The early intervention interdisciplinary field experience.

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 529 The changing health care environment has led to an expansion of pediatric health care services tow a rd m o re community-based, family-centered, teambased, and culturally re l e vant early intervention and schoolbased programs (Schaaf, Mi l l e r, & Bu rke, 1995). Mo re than one third of all occupational therapists practice in pediatric occupational therapy, and 18.7% of occupational therapists p rovide services in school settings, which is the largest emp l oyer of occupational therapy practitioners in pediatrics ( Hanft, Bu rke, Cahill, Swe n s o n Mi l l e r, & Hu m p h re y, 1992; Ro u rke, 1996). The need for occupational therapists in school-based and early intervention settings is expected to i n c rease by 78% within the next 5 years (W h i t w o rth, 1994). For pediatric personnel to be adequately trained, academic preparation of occupational therapists must be re s p o ns i ve to the changes in pediatric health care service delive ry. Pediatric occupational therapists need to learn how to collaborate not only with families, as mandated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990 (Pu b l i c Law 101–476), but also with team members because the i n t e rd i s c i p l i n a ry team approach has been found to be most e f f e c t i ve (American Occupational Therapy Association [ AOTA], 1997; Olson, Mu r p h y, & Olson, 1998; We s l e y, 1995). Un f o rt u n a t e l y, opportunities for interd i s c i p l i n a ry collaboration often are not available in academic pro g r a m s ( Hinojosa, Mo o re, Sabari, & Do c t o r, 1994; Hu m p h ry & Link, 1990) or may va ry from curriculum to curriculum ( AOTA, 1988). In a survey of 142 pediatric occupational therapy practitioners, Case-Smith (1994) identified the following six a reas as important to pediatric practitioners: