E78: What is an Educational Therapist?
Episode 78: What is an Educational Therapist? with Wendy Taylor Are you looking for a way to get your child more support outside of the school setting but aren't sure who can help?
Have you heard of an educational therapist before or are you scratching your head thinking, “What in the world is that?” Educational therapists are common in some areas but haven’t yet become popular in much of the United States which is unfortunate because they are so incredibly helpful for children who receive their services! Today, Wendy Taylor of Learning Essentials is here to talk all about educational therapists.
There are so many services outside of a school setting that are available for students who need extra support. Wendy Taylor is joining us today to share all about educational therapists and how they help children outside of school while also providing support to parents to help get great IEPs for their children. She is covering what educational therapy is, what she does as an educational therapist, and when it might be beneficial to seek services from an educational therapist for your child.
Don’t forget to enter into our HUGE GIVEAWAY where we are giving away 10 IEP 101 Workbooks, 5 spots in December’s Decoding IEP Workshop, and 1 spot in the Ultimate Parent IEP Prep Course! Plus, everyone who enters gets the Exclusive Accommodations 101 Guide for free! To enter, follow these quick steps-
- Rate and review the show in your podcast player to submit in the form
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- Fill out the submission form
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In this episode, we cover:
- How to enter to win with our HUGE GIVEAWAY
- What an educational therapist actually is
- What educational therapists do and how they help get your child the services they need
- When it would be beneficial for a parent to seek support and services from an educational therapist
- Feedback Wendy has gotten on her educational therapy services and how you can connect with her
Connect with Beth:
- Be sure to join the IEP Lab mailing list
- Fill out the GIVEAWAY submission form
Connect with Wendy:
- FREEBIE: 10 Free Tips to Prep for an IEP Meeting
- Check out the Learning Essentials Website
- The Special Ed Strategist Podcast
- Follow her on Instagram
Related Podcast Episodes:
Beth 0:00
Do you happen to know what an educational therapist is or what they do and how they help kids? Because when I met Wendy Taylor through her podcast actually, I saw her title and I was like, I have some questions for you because I’ve never heard of educational therapy before. And Wendy is such a passionate person about helping families and helping kids and really understands this IEP process that I think you’re gonna really like hearing from her when she defines educational therapy tells us what she does, and also when parents might want to seek out services from an educational therapist just like her so, welcome to the podcast. I’m excited to share this conversation with you with Wendy Taylor from learning essentials about educational therapy. You are listening to the parent IEP lab. The podcast helps you get an effective IEP plan for your child so that you can get them supported and learning in school. I’m Beth Liesenfeld, the occupational therapist who started to notice trends in parents who got effective IEPs for their kids. My mission is to help you turn insider knowledge of the system and school culture into effective Parent Advocacy and remove the barrier you’re experiencing to get your child supported at school. The parent IEP lab is all about the long game and realizing that while the IEP is incredibly important, you have so much power outside of that IEP meeting to make a good IEP Great. So let’s dive in and think about what we can change and tweak to get the right formula for success for your child to learn and grow at school. Welcome to the lab. Just a quick reminder that you can submit right now for our huge giveaway, just rate and review this podcast in your podcast player and take a quick screenshot. Make sure you’re on the IEP lab email list and fill out the giveaway submission form. Links to get you entered are below this podcast in your podcast player. And as a reminder, everyone who submits will receive the exclusive accommodations 101 guide and be entered into the drawing we are giving away 10 IEP one on one workbooks five spots in the December decoding IEP data workshop. And one lucky winner will get a spot in the ultimate parent IEP prep course, your complete guide for prepping for your upcoming IEP meeting and getting the follow through after the meeting. This is complete with three months of Live Office Hours to ask all of your questions from yours truly, the links to enter the drawing are below this podcast. So enter before Thanksgiving 2022. And thank you so much for helping this podcast grow. Now let’s get into the episode. Welcome to the podcast today. I am so excited to talk about educational therapy. So excited. So Wendy, welcome onto the show. I want to start with just you introducing yourself and what you do. And then we’ll dive into the title that I have never heard of before.
Unknown Speaker 2:50
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to talk about educational therapy, I intend to really geek out about the topic. I’m obsessed with helping families and professionals bridge that learning gap access special education services, and right kick butt IEP. So I am loving this conversation. And I am the director of learning essentials where we do provide educational therapy and IEP coaching for families. And so let’s dive in. And let’s chat about it because I think more people need to know about what educational therapy is and how to access it.
Beth 3:25
Fantastic. Yes. So that rolls right into my next question where I’m just going to have you talk about educational therapy. And I know that there’s some credentials involved. So like, tell us about your title, and then tell us kind of like what was your path to get here and like your credentials to get here.
Unknown Speaker 3:41
So the quick and dirty of what educational therapy is it’s the individualized systematic instruction that targets weakness and processing memory and attention as it applies to oral and written language, literacy and math. So that is the big kind of sterile viewpoint of it. So I am a special educator by trade. I taught kindergarten through post secondary as taught in self contained classrooms, and then through life and kiddos. I started learning essentials. And so I had heard about educational therapy probably 10 years ago. Now some of your listeners, especially if they are on the West Coast are thinking oh my gosh, educational therapy is all we hear out. But it is slowly getting its way across to the east coast where I am. I’m just outside of Washington, DC. And I’m the second in the state of Maryland that is certified as an educational therapist. And so I met this woman at a conference and she 10 years ago and she had mentioned you know that she was an educational therapist and I thought what is that? And so as she’s talking I realized that is a lot of what I do and my passion and supporting families and so really think You know that as assessing where our strengths and pockets of vulnerability are creating an educational profile for our students, and then developing our goals as you would for an IEP, but this is more for the one on one setting. And then from there, we’re going to bridge those learning gaps, whether it’s systematic instruction, whether it is reading intervention, whether it’s executive function, determining where those pockets of vulnerability are, and then building up the capacity of that student, all the while by supporting the family, right. So we know that family systems really create the environment in which our kiddos thrive. And so really helping that parent understand what the student is learning how they’re learning that who they are as a learner, and then teaching the parents those strategies as well. So they can help infuse them when we’re not in their back pocket, you know, on a weekly basis. And then also supporting families with resources, whether it’s occupational therapy, speech, language therapy, whether they need testing done, whether they need IP support, so really encompassing the family inside of that direct one on one support for those students.
Beth 6:13
So I love that I love what you’re saying about that, because it really feels like, you know, an occupational therapy, when we do outpatient therapy, we get to treat the whole entire child, and we get to do a lot of parent training. And so our, our breadth of like knowledge, and what we can help families with is really huge. And then when we step into the educational system, we’re really limited and has to be educationally relevant. And that’s kind of what we’re stuck with. So you’ll see a lot of like, you know, outpatient therapy, we can pretty much help you with anything. And then when we’re in the school, we’re a related service, we don’t have a ton of time with your kid, we’re pretty limited in what we can do, because it has to relate to those standards. So when you describe that it kind of sounds like you started out as a special education teacher, which is in that educational environment. And the educational therapist is almost like, oh, okay, like it’s kind of like outpatient therapy, where you’re supporting the whole child. Is that a good?
Unknown Speaker 7:10
No, I love that, that comparison. And I never really kind of put it into that perspective. But 100% Because as a special educator in a classroom, you’re bound by certain things, right? And there’s things that you are, you know, shouldn’t be, but it’s frowned upon to say to a parent, Hey, have you thought about testing? Hey, have you thought about this. So it gives me that space to really coach parents, and that capacity. And you’re right, when you think of like the medical model, and you think of the educational model, we have two silos, and rarely do those silos communicate to each other. And so as an educational therapist, and what we do at learning essentials, is really help bridge that gap and that communication and collaboration piece, so that the families feel like they’re a partner that their child feels supported, and that they’re really able to access resources within the school building and outside of the school building. And it gives us that flexibility to do that.
Beth 8:06
That’s amazing. So talk to me a little bit, because it’s pretty common for like outpatient therapists, like OTs, to not realize the limited capacity of the educational system and therapists working inside the system so that communication between like therapists and outpatient and therapists inside of schools can be a little bit tough, because we don’t understand the perspectives even within our profession, which this makes it even harder for parents. So can you talk a little bit about when you have somebody that you’re serving as an educational therapist? Do you set up some communication with the special education teacher and this, we’d
Unknown Speaker 8:46
love to do that? We love to do that. And so a big part of what we do with learning essentials, and as educational therapist is we sent home lesson notes via email, so that the parents can really see what transpired during each session, as a lot of professionals do. They have their you know, session notes. And so we do encourage parents to allow us to give us the permission to communicate and collaborate with those other folks. And I always say to parents, whether it’s a classroom teacher, the case manager, or an outside agency, and that way, we’re all on the same page. And as an educational therapist, you’re really acting as a quarterback, of supporting this family through this journey, to get their kiddo to be the best version of themselves to access everything that they can, what that looks like. And so helping that parent at the IEP table, really be able to communicate and convey what are my strengths? And what are the needs of my students and my child, and how can I ask for and receive the services I need? And so in the public school setting, it becomes you know, and I’m sure you can say this as well, but that you’re given typically third 80 minutes of an OT, or 30 minutes of a PT, whether that’s per week or so and so you know, if that child is absent or if the professional is absent that service provider, there then becomes this delay of services. And so really educating the parent on Yes, let’s access the services, but they can we also fallen outside agencies to provide a more rounded support as a complement to what’s being done within the school.
Beth 10:31
I love that to talk to me a little bit about how you guys deliver services, because I think you do it virtually. And I don’t know if you do it in person as well. So talk to me a little bit about we do
Unknown Speaker 10:43
prior to the pandemic 100% of our clients elected to have services take place either in their home or in public facilities, such as a school or a library. Fast forward post the light of lightning of COVID. How are we want to say that and a lot of our families see that online really works well for their student. And so for our students that are online, if they’re reading intervention student, we will have mailed to them prior to starting all the manipulatives, whether it’s letter tiles, sand, bumpy paper, whatever they need, so that they have it in real time with their educator with their tutor. And so now we have this great mix of being able to support students within the DMV area district, Maryland and Virginia, and then also being able to stretch our wings a little bit and provide that services to families beyond our driving capability.
Beth 11:42
That’s amazing. And can you talk a little bit about, you know, we, we don’t really talk about diagnosis. But can you talk a little bit about some common educational labels that this really works well, for? Is there any educational labels that you’re like, Man, this doesn’t really work super well, for as far as like virtual goes? Well, if
Unknown Speaker 12:03
we’re talking about virtual Wellford, I’m not educational therapy in general, right, they’re not necessarily, I believe in my heart of hearts, that it matches all of our learners that are impacted. Again, if you think about processing memory, and attention, and how that impacts our learning, oral written language literacy, and math that really encompasses, you know, mild, moderate, to severe students that are impacted in a variety of different ways. And so I always have a conversation with parents, and there’s some really good benefits. I know, online learning had gotten some bad raps. I have, I’m a mom of three. So I witnessed the behind the curtain scenes of how it worked in schools and how it was working for my personal children. And plus the stories that I’ve heard from other families about online learning. But when you’re talking about online learning, with an educational therapist, or a tutor, especially somebody that’s well skilled, you’re really getting that child, one on one not in a classroom. So you’re really able to engage that child, and especially if they have manipulatives, in front of them, you’re walking through that process with them as if you were sitting next to them. The great part about it is it makes it easier to have lower frequency high dose, right, so I could work with a student that’s younger, their cognitive capacity, their attention span, an hour is going to be too much. But if I’m virtual, I can pop in and I can do several 30 minute sessions a week. So we can build that cognitive capacity, engage that learning and have that repetitiveness that they’re going to be able to retain and be able to then implement in their classroom in real time. So there’s the benefits of both some students online is not the best option for them. And so having that conversation upfront with a parent, really makes it valuable to say, hey, you know what, I think your kiddo, as you’re saying, benefits from somebody sitting next to them in real time and working side by side. And sometimes often parents are like, you know, what, online is great. It’s convenient for our family, they can pop on, we can go travel, you know, I have a lot of our students this year that we’re taking some amazing vacations, pausing their vacation for a quick moment to have some sessions with us. But it really is a benefit to have that flexibility for sure.
Beth 14:24
That’s incredible. I love it. And I think parents, you know, through the pandemic, they quickly realized, you know, how their kid best learns, I feel like this is one of the ways that they’re such an expert in your kid is like, is that gonna work for us? Or is that not gonna work for us? When talking about virtually and sometimes you’re on the fence and you’re like, let’s try it and let’s see, and then you just gotta see if it works or not. So I feel like that’s, that’s a great parent call and can you talk about your process of admitting somebody like if somebody is interested in your services? What is your point? process for, you know, evaluating and getting them in and determining if they’re a good fit for you or not
Unknown Speaker 15:05
exactly, yeah, no problem. And so when a client calls me when a parent calls me, I start with that conversation and really listening to what their needs are. And you just said it, right, the parent knows that his best and their parent got they know, something’s not right, this and oftentimes, the conversation will start back with something’s not right, but the school is telling me it’s fine. And so I’m trying to figure out how to best strategize to support my baby that I see is struggling, you know, they’re coming home, they’re falling apart, they’re anxious, whatever it may be. And then sometimes it’s you know, they already have an individualized education plan in place, and we just need to kind of really provide some extra support. And so the, we’ll start with that conversation and ensure that we’re actually the good fit, right, because if a parent calls me and they want tutoring for German, but I’m probably not the best person for them at all. But part of what I do and what I like to do as just from a mama heart, is to be able to provide resources for that family and say, You know what, I don’t provide that. But here are some other folks that you may want to reach out to that can give you that quality service. So ensuring that we’re a good fit. And then from there, our intake process, pretty lengthy in the sense that I get a lot of information from the parents. And it’s not only academic input, right? So if you’re listening and you’re thinking, who might need an educational therapist, what do I ask for, you really want to make sure that they’re looking at the whole child, social, emotional, behavioral, academic, so really getting a sense of who that child is. And that then gives me the information, I need to provide them with some online links for educational profile. And that’s really taking a deeper dive of Reading, Writing study skills. And if a student is needing math, we’ll do a math assessment as well, that paints a really good picture of who the child is, looking at that processing memory and attention, looking at how and where specifically, are they impacted in the area of again, writing, reading, and study skills, and then creating a plan. And once we’ve created that educational plan for that family, oftentimes families will then share it with the classroom teacher, or whomever to say, hey, you know, we just did this deeper dive in these areas. And it is academic base, because as an educational therapist, we cannot diagnose. But we can say, here are your strengths and needs compared to your same age peers. And so then, from there, I’ll match them with one of our educators on our team, our team all holds a master’s or a doctorate and state certified as special educators. And so matching them with somebody that best suits, not only their academic needs, but again, match personality wise, so that that student feels comfortable and confident in receiving that education, receiving that support, and then being able to grow and foster the educational relationship with a therapist that they’re working with.
Beth 18:12
That’s amazing. Okay, so you, you said something about like state certified. So I know that you’re kind of in a tri state area, are you allowed to cross state
Unknown Speaker 18:22
we are. So it’s different than they probably with you, right? In terms of just our occupational therapist, our mental health therapists speech and language, they fall under a different category. A lot of that also has to do with insurance, because educational therapists and special educators and educators in general, are not able to diagnose we can’t provide an ICD 10 code for families. And so then that gets rid of your insurance part, although some of our families do seek out using their flex spending account for services. So that’s the whole other thing. So yes, we can go we actually have a family in Singapore, we have families throughout the United States. And so we’re able to provide that support, both as an educational therapist and through IEP coaching.
Beth 19:08
Amazing. Can you talk a little bit about the feedback that you’ve gotten from some parents and I’m putting you on the spot a little bit, but you know, what are what are some of the feedback that you’ve gotten from parents that you’ve worked with a kid for a while? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 19:24
you know, and it’s great and I love hearing feedback from parents. And I love getting just you know, where they started and how they feel and where it has headed for them. I’ve had a student that I’ve been working with, she is now headed to her junior year of high school. When I started working with her. She was ending her freshman year summer starting into her sophomore year, and girlfriend couldn’t read and by the school system kept telling her mom, she’s fine, she’s fine and just kept studying or forward. And so I, you know, I do work with the student virtually. And so I sent her all the manipulatives. And the mom has sent me like the exploding hat emoji of like, oh my gosh, this is a game changer. And who knew this was even a thing and, and now look at her and she’s really kind of moved on and really growing as a reader. And so that’s amazing to hear. And then even just with the IEP coaching, I just got an email from a family that they were concerned about their student, the student had a 504. And you know, it wasn’t working, wasn’t working, the student was overwhelmed, falling apart. And so reached out to me for some IEP coaching walks through the process of what that means to ask for an IEP and how to ask for an IEP, that’s a whole other thing, and what are your frontal rights. And so I even left it, as you know, I’m leaving this time spot open for you, when you go into the meeting, here’s my phone number, just text me questions. And she’s texting me. And I’m saying, well, he’s really smart and doesn’t need an IEP. And so I’m texting her the language back. And so the child ended up getting the IEP, they went through the process, they got the testing through the school system, they were able to get an IEP for the student, well developed, it worked with the parents with what to request for goals and so forth. And I just received that email the other night that they were just incredibly thankful for being able to support them to have that language, because I think without that, they would have just not gotten the IEP and the school has done what I’ve just said, you know, the, he’s fine, he’s fine, not a problem. And so there’s so many little just stories about that, about families that are coming to me with fear and uncertainty. And, you know, they’re reaching out at a really vulnerable time. It’s their baby, it’s this fear in love, and you know, they’re reaching out, and they’re not always sure what to ask and what to do. And then through the process, hearing back that, oh, my gosh, I feel so much better, my student feels so much, so much more confident in what they’re doing. And the school is noticing, and we’re noticing at home, it really makes my mama heart super happy. You know, again, like I said, I have three boys, one has medical needs. And so I understand it, I’ve sat on that side of that IP table. And it’s really hard and you know, reaching out trying to find support, and it’s just a vulnerable time for a parent. And so to have that parent, then circle back and say, they, you know, in essence, trusting what we’re doing, and then really seeing the growth is why we do what we do. Absolutely. And
Beth 22:43
I think we’re so aligned in that part where we’re just like, in meetings, I was just like, Can I pull aside this parent for a second and just be like, Hey, this is what this means. And like, try asking this way. That’s why I started this whole thing, because I just felt like, oh my gosh, there’s like nobody coaching anybody through this. And this is just, it’s it’s very one sided. And I don’t agree with that. And I think why
Unknown Speaker 23:07
super along with me goosebumps. And you know, it just shouldn’t be this hard. And I say this all the time. This shouldn’t be this hard. Yeah, for families that are just trying to do the best they can and really afford their babies. So their babies aren’t sleeping on their couch in the basement for the rest of their lives. But they’re really raising good humans that are productive, and are able to be the best that they can and future and dependents employment, and education. And really, that’s what you and I absolutely strive for, and the families that we support and the methods that we share with with folks and how to get the support. And so it is a whole process, right. So you’re supporting the child and their learning needs, you’re supporting the family, and the needs of what resources and how to, to grow this student. And then we’re supporting professionals on growing their understanding of how to support unique learners. And we’re all unique, right? Every learner, that doesn’t matter whether they have a fiber for an IEP, you know, every individual learns differently. And so how can we reach each of those individuals, so that they can just explode and be good humans at the end of the day? And then how can we support our families that are, you know, overwhelmed and special education is a whole different language. And you know, you’re gonna have the smart of the smart, but it’s just a whole nother language and how do you ask for something that you don’t know everything about?
Beth 24:43
Absolutely, yes. So I know that you have a lot of resources out there. One being another podcast, which I’m excited to have you talk about. But if parents are like, Okay, I want to explore this with you. Can I learn more about this? Where do they go to find absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 24:57
So first and foremost, if you’re one Wondering how to prep for your IP or you have IP questions. Come check out as we have a download of freebie for you guys is that learning essentials edu dot C k dot page backslash and backslash not slash. I am sure you will put that in your Jonah’s can find me online learning essentials. Edu, all socials at learning essentials. And we are the special education strategist podcast. So give us a like and a follow if you want more of a deeper dive in the world of special education, educational therapy and how to support your, your family and your kiddo.
Beth 25:39
Fantastic. Thank you so much for coming on today, I had so many light bulbs. It all makes sense now, what you do and how you support families and kids. So thank you so much for coming on and sharing
Unknown Speaker 25:50
Oh, my gosh, what a pleasure. And you and I could probably chat for another six days. So I appreciate you having me on. I love it. Thank you.
Beth 25:57
Okay, so now that you’ve listened to Wendy, I hope you have a complete understanding of what an educational therapist is. And also have a better idea of if you feel like you need the support for your child outside of the IEP. I am constantly amazed that I have been in this environment for so long. And still, there’s so much that I don’t know. So if you’re feeling like I was feeling when I first heard from Wendy, I want you to take a deep breath because it’s all going to be okay. And we will try to compile resources for you in the podcast in the future. Of course. Just a quick reminder before we wrap up for today that we are doing that huge giveaway for reading and reviewing the podcast. So make sure to check out the links below this episode in your podcast player. And also the episode before this one episode. 77 is just a really quick summary of how to enter for the podcast and all of the details. If you feel like you need more details than that. So make sure that you get your submission and by Thanksgiving of 2022 to enter the drawing, you will automatically get your accommodations 101 guide back to your email. And just as a reminder, we are giving away 10 IEP one to one workbooks five spots in the December decoding IEP data workshop. And one lucky winner will get a spot in the ultimate parent IEP prep course for free. I’m so excited to announce the winners after Thanksgiving of 2022. So make sure that you’re following the links below this podcast so that you can get your submission entered. And thank you so much again, for listening. Thank you for your support. Thank you for sharing the podcast. And of course thank you for rating and reviewing the podcast as well. So have a great week and I’ll see you same time, same place next week.