Occupational Therapy, Adaptive Physical Education, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and Vision Impaired services are offered by the Simi Valley Unified School District for those special education eligible students who need these services, as determined by the student's Individual Education Program Team. Below is a brief description of those services, and a contact person for more information.

Occupational therapy primarily focuses on purposeful, goal directed activities that improve a student's functional performance during his/her school day enabling them to access and benefit from their educational program. School occupational therapists assess the following areas:

• Postural stability
• Self-help skills
• Fine motor skills
• Visual perception and integration
• Sensory motor skills

Occupational therapy intervention may include adaptation of tasks or the environment in order to enhance student performance. For more information, please contact Pablo Pauig, O.T., at (805) 306-4500, ext. 4355 or email to pablo.pauig@simivalleyusd.org 

 Adapted Physical Education:

We are a department of educators who assess and work with special education students who are having significant difficulty accessing the general Physical Education curriculum. The IEP Team may recommend interventions or pull out service to help students in their areas of need. We focus on students who are deficient in the following: 

• Gross Motor or large muscle skills
• Object Control or ball/manipulative skills
• Perceptual Motor including the cognitive and sensory motor development largely responsible for an individual’s ability to engage in athletic activities and interact with his or her environment
• Physical Fitness-ones ability to sustain daily activities 

We love to play and hope to instill this love and a confidence in playing within every child with whom we interact.

 For more information, please contact Brett McNulty at brett.mcnulty@simivalleyusd.org

The Visual Impairment Program of the Simi Valley Unified School District serves children from birth to age 22.  The Visual Impairment Program team includes:

• 1 full-time, and 1 part-time Teacher of the Visually Impaired
• 1 Orientation & Mobility Specialist (SELPA)
• 1 Certified Braille Transcriber
• 2 Vision Program Assistants

To be eligible for vision services, a student must have a visual impairment which, even with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance.  The term visually impaired includes, for educational purposes:

• Functionally blind students who rely basically on senses other than vision as their major channels of learning
• Low vision students who use vision as a major channel for learning

The teacher(s) and orientation and mobility specialist play a primary role in teaching the students the skills included in the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC).  The components of the ECC include:    

• Compensatory or functional academic skills, including communication modes (Braille, magnification devices, large print)
• Orientation and mobility
• Social interaction skills
• Independent living skills
• Recreation and leisure skills
• Career education
• Use of assistive technology
• Visual efficiency skills 

For more information, contact Angela DeSantis, VI Teacher, at (805) 306-4500, ext. 4325.   

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program in the Simi Valley Unified School District is a Total Communication Program that teaches a variety of ways to communicate that best suits the needs of each student.