Occupational Therapy

Level I Clinics in Kalamazoo

Western Michigan University's Kalamazoo Level I Fieldwork Clinics are led by full-time and part-time faculty in the Department of Occupational Therapy. The clinics are located on-campus and in community-based programs. Faculty provide direct supervision to level I fieldwork students throughout their clinical experience. Nearly 200 level I fieldwork experiences are completed at our level I fieldwork clinics on an annual basis.

Unified Clinics

Western Michigan University
1000 Oakland Dr
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5361 USA

Adult Clinic

Phone: (269) 387-7074
Email: ot-clinic@wmich.edu

The Adult Clinic serves adults who have neurological diagnoses such as cerebral vascular accidents and traumatic brain injuries; orthopedic conditions such as knee and hip replacements, fractures and other chronic orthopedic conditions; and cognitive impairments such as dementia. Additionally, the adult clinic will also serve individuals with psychological conditions such as depression, developmental delay and autism. The focus of the adult clinic is to provide skilled evaluation and intervention from a holistic perspective to assist clients in achieving their highest level of safety, occupational performance, and well-being. Through an extensive evaluation process, the adult clinic helps to determine the client’s potential for rehabilitation and independent living. Intervention is designed to improve independent living skills, motor skills and cognitive skills through individual sessions that target the specific client’s needs.

Pediatric Clinic

Phone: (269) 387-7074
Email: ot-clinic@wmich.edu

The Pediatric Clinic serves children who have diagnoses such as sensory processing disorder, ADHD, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, developmental delay, fine and gross motor dysfunction, fetal alcohol syndrome, and cognitive deficits. We treat children six months to 18 years of age. We provide evaluation and design client-centered intervention directed towards improving handwriting skills, motor skills, increasing sustained attention to task, increasing independence in self-care like grooming and eating, and improving safety awareness as they move through the environment and/or learn to interact socially. The focus of the Pediatric Clinic is to allow children to develop greater success in occupations that are meaningful to them.

Work-to-Work Program

Phone: (269) 387-7074
Email: ot-clinic@wmich.edu

The Work-to-Work Program serves young adults who have diagnoses such as autism, Asperger’s syndrome, learning disability, cognitive impairment and other mental health disorders. The focus of the adult Work-to-Work Program is the development of higher-level independent living skills including work and appropriate workplace communication/interpersonal skills. Through evaluation, the program helps to determine the adult client’s potential for independent living and for employment. Intervention is designed to improve independent living skills and pre-vocational skills through participation in therapeutic social and task groups, one-on-one supervision during work activities and one-on-one sessions to target specific skill areas for the individual client

Community-Based Clinics

Adults Doing Life Skills (ADLS) Clinic

Center for Disability Services
Western Michigan University
1000 Oliver Street
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5361 USA
Phone: (269) 387-7074
Email: cara.masselink@wmich.edu

Adults Doing Life Skills Clinic (ADLS) serves adults who have diagnoses such as mild, moderate, and severe intellectual impairments, cerebral palsy, brain injury, epilepsy, autism and other developmental disorders. The focus of the clinic is to provide meaningful occupations for adult consumers, while maintaining and increasing functional skills. Many of the consumers are in wheelchairs, are nonverbal, have limited functional movement and/or are incontinent. Individual evaluation and treatment includes mobility, feeding and swallowing assessment and treatment, sensory modulation, range of motion, attention, and activities of daily living. Through evaluation, the clinic helps to determine functional independence levels. Intervention is designed to promote independence in activities of daily living, improve sitting and standing balance, increase PROM and AROM, improve feeding skills, fine and gross motor skills, improve oral motor skills, develop sensory diets for sensory modulation, increase communication, and promote leisure skills.

Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital

1312 Oakland Dr
Kalamazoo MI 49008-1205 USA
Phone: (269) 337-3000
Email: berit.miller@wmich.edu

The Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital clinic is an acute-care psychiatric facility that serves adults and older adults with serious mental illness including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, chemical dependency/substance abuse, and dementia including Alzheimer’s type. The hospital also provides court-ordered forensics programming for patients who have serious mental illness and have been deemed either “not guilty by reason of insanity” or “incompetent to stand trial” in a legal court. The focus of the clinic is to provide patients the opportunity to socially participate in meaningful activities and to learn and practice functional skills to improve quality of life and prepare for transition to community living.

SOAR Clinic

Northeastern Elementary School
2433 Gertrude St
Kalamazoo MI 49048-1470 USA
Phone: (269) 615-8092
Email: slealofi@gmail.com

The SOAR Clinic is a community based clinic focused on providing occupational therapy evaluation and treatment that serves early elementary children who are scoring significantly below benchmarks in literacy skills. Common diagnoses include ADHD, Learning Disabilities, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. The focus of the SOAR clinic is to increase literacy skills. Through evaluation, SOAR helps to determine each child’s potential for success in the school setting and throughout their academic career. Intervention is designed to address underlying issues that impair engagement in literacy curriculum. This clinic implements treatment plans and provides direct OT treatment during and after school program and during school.

CLINIC FOCUS: PSYCHOSOCIAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS

Each student will participate in at least one level I fieldwork experience with the following ACOTE standard as one of the primary objectives for the course:
ACOTE Standard C.1.7: At least one fieldwork experience (either Level I or Level II) must address practice in behavioral health, or psychological and social factors influencing engagement in occupation.

The primary focus of the occupational therapy process in these clinical experiences will be on the psychological and social factors impacting the occupational performance of the clients. OT students will learn how to address concerns related to psychological and social factors in their assessment and treatment care plans.

Every OT student will be assigned to one of the following clinics for their psychosocial fieldwork experience:

Level I fieldwork clinics that touch on psychosocial factors, but focus more on other factors include:

Students must demonstrate specific clinical competencies in order to successfully complete level I fieldwork experience. Competencies include interpersonal skills, communication skills, commitment to learning, stress management, problem solving, effective use of time and resources, use of constructive feedback, effective use of time and resources, responsibility, critical thinking, professionalism, planning, guiding and documenting therapy. WMU awards a credit/no credit grade for level II fieldwork.

Western Michigan University’s goal of level I fieldwork is to help our students gain a foundational understanding of occupational therapy evaluation and treatment through direct interaction and hands-on experiences with clients.

Please view the fieldwork frequently asked questions page for more information.