Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

Capstone Title

Occupational Therapy Approach in a Children’s Ministry Outreach Program

Author

Leah G. Horst, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Leah G. Horst, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Submission Date

7-17-2022

Document Type

Entry Level Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

First Mentor

Teresa Swann

Second Mentor

Mariana D'amico, EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA

Abstract

The 16-week capstone project took place in the children’s ministry department of the Dream Center of Lakeland, a community center based in Lakeland, Florida. The Dream Center is a faith-based organization that carries out its mission through providing resources and services to the local community such as a food and clothes pantries, women’s health clinic, meal programs, accessible computer lab, and mentorship groups. Specifically, the current capstone project focused on the youth served by the Dream Center’s children’s outreach program, KIDS CLUB. The children served by this program come from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and range in age from kindergarten through fifth grade. The focus areas for the capstone project were program development and education. The program development focus area involved the creation of developmentally appropriate curriculum and group activities related to occupation-based and sensory-based needs of the youth. The education focus area included the provision of resources and education to volunteers on effective behavior management and TIC strategies when working with the children in the outreach program. This capstone project serves as an example of how a consulting occupational therapist can identify a need within a faith-based community center and apply clinical reasoning to provide targeted intervention at a community level to children from low SES backgrounds.

NSUWorks Citation

Leah G. Horst and Leah G. Horst. 2022. Occupational Therapy Approach in a Children’s Ministry Outreach Program. Capstone. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (100)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_ot_capstone/100.