TOPIC

School-based research

Everything we have read on school-based. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

582 PAPERS · PAGE 12 OF 12 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTRCT2025Effects of Inline Skating Exercise on Symptoms, Executive Functions, and Motor Proficiency in Children With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Occupational therapy internationalTwelve weeks of inline skating improved ADHD symptoms, executive function and motor proficiency more than waiting did in children with ADHD, and the gains were still there at follow-up. The trial was small, the changes modest, and medication was not recorded.
• OTPilot2026Pilot Implementation of an Intervention Program to Promote Fine Motor Skills in Preschoolers: Feasibility and Acceptability.Occupational therapy international22 of 30 preschoolers with suspected fine motor delay screened as age-appropriate after a teacher-led program; 8 were unchanged. Without a control group, that cannot be credited to the program. Teachers found it easy to use and wanted activities grouped by ability, not age.
• OTQualitative2026Building post-primary school teachers' capacity to support student organisational skill difficulties: A collaborative occupational therapy and education intervention.The British journal of occupational therapyTeachers said the training changed what they do: they build organisation time into lessons, colour-code materials and ask what is behind a student's disorganisation rather than give out about it. Timetable, attendance and COVID rules got in the way. No student outcomes were measured.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Moving Toward Participation-Focused Goals for Students With Disabilities: Outcomes of a Knowledge Translation Program for School-Based Therapists.Child: care, health and developmentAfter training in the PREP participation framework, therapists' goals shifted away from skills like handwriting toward what students do at school: playing with friends, joining activities, making choices. Only a single group was followed, so the training is not proven to be the cause.
• OTSystematic Review2026Occupational therapists, self-regulation, and primary schools: A scoping review.Australian occupational therapy journalNone of the seven primary-school papers this review found measured self-regulation directly. Occupational therapists targeted related constructs such as executive function or sensory processing, or ran whole-school programmes like Alert Program® and Zones of Regulation®, and no agreed occupational tool exists for measuring it.
• OTSystematic Review2025The use of multisensory environments in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceMultisensory rooms showed some benefit for stereotyped behaviors and sensory responses in autistic people, but results for communication, anxiety, and disruptive behavior were mixed or null. Ten small, heterogeneous studies provide too little evidence to guide clinical decisions.
• OTRCT2025Efficacy of a prewriting intervention: A pilot randomised control trial.Australian occupational therapy journalSeventeen of the 18 kindergarten children improved their prewriting scores over time, but the group that received six weeks of extra instruction did not improve more than the waitlist group. The study was too small to detect a difference.
• OTSLPSurvey2026Caregiver Concerns for Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome: A Cross-Sectional Study in Brazil.Child: care, health and developmentCaregivers' concerns about children and adolescents with Down syndrome did not differ by age group. The top worry across all ages was communication (76%). Among caregivers who worried about sleep, 95% also worried about behaviour.
• OTProtocol2025Indonesian Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Sensory Processing Measure-2 (SPM-2) for Preschool Children: A Study Protocol.Occupational therapy internationalA protocol for translating a sensory processing questionnaire into Indonesian. No data collected, no results reported, nothing to act on.
• OTPilot2026Impact of noise on school bus drivers' visual reaction time: An experimental approach with road safety implications Noise and Reaction Time.Work (Reading, Mass.)85 dBA of white noise slowed school bus drivers' brake reaction time from 0.095 s to 0.121 s. The effect held after adjusting for age and experience. All 28 participants were male, tested in a simulator.
• OTSystematic Review2025Measurement Tools in Occupational Therapy Practice Primary School Setting: A Scoping Review.Occupational therapy internationalMost measurement tools used by school-based OTs focus on handwriting and cognitive skills. Only four of 52 tools address the classroom environment, such as teacher support or attitudes.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2025Chinese Graduate Health Science Students' Perceptions of Teaching Pedagogies on Their Educational Experience.Occupational therapy internationalHands-on clinical practice, instructor demonstration, and clear written communication were rated most helpful for learning by Chinese graduate health science students. Quick-response classroom tools and fast speech were rated lowest.
• OTSystematic Review2026Family-Centered Occupational Therapy Consultation for Children Under 18 Years Old: A Scoping Review.Occupational therapy internationalEight of twelve studies found improved child participation or parent confidence after OT consultation. Three found no clear benefit. The evidence is thin, mostly small studies, and says little about cerebral palsy, ADHD, speech disorders, or teenagers.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Functional outcomes of children after SARS-CoV-2 infection: An EHR-based cohort study.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineChildren with clinician-confirmed long COVID after SARS-CoV-2 infection were more likely to show school decline, need new school support, and develop new behavioral or mental health symptoms than children without long COVID. Referral to psychological services did not differ between the two groups.
• OTCohort2026Behavioral and functional aspects among public and private middle school students.CoDASBehavioral difficulties in 11-to-14-year-old students were significantly linked to functional problems in stress management and social interaction. More girls showed hyperactivity symptoms; more boys showed prosocial behavior difficulties. No significant link was found with school type or economic class.
• OTQualitative2026Identity Development for LGBTQIA+ Autistic Adults in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Study.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy AssociationLGBTQIA+ autistic adults built their identities through exposure to others, self-directed research, trial and error, and interactions with people outside their communities. Positive experiences led to immediate self-acceptance; negative ones required a longer, harder journey.
• OTOther2026Examining the relationship between self-reported physical literacy and performance-based motor skills in school-aged children.The British journal of occupational therapySelf-reported physical literacy scores did not predict performance on a standardised motor skills test. The one link found: children who scored well on balance and coordination tasks tended to rank physical activity as more important than reading or math.
• OTQualitative2026First-generation immigrants' experiences of entering and remaining in the Swedish labour market in a sustainable way: A qualitative study.Work (Reading, Mass.)Prolonged cycles of short-term contracts and unemployment eroded these immigrants' professional identity and sense of control. They wanted work to mean belonging and purpose, not just income. A consistent, engaged employment officer and social support from family were what kept them going.
• OTOther2026Psychometric Evaluation of the Cross-Culturally Adapted Dutch-Language Version of the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY).Occupational therapy internationalThe Dutch PEM-CY is now validated and shows children with disabilities participate at similar frequency to peers but with significantly lower involvement, facing more environmental barriers. OTs can use it to identify where the environment is the problem.
• OTOther2026Turkish Adaptation of the School Participation Questionnaire (T-SPQ) and Investigation of Validity, Reliability and Clinical Compatibility in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Child: care, health and developmentThe teacher-rated School Participation Questionnaire, now available in Turkish, reliably separates children with ADHD from their peers on school participation. The Doing subscale, what the child actually does at school, was the strongest single indicator, with a cutoff of 38.5.
• OTQualitative2026Victorian primary school teachers' perspectives on collaboration with occupational therapists.Australian occupational therapy journalTeachers in Victorian primary schools described collaboration with occupational therapists as hampered by role confusion, misaligned communication, and time pressure. They wanted brief, direct contact (email preferred), clearer explanation of what OTs do beyond fine motor skills, and more built-in time to implement strategies.
• OTSystematic Review2026A Scoping Review of Occupational Imbalance Among Korean High School Students: Insights Through the PEO Model.Occupational therapy internationalKorean high school students studying for the national exam spend roughly 12 hours a day on academics, sleep under 6 hours, and 44% regularly skip breakfast. A pattern the review traces to exam culture and filial duty, not individual weakness. No intervention was tested.
• OTOther2026The Participation and Environment Measure-Children and Youth (PEM-CY): Cultural Adaptation, Validity, and Reliability of the Persian Version for 5- to 17-Year-Old Children With Cerebral Palsy.Occupational therapy internationalThe Persian PEM-CY is a valid, reliable tool for measuring participation and environmental barriers in children with CP. Children with CP participated in fewer activities and faced more barriers than typically developing peers, especially in school and community settings.
• OTOther2026Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of the Visual Perceptual and Fine Motor Function Tests in School-Aged Children With Mild Intellectual Disabilities.Occupational therapy internationalTwo of three commonly used hand and visual-perceptual tests (JTHFT, TVPS-4) reliably track change in children with mild intellectual disability, but the Box and Block Test is too imprecise to detect individual-level improvement in this group.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Examining Transitions From Early Intervention to Preschool Services: A Retrospective Review of Therapeutic Service Access in a Clinical Sample of Children With Developmental Disabilities.Infants and young children90% of 194 preschoolers with developmental disabilities had no clinic-based therapy at evaluation. Prior Early Intervention was the strongest predictor of school access, but children with intellectual disability or global developmental delay were less likely to receive school-based therapies than peers with other diagnoses.
• OTSLPOther2026Implementation of a Digital Tool to Identify Child Development and Parental Mental Health Needs Among Multicultural Communities Attending a School-Based Wellbeing Hub.Child: care, health and developmentAmong 61 multicultural families with preschoolers, lower parent education was linked to a 3.6-times higher chance of the child being flagged for developmental concern, but parental mental health was not. Staff said trust, flexibility, and CALD-speaking colleagues were what got families to engage.
• OTOther2026Integrating Stakeholder Voices to Improve Occupational Therapy Research for Minoritized Autistic Hispanic and Latino Communities.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy AssociationTwenty-five Hispanic and Latino stakeholders rated their involvement in culturally adapting an OT intervention highly, and their input directly shaped recruitment, data safety, and dissemination. This is a process evaluation, not a test of the intervention's effectiveness.
• OTPilot2026Optimizing Teacher-Occupational Therapist Collaboration: A Multimethod Knowledge Translation Initiative.Child: care, health and developmentA small pilot of virtual OT–teacher collaboration training showed mixed results: some self-set goal scores improved, but the broader collaboration-attitude scale barely moved. Too small and self-selected to tell whether this works for most school teams.
• OTOther2026Promoting Participation in African High Schools: A Scoping Review.Occupational therapy internationalNone of the 15 school-based occupational therapy studies for adolescents reviewed were conducted in Africa, and most were not suitable for the African context. Four showed some promise but none addressed spirituality. A gap the authors flag as critical.
• OTQualitative2026Experiences of Teachers and Occupational Therapists in Identifying Activity Problems Among Primary School Students With Developmental Difficulties in Indonesia: A Focus Group Interview.Occupational therapy internationalA qualitative study of 15 Indonesian teachers and OTs found that students with developmental difficulties struggle not just academically but with self-care and religious routines. The structured identification process described likely reflects well-resourced private schools, not the broader system.
• OTOther2026Understanding the Impact of Living Situation and Social Satisfaction on Depression and Substance Use in Autistic Young Adults Without Intellectual Disability.Autism in adulthoodAmong autistic young adults without intellectual disability, living alone was associated with more social satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms; living with peers was associated with more alcohol and cannabis use. Cross-sectional design means these are associations, not cause-and-effect.
• PTOTSurvey2026Strengthening School-Based Support Systems for Children and Youth With Developmental Coordination Disorder: A National Survey of Canadian Parents.Child: care, health and developmentA national survey of 488 Canadian parents of children with DCD found only 17% had a school-based therapist and 75% paid for therapy out of pocket. Assume the school system is not providing adequate motor support and advocate for services.