Hey Reader,

It’s the second week of August, which means the odds are pretty high right now that at this very moment, you are trying to figure out how you're going to fit 65 kids onto a 30-hour school schedule.

Let me lower your anxiety… There is no such thing as the perfect school-based OT schedule in August.

And to believe otherwise is unfair to your mental health.

We all want to think that this year will be different. That every student will be available at the exact right time, every teacher will know when we are coming to their class, and that all three 2nd graders with the same goal will be available at the same time for a group.

But that is not usually how it works out.

Your first schedule is not supposed to be perfect - It is supposed to get you moving in the right direction.

A working schedule gives you something to test. It shows you which classrooms are not available when you thought they were, which students cannot be pulled during reading, which teachers are open to push-in support, and where your day is already too full.

So instead of trying to build “the perfect schedule”, I like to build a first draft and expect it to change.

Grab all the schedules you can get from your schools and start with the pieces that are not optional:

• What days you’ll be at what sites (if these must be set in stone)
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• Meeting blocks (if your school has them set already)
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• Block out times kids are not available due to weekly events like assemblies, lunches, minimum days, and other non-negotiables.

Then, when it is time to place therapy and service blocks, I prioritize sessions in this order.

1. Push-in collaboration sessions

These go on the calendar first because timing matters.

If you are going into the classroom, you need to know when the meaningful occupation or routine is actually happening. You also need to coordinate with the teacher so your support fits the classroom instead of interrupting it.

Push-in collaboration can be incredibly valuable, but it usually does not work well when we treat it like a random open slot on our calendar.

Once you have the time, add it to your calendar and invite the teacher to the recurring meeting. That way it is really easy for both of you to communicate if something must change.

2. Groups

It is one thing to find a time when one student is available. It is another thing to find a time when three students are available, not missing core instruction, not pulled by another provider, and not in a setting where the group makes no sense.

If groups are part of your service model, get them on the schedule early.

3. Individual pull-out sessions

Individual pull-out sessions still require some coordination, but they usually have fewer constraints than push-in or group sessions.

I typically try to see kids from the same classroom back-to-back to minimize travel time, but I know that isn’t always possible.

4. Consults

Early in the year, I do not try to schedule every consult individually.

Instead, I block out time on my calendar for consults.

If I have eight 15-minute consults each month, I block two hours for consults. That may be one 2-hour block each month, or it may be 30 minutes each week - whichever is more feasible after I’ve scheduled the rest of my caseload.

While you can technically conduct consults when the student is not on campus (eg., after school), I prefer to block this time out during school hours in case I need to observe a student during class.​

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK 🧪

This week’s resource is Episode 181 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast with Krupa Kuruvilla.

Krupa shares practical ideas for starting the school year with stronger systems, including organizing your caseload, building a treatment schedule, managing documentation, navigating shared workspaces, and staying ahead of timelines without expecting perfection from day one.

​Listen to Episode 181 with Krupa Kuruvilla​

Krupa will also be joining us later this month in the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative to answer your questions live.

​Join the OT Schoolhouse Collaborative today to be a part of this special event.​

LAST WORD 👋​
​“What gets scheduled, gets done.”

That may not always be true.

But I do know this: what does not get scheduled often gets missed. And this is where we have to be honest with ourselves.

If documentation time is not scheduled, it becomes after-hours work.

If evaluation time is not scheduled, reports become rushed and less effective.

If consult time is not scheduled, you end up at an IEP realizing you haven’t talked to the teacher in 6 months.

Your schedule is one of the first tools you have for protecting the kind of school-based OT practice you want to build.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be in place so you can keep track of where you are headed.

For more back-to-school organization and scheduling ideas, listen to my conversation with Krupa Kuruvilla in the OT Schoolhouse Podcast Episode 181: How to Kick off the School Year with Confidence​

And if the school year is starting today or this week for you, best of luck in your first week!

Until next time,

👋 Jayson

Jayson Davies, MA, OTR/L
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​Say hi 👋 on Instagram, LinkedIn,
and inside the School-Based OT Collaborative​