Teaching · Related Services

Check the task
before the student.

Sometimes the hardest part of a writing task is the task itself: copying from a board across the room, a crowded worksheet, a desk at chin height. Watch one activity, mark 22 features as a support or a barrier, and list the changes the teacher and OT will try. The checklist describes the room and the task, never the student.

Start an observationWhat you get
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Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Related Services toolkit, $99 for 96 items.

Your observations

The worked example is made up: a third-grade spelling lesson with board copying, a crowded faded worksheet and feet that do not reach the floor. Saved on this device only, with codes instead of names.

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What you get

Teaching · Related Services$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
An observation per activity with the class code, activity, date, student code and minutes of writing; 22 features in five groups (copying, materials, writing space and tools, seating and posture, time and pace), each a support, a barrier or not applicable; changes with who tries them and by when. Counts barriers per group and flags each one.
Who it is for
School occupational therapists, special education and general education teachers, and teams looking at why written work is hard in a particular class.
Format
Browser checklist with a saved record per observation. Prints the observation, a table of every observation or a blank checklist for the clipboard; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Related Services toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Related Services space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Watch one real activity from start to finish.
  2. Mark each feature as a support, a barrier or not applicable.
  3. Agree with the teacher on two or three changes, not ten.
  4. Set a date to try them and observe again.
  5. Print the observation for the team meeting.

Start an observation

The work of copying

Why board copying is hard work1Look upfind the place on the board2Holdkeep the chunk in memory3Look downfind the place on the paper4Writeform the letters5Repeatfor every chunkEach cycle loads vision, memory andhandwriting at once. A copy on the deskremoves two of the five steps.
When copying is not the skill being taught, removing it often frees the student to show what they know.

Environment first

Occupational therapy in schools looks at the person, the task and the environment together. Changing the task or setting is often the fastest help, and it helps every student who struggles with the same demand, not only the one referred.

Not an assessment

This checklist records the demands of one task in one room. It does not measure a student’s visual-motor skills; standardized assessment of those belongs to the evaluation process with consent.

Sources

  1. American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 4th ed. (2020), person, environment and occupation.
  2. American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupational therapy in school settings fact sheets (aota.org).
  3. CAST. Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0 (udlguidelines.cast.org).
  4. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 34 C.F.R. § 300.34(c)(6), occupational therapy as a related service (ecfr.gov).

The worked example is made up and uses codes, not names. This checklist describes the setting; it is not an evaluation and does not decide eligibility for services. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.