Maximizing Impact: Taking a Team Approach in School-Based Therapy
Welcome back to our Back to School Series! 🍎
I feel like our topic for today isn't discussed enough, so let's talk about taking a Team Approach!
School-based therapists are an essential part of many teams in the school system! From the IEP team, to the evaluation/SAT team, to the unique role you may play in your individual school, you have to be a team player.
How can you best establish yourself as a valuable member of these organizations? Here's a few tips:
- Introduce yourself early on! We can see a lot of movement from year to year in schools, so make sure you send emails to your various teams to introduce yourself (or simply say hello again!) so that they know who to contact and have your email at the tip top of their inbox early on in the year.
- Clarify expectations from your evaluation/SAT team. Once again, a lot can change from one year to the next in terms of evaluation processes and procedures. Ensure that you have the right idea on what is expected, what children are coming up for evaluation, and what data is needed for them and how much.
- Do as you would have others do to you. As in, give PLENTY of notice for upcoming meetings that you are hosting. We all know the feeling when we only get a few days (or hours!) notice before a meeting that we have to attend. Make sure to send early and frequent reminders if you want to stay in teacher and faculty good graces!
- Collaborate with your team members! Have a tricky kid on your caseload? Try co-treating with PT or OT, or even pushing in to the classroom if you can so you and the teacher can brainstorm. If you're finding their case to be tough, those same concerns are probably presenting in the classroom as well! Taking a team approach is the best modality of service delivery in this case, as both professionals can provide valuable input to best help a child achieve their goals!
- Assist teachers in providing accommodations for children who have them. First, you have to let teachers know which students have them and what accommodations are needed. Typing these out in a form or having a shared school-wide Google Doc is a fantastic way to have this info readily accessible to all teachers. But going the extra step and asking teachers how you can help implement these in their class if they're unsure can be a great way to be a team member!
- Use their materials! The best way to assert yourself as a person trying to make change on a child's academic progress? Find the class they struggle in the most, go to the teacher, and ask to use their assignments as therapy or push-in during classes your students may be struggling in. This can look like: using assigned readings as your language therapy reading, leading a story time aimed at scaffolding for your caseload students, or pushing in and leading a small group therapy session during a social studies class assignment (such as presentation prep or writing assignments).
I hope these tips help you show your schools what an asset you really are!
Happy Speeching!
P.S. For more resources and ongoing support, join The Speech Therapy Toolbox! It's packed with valuable tools and strategies to help you excel in your school-slp role.
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