Website

Work in Progress:

School Occupational Therapy for Handwriting.
The most common reason for student referral to a school occupational therapist is poor handwriting, especially difficulty with letter formation. In California, educational standards exist for letter legibility at the kindergarten level. Occupational therapists utilize fine motor, visual motor, visual perceptual, postural and movement strategies to facilitate improved handwriting. It’s been show that students with handwriting difficulty who receive such therapy have significantly more legible handwriting than those with handwriting difficulty who do not. With a team at San Diego Unified School District, Dr. Taras is analyzing data to determine if delivering a handwriting curriculum for all first grade students, a curriculum based on Occupational Therapy interventions, can improve this skill for all students, and reduce referrals to Special Education services for poor handwriting.

Sample Publications:

Taras H, Nader P. Overview of School Health and School Health Program Goals ( Ch. 124) in: McInerny TK, Adam HM, Campbell DE, Kamat DM, Kelleher KJ eds. American Academy of Pediatrics Textbook of Pediatric Care. Elk Grove Village, IL. American Academy of Pediatrics 2009.

Taras H, Brennan J. Students with Chronic Diseases: Nature of School Physician Support. J. School Health 2008; 78(7):pp389

Einesman F , Taras H. Drug testing of students: a legal and public health perspective J. Contemporary Health Law & Policy Spring 2007; 23-Article 231:1-34.

Taras H. Childhood asthma: management in the school setting. International Review of Asthma 2005; 7(4):66-73.

Taras H, Potts-Datema W. Obesity and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005; 75(8):291-295.

Taras H, Potts-Datema W. Childhood asthma and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005; 75(8):296-312

Taras H, Potts-Datema W. Chronic health conditions and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005; 75(7):255-266.

Taras H, Potts-Datema W. Sleep and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005; 75(7):248-254.

Taras H. Nutrition and student performance at school. Journal of School Health 2005; 75(6):199-213.