As a related service provider or behavioral health therapist, your contribution to a student’s individualized education program (IEP) is critical to helping that student achieve education goals.
If you’re new to school-based therapy, understanding how IEPs work and your role in making sure that therapies are provided and documented is part of the job—an essential one!
An IEP is a tool that details the educational goals and supports a student in special education will receive to learn and thrive in the classroom. This legally required document is like a roadmap, creating one coordinated multidisciplinary plan that combines the goals and expertise of an entire IEP team.
With a focus on the whole child, IEPs are based on collaboration. Each discipline evaluates the student and gives input on how to help the student achieve intended goals. The IEP directs your therapy plan, ensuring your services align with the student’s needs and desired outcomes.
At Kelly Pediatric Therapy, we take our roles very seriously. Our team has seen habits form where an OT writes their part, speech writes their part, and PT has their own goals. We believe strongly that it should be a multidisciplinary document that is a holistic way of viewing the child toward a collective goal.
Although each discipline makes its own contribution, an IEP is meant to provide a holistic view of the child. That’s why the IEP team is often comprised the following core members:
As a therapist, your input helps shape the goals, services, and strategies that support student progress to access their education.
While details will vary based on your clinical specialty, here’s how you’ll generally create and use an IEP:
Of course, putting this into practice can look different depending on your specialty. For example, as an occupational therapist (OT), you might evaluate the student’s fine motor skills, sensory needs, and ability to participate in classroom activities. This information would contribute to recommendations, goals, and interventions in the student’s IEP.
For a speech-language pathologist (SLP), you’ll evaluate students' communication and speech skills, identify the need for intervention, and develop goals around improved language, vocabulary, self-esteem, socialization, reading/writing comprehension, and more.
Once everyone has added input, you’ll meet with the team to go over the document and discuss observations. These meetings provide a space to understand the team’s goal for a student and how your services will contribute to success.
Tracking outcomes allows the team to adjust strategies and ensure services continue to meet the student’s evolving needs. There are several types of meetings that can happen:
At Kelly Pediatric Therapy, we also have a proprietary billing system that tracks outcomes in fulfillment of the IEP. Our providers find the technology to be a helpful tracking tool. They also appreciate a CEU that we offer about writing legally-compliant IEP programs and notes.
We often get this question from new school-based therapists, Students typically have a 504 Plan or IEP. The IEP is for students in special education who need supports to be able to access the curriculum.
The 504 plan is more for students who may have a disability, but it's not impacting them cognitively. Many times, a 504 is initiated by a pediatrician or medical practitioner.
A good example might be somebody who has cerebral palsy, and they're in a wheelchair, but cognitively intact. They can do all the work and access curriculum, but they have some physical disabilities. They need accommodation to use the elevator or other accommodations.
This doesn't require testing by the school, like an IEP.
It does require documentation to support the claim.
The 504 is typically managed by the school counselor.
Often, there is a meeting every year to review with the parents, but you don't have the same strict progress guidelines as a federally mandated IEP.
Many students with ADHD might have a 504 versus an IEP because they might need some accommodations for extra time test taking or breaks throughout their day, but they're still able to access their learning and their curriculum.
At Kelly Pediatric Therapy, our mission is to support dedicated therapists like you, so you can make a difference for children and families in our schools, clinics, and communities. We offer resources, mentorship, and real opportunities for career growth—plus a true work-life balance. Learn more about all the ways we support our therapists.
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