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Carlo Vialu, PT, MBA<\/a>, is co-creator of SeekFreaks. He loves promoting function and participation for children and youth with disabilities, from our assessment to our interventions, via his continuing education courses: <\/a>The Well-Equipped Therapist! School-based OT & PT Symposiums<\/a>, Everything’s Measurable<\/a>, and the live online Experts Series<\/a>. Read more about these courses after the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 summers ago, we published SeekFreaks’ Summer Reading for school-based therapists! It quickly became our most-read article – so we know such resource is much-needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the intervening 36 months, much has changed. Links have moved, web resources have been updated and – even better – new research shed light as to the effectiveness of our interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we decided it\u2019s time to update the summer reading list with additional resources and some advance reads of new and new-ish published articles that we SeekFreaks consider essential knowledge for school-based practitioners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether this is your first job after graduation, you are an experienced therapist who is just now entering school-based practice, or you\u2019re a seasoned school-based therapist who needs to brush up and get excited with our practice again, venture into our 2019 summer reading list…for the beach, a mountain retreat, your hammock in the backyard, those long plane rides, or wherever your summer vacation plans take you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Read up on the\nIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read up on the Individuals with\nDisabilities Education Act (IDEA) – the foremost reason why there are\ntherapists working in the schools. Learn about special education and your role\nas a related service provider. You can find the whole regulation here<\/a> – but you will quickly realize how boring it is to read\nthis document (sorry, IDEA \u2013 we still love you!). So, instead start with the\nSeekFreaks article: OTs, PTs & SLPs in Schools…How Did We Get Here?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, if you are\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read them as voraciously as you would read a newly released Harry Potter or Hunger Games prequel. If after reading these, you still have questions, or would like to find certain excerpts from IDEA regulations, you can use the search tab on the IDEA\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need a deeper dive into other laws affecting school-based practice? Here’s a list from SeekFreak Laurie Ray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There are 3 laws that are closely related to our practice. Below are the links to increase your understanding. Websites have too much info? I indicated the pages where you can start and get applicable information right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Read your state or\nschool district\u2019s school-based practice guideline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does your state or school district have a school-based practice guideline? SeekFreaks made it easier for you to find your state guideline with our OT, PT & SLP Practice Guide Map<\/a>. Print out a copy to take with you, or better yet, download a copy onto your mobile device (and save some trees in the process as some of them can be fairly long). By the way, if your state has a practice guide that is not listed in the link, let us know by commenting below or by emailing us at seekfreaks.gmail.com so we can add it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The practice guide will give you\nspecific guidance as to how to practice in schools within your own state or\nschool district. It will often explain how Individualized Education Program\n(IEP) teams meet and make decisions, and your roles and responsibilities as a\nrelated service provider (yes, you will be considered a related service\nprovider in school-based practice, so get used to this term). <\/p>\n\n\n\n These practice guides also often\ndiscuss decision-making processes for determining a student’s eligibility for\nspecial education services, establishing students’ goals, and identifying their\nneeds for related services. You will also learn the areas of expertise and\ncompetencies expected of school-based therapists within your school districts.\nSome practice guidelines even contains discussions around service delivery\nmodels, as well as, frequency and intensity of services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your state and school district\ndoes not have a practice guide, do not fret. Here are some starting points to\nlearn more about your role in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you\u2019re reading your practice\nguide, might as well revisit your state practice acts to review what you should\ndo, and what you can and cannot do under your license, registration and\/or\ncertification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Learn about the\nIndividualized Education Program (IEP)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As school-based practitioners,\nIndividualized Education Programs (IEPs) will be a huge part of your life.\nWhereas, medical-based settings use doctor\u2019s prescriptions and medical\ndocumentation, the therapists in the educational setting rely on what is contained\nin the students’ IEPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, you will find some\nguidelines on IEPs, including learning modules, on the IDEA website by clicking\nhere<\/a> then selecting Individualized\nEducation Program<\/em>. You can also visit your state education department\u2019s\nwebsite to find specific guidance within your state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, such guidance is often very\ngeneral. How do they apply specifically to therapists? For this information,\nread the 4-part SeekFreaks series IEP 4.0 that begins here<\/a>.\nThis is a quick primer on our responsibilities in the IEP process focusing on 3\nparticular IEP sections, the Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional\nPerformance<\/a>, Goals<\/a> & Progress Monitoring<\/a>,\nplus a non-IEP, but just as important item, the Plan of Care<\/a>.\nAlthough, the examples are PT-related, OTs and SLPs can find pearls of wisdom\nthat they can readily apply to their practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also help your students and\ntheir families through the IEP process with these handy-dandy checklists by SeekFreak\nLaurie Ray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Get Cozy with the ICF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you read materials 1-3 above\nthoroughly, you will realize that there is a lot of talk about participation.\nSo you would need to brush up on the International Classification of Function,\nDisability and Health (ICF) so you can become fluent in describing\nimpairments, activities and participation, and when setting participation goals\nwith the IEP team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It would help you to skim through\nthe ICF-Children and Youth Version<\/a>. It may be a little less tedious than reading the full IDEA\nregulations. However, it can still be snooze-inducing. If you like a quick\nprimer, read Recognizing ICF Domain Words…Amusing Musings<\/a> which we just updated by aligning the ICF domains with the\nterm used in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF-3). Wouldn\u2019t it\nbe great if we all could speak each other\u2019s lingo?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And don\u2019t miss CanChild\u2019s take on\nthe ICF with the catchy title, \u201cF-Words\u201d. Each F-Word corresponds to a domain\nof the ICF. They also just created videos and other materials to help you explain\neach F-Word with your colleagues and clients. Visit their F-Words\nKnowledge Hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Are You Up for\nAdditional Readings?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, if you are reading this far,\nthen you must be! Here are some recent and recent-ish articles that would make\nfor great reading summer reading to make you extra-effective in school-based\npractice. This list includes free articles, systematic reviews and websties on\ngeneral school-based topics and interventions, and those that pertain to some\nof the most common pediatric health conditions. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can\u2019t have enough to read? Here are some SeekFreaks\u2019 picks\non more EBP:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Happy\nsummer reading to one and all!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Join Carlo Vialu and other experts at these all evidence-based, all practical continuing education online courses:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here for an updated version of this article with current links, evidence and resources. Carlo Vialu, PT, MBA, is co-creator of SeekFreaks. He loves promoting function and participation for children and youth with disabilities, from our assessment to our… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81122"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107514,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81122\/revisions\/107514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.seekfreaks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Join-Our-School-based-OT-and-PT-Symposiums-1.jpg\")
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