Healthy Minds, Hearts and Hands
Yvonne Cosentino, OTA program director
This community-based service learning project was selected for LLCC Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion (IDI) Grant funding in 2022-23 and enabled a partnership between the LLCC Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Illinois to increase diversity of OTA student applications by increasing community awareness of the occupational therapy profession. The project, “Healthy Minds, Hearts and Hands,” brought engaging activities promoting fitness, emotional well-being and social language development for building student confidence and success at school. Additionally, the program offered traditional school-based occupational therapy strategies to help students who struggle with homework to build skills that will carry over into the classroom.
As a result of the project, the college gained two interested candidates for the OTA program cohort beginning in January 2024. Additionally, pre- and
post-testsof third, fourth and fifth graders identified that 54% of students reported an improvement in executive function skills, 50% of students reported improved sensory-motor performances and 36% of students reported improved success with academic subjects.
Boys & Girls Clubs staff members overwhelmingly “strongly agreed” that the program was beneficial, and they would recommend it to other after-school sites. The LLCC first-semester OTA student reflections identified the strengths and challenges of working with such a large group of children and are looking forward to continuing to grow the program with additional strategies for organization, management and activity development.
Be the change
Applications are currently being accepted through Nov. 30, 2023, for LLCC’s IDI Grant program for 2023-24! The goal of the grant is to prompt, identify and support innovative proposals that incorporate inclusivity and enhance diversity at LLCC.