with disaster exposure face occupational disruption, in which common activities, roles, and relationships are damaged or destroyed. In this descriptive column, we explore the impact that natural disasters have on children, the contribution of pediatric occupational therapy to disaster management, and the opportunity for occupational therapy practitioners to engage in collaborative psychosocial and activity interventions during disaster recovery. Through trauma-informed occupational therapy, children in traditional and community-based services will benefit from assistance in restoring normalcy. With this column, we aim to contribute to the continued exploration of roles in pediatric disaster prevention and recovery and a call for qualitative and quantitative scholarship in this setting.

Validating a measure to assess factors that affect assistive technology use by students with disabilities in elementary and secondary education.

PURPOSE/AIM: The purpose of this study was to measure the predictive validity, internal consistency and clinical utility of the Matching Assistive Technology to Child & Augmentative Communication Evaluation Simplified (MATCH-ACES) assessment. METHODS: Twenty-three assistive technology team evaluators assessed 35 children using the MATCH-ACES assessment. This quasi-experimental study examined the internal consistency, predictive validity and clinical utility of the MATCH-ACES assessment. RESULTS: The MATCH-ACES assessment predisposition scales had good internal consistency across all three scales. A significant relationship was found between (a) high student perseverance and need for assistive technology and (b) high teacher comfort and interest in technology use (p = (0).002). CONCLUSIONS: Study results indicate that the MATCH-ACES assessment has good internal consistency and validity. Predisposition characteristics of student and teacher combined can influence the level of assistive technology use; therefore, assistive technology teams should assess predisposition factors of the user when recommending assistive technology. Implications for Rehabilitation Educational and medical professionals should be educated on evidence-based assistive technology assessments. Personal experience and psychosocial factors can influence the outcome use of assistive technology. Assistive technology assessments must include an intervention plan for assistive technology service delivery to measure effective outcome use.