Improving Teacher Awareness of Fine Motor Problems and Occupational Therapy: Education Workshops for Preservice Teachers, General Education Teachers and Special Education Teachers in Canada

Students with fine motor problems can benefit from occupational therapy. Yet not all students receive the services because of a lack of teacher awareness about the problems and the services. This study aims to evaluate a workshop designed to improve teacher awareness about fine motor problems and occupational therapy. The study involved three groups: preservice (N = 34), general education (N = 30), and special education (N = 19) teachers. Each group received a 2 1/2- to 3-hour interactive workshop. They completed the Fine Motor Awareness Scale (FMAS) before, after, and one month following the workshops. Preservice teachers had the greatest learning needs on the topic. All three teacher groups showed significant improvements in the FMAS scores post-workshop, with the greatest change in the preservice teachers group, followed by the special education and then the general education teachers. Knowledge transfer principles contributed to the success of the workshops. Post-workshop evaluation showed teachers wanted more content and longer, multi-session workshops in future. Preservice, general and special education teachers need to know more about fine motor problems and occupational therapy. Knowledge-transfer workshops provided by occupational therapists can meet their learning needs and subsequently help their students to improve fine motor problems. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)