Juvenile Life Skills Program

In this course you will learn about a piloted occupation-based life skills program for juveniles completed with the Iowa Department of Human Rights & the Division of Criminal Juvenile Justice Planning. This program was implemented at Woodward Academy with 22 youth (both male and female) total, however the statistics given in this presentation reflect 17 of the 22 youth, as some were discharged early. This course begins by going through previous research gathered prior to conduct a needs assessment for this project. You will learn what occupational therapy framework and modules were used to create this program and will receive over 25 life skill interventions. In addition, you will see the thought process behind the occupational therapy assessments chosen for youth, what common deficits were seen, how youth improved over time, and what adaptations could be made to better this program. Lastly, you will see youth’s feedback over interventions, occupational therapy, and the program as a whole. This course contains lectures, resources, interventions, an assessment list, research articles, and APA references all for your convenience and for your learning! I hope that this presentation can provide valuable insight to both occupational therapy students and practitioners on how to advocate and implement occupational therapy services to this underserved population.