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Your Therapy Source, Inc
Your online resource for school based therapy and special
needs publications for professional, home and school use.
Your online resource for school based therapy and special
needs publications for professional, home and school use.
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10 Things They Don’t Teach You in School – learning on
the job as a school based therapist.
by: Margaret Rice PT
Looking back to graduation from physical therapy school, well over 10 years ago, I now realize that the
professors missed quite a bit of information about school based therapy. After one class in pediatric
physical therapy and an eight week internship, I never remember any of the professors discussing the
following topics:
1. Dress appropriately: Schools are not very clean places. The floors get swept sometimes and
polished about once a year. The best outfit you could wear would be comfortable clothes with reinforced
knees. You spend a lot of time on the floor and I have ripped so many pairs of pants in the knees. Also,
you may want to wear a tool belt or at least carry an Allen wrench set. I must have cut class the day they
discussed how to repair wheelchairs on the fly.
2. Evacuation plans: I have worked in several different school systems and one area of concern is
how to devise evacuation plans for students who cannot negotiate the stairs. Elevators turn off when fire
alarms are pulled. The trickiest one I ever planned was for a third grade student with muscular
dystrophy. She was independent with a motorized wheelchair, overweight and very low muscle tone.
We had to plan not only how to get her down the stairs, but also where to seat her when she got
downstairs. Then, how do we get her wheelchair down after that? You all know how much a motorized
wheelchair weighs, right? I certainly do because I have carried one down flights of stairs more than a
few times.
3. Public relations: As time goes by, more and more school staff do have the basic idea of what we
do as school based therapists. When I first started, I would receive referrals for physical therapy
evaluations where the only concern was poor handwriting. Part of the job of a school based therapist is
to explain what type of help you can offer in the educational setting.
4. Clowning around: We discussed all sorts of syndromes, diagnoses and orthopedic conditions
that effect children in pediatrics class. Children respond to play and silliness, no one ever went over
with me how to act like a kid. . Perhaps Intro to Clowning Around 101 would have been helpful to me.
5. Pediatric therex in real life: It is great to learn which therapeutic exercises are appropriate for
children. We had lab class where we practiced our NDT techniques and observed normally developing
children. Pediatric therex in real life means including play and toys in almost every activity that you do. A
lesson in how to grow another arm to reach for a toy would have been of some assistance to me.
6. Scheduling: Do you know how difficult it is to schedule therapy for students with special needs?
In a hospital, the patients are available for most of the day. If you miss one due to a medical test you
simply check back later. In school, you cannot just check back later. You have to schedule therapy
sessions around the main teacher’s schedule, special classes, maybe other therapies or nursing care.
They may want to mention this during therapy training – perhaps organizational tips. Don’t forget to
mention how to schedule a caseload that is spread out at many different schools.
7. Driving, Parking and Getting Inside: It is hard enough to schedule the students for therapy, now
try staying on schedule. I have had a therapy assignment where I was responsible for about 7 schools
in an urban setting. You have to keep on schedule at each school, drive and park at each school. As a
therapist, it was street parking for me. If I was lucky, I could find a spot right away, now it just meant
gathering up all my equipment (therapy ball, toys, mat, etc.) and running inside to work with the student.
Did I mention, school doors are all locked now. Perhaps a practice lab on how to carry tons of
equipment and get buzzed into a school might be helpful.
8. The Therapy Room: I have worked in one school where I had a nice therapy room. All the others,
I have made do with what they offer. I have worked with kids under stairwells, in large closets and
hallways. We did have a nice carpeted room once but we got kicked out. Using a scooter board in the
hallway was a little distracting for the children in Spanish class. Again, a practice lab could focus on
how to work on large motor skills in a room that is 8 feet by 8 feet.
9. Communication: In a school setting, communication among team members is crucial. I have
learned throughout the years you can never communicate too much, just too little. Provide positive
communication – don’t only discuss with the teacher or parent a child’s areas of weakness, focus on
the child’s areas of strengths. I would have loved an extended lesson on how to write letters of
justification. A guest visit from some vendors would have helped – they seem to know all the tricks to
get equipment approved.
10. Respect: Throughout my career, I have made every effort to be respectful to children, parents
and school staff. Listen to what other team members have to say they have so much to offer since they
are with the children for much longer than we are. One of the most important topics that a pediatric
therapy class should stress is NEVER and I mean NEVER say to a child, parent or teacher that a child
cannot do something especially learn how to walk. Children’s resilience and determination surprise
me every day!
the job as a school based therapist.
by: Margaret Rice PT
Looking back to graduation from physical therapy school, well over 10 years ago, I now realize that the
professors missed quite a bit of information about school based therapy. After one class in pediatric
physical therapy and an eight week internship, I never remember any of the professors discussing the
following topics:
1. Dress appropriately: Schools are not very clean places. The floors get swept sometimes and
polished about once a year. The best outfit you could wear would be comfortable clothes with reinforced
knees. You spend a lot of time on the floor and I have ripped so many pairs of pants in the knees. Also,
you may want to wear a tool belt or at least carry an Allen wrench set. I must have cut class the day they
discussed how to repair wheelchairs on the fly.
2. Evacuation plans: I have worked in several different school systems and one area of concern is
how to devise evacuation plans for students who cannot negotiate the stairs. Elevators turn off when fire
alarms are pulled. The trickiest one I ever planned was for a third grade student with muscular
dystrophy. She was independent with a motorized wheelchair, overweight and very low muscle tone.
We had to plan not only how to get her down the stairs, but also where to seat her when she got
downstairs. Then, how do we get her wheelchair down after that? You all know how much a motorized
wheelchair weighs, right? I certainly do because I have carried one down flights of stairs more than a
few times.
3. Public relations: As time goes by, more and more school staff do have the basic idea of what we
do as school based therapists. When I first started, I would receive referrals for physical therapy
evaluations where the only concern was poor handwriting. Part of the job of a school based therapist is
to explain what type of help you can offer in the educational setting.
4. Clowning around: We discussed all sorts of syndromes, diagnoses and orthopedic conditions
that effect children in pediatrics class. Children respond to play and silliness, no one ever went over
with me how to act like a kid. . Perhaps Intro to Clowning Around 101 would have been helpful to me.
5. Pediatric therex in real life: It is great to learn which therapeutic exercises are appropriate for
children. We had lab class where we practiced our NDT techniques and observed normally developing
children. Pediatric therex in real life means including play and toys in almost every activity that you do. A
lesson in how to grow another arm to reach for a toy would have been of some assistance to me.
6. Scheduling: Do you know how difficult it is to schedule therapy for students with special needs?
In a hospital, the patients are available for most of the day. If you miss one due to a medical test you
simply check back later. In school, you cannot just check back later. You have to schedule therapy
sessions around the main teacher’s schedule, special classes, maybe other therapies or nursing care.
They may want to mention this during therapy training – perhaps organizational tips. Don’t forget to
mention how to schedule a caseload that is spread out at many different schools.
7. Driving, Parking and Getting Inside: It is hard enough to schedule the students for therapy, now
try staying on schedule. I have had a therapy assignment where I was responsible for about 7 schools
in an urban setting. You have to keep on schedule at each school, drive and park at each school. As a
therapist, it was street parking for me. If I was lucky, I could find a spot right away, now it just meant
gathering up all my equipment (therapy ball, toys, mat, etc.) and running inside to work with the student.
Did I mention, school doors are all locked now. Perhaps a practice lab on how to carry tons of
equipment and get buzzed into a school might be helpful.
8. The Therapy Room: I have worked in one school where I had a nice therapy room. All the others,
I have made do with what they offer. I have worked with kids under stairwells, in large closets and
hallways. We did have a nice carpeted room once but we got kicked out. Using a scooter board in the
hallway was a little distracting for the children in Spanish class. Again, a practice lab could focus on
how to work on large motor skills in a room that is 8 feet by 8 feet.
9. Communication: In a school setting, communication among team members is crucial. I have
learned throughout the years you can never communicate too much, just too little. Provide positive
communication – don’t only discuss with the teacher or parent a child’s areas of weakness, focus on
the child’s areas of strengths. I would have loved an extended lesson on how to write letters of
justification. A guest visit from some vendors would have helped – they seem to know all the tricks to
get equipment approved.
10. Respect: Throughout my career, I have made every effort to be respectful to children, parents
and school staff. Listen to what other team members have to say they have so much to offer since they
are with the children for much longer than we are. One of the most important topics that a pediatric
therapy class should stress is NEVER and I mean NEVER say to a child, parent or teacher that a child
cannot do something especially learn how to walk. Children’s resilience and determination surprise
me every day!