Specialized Services - FAQs

  • What is the difference between "educational" therapy and "medical" therapy?

     
     
    Educationally relevant therapy is therapy needed by the student to assist
    the student's functioning within his/her required exceptional education
    program. Therapy in the educational environment is generally considered
    for a student who has significant difficulty with gross/fine motor skills,
    mobility skills, self-help, perceptual skills or muscular/neuromuscular 
    conditions which limits the ability to attain functional performance in
    the educational setting. The primary purpose of "educational" therapy is
    to assist the student to effectively participate in the educational
    program with therapeutic assistance.
     
     
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  • Are Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physical Therapy (PT) considered related services? What is a related service?

    Yes, Occupational and Physical Therapy are considered related services. A related service is defined as a supportive service provided to assist the child with a disability in benefiting from special education. A student must, in most cases, already be staffed into an ESE program prior to being referred for an OT or PT assessment.

     
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  • Are there specific Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy goals on the on the IEP?

     
    No. IEP goals should be "discipline-free". There are student's goals. Identifying goals as "therapy" goals leads to therapy being an isolated service, rather than a "related" service that directly assists a student to benefit from the educational program. During the IEP meeting, the annual goals are determined by all team members. These should be student goals not therapy goals.
     
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  • What is the CERT?

     
    The Considerations for Educationally Relevant Therapy (CERT) is a tool developed by the Florida Department of Education to assist Occupational Therapists (OT) and Physical Therapists (PT) working in the educational environment to determine the need for educationally relevant therapy in the schools. This tool is a guideline used by the IEP team to help OT and PT service implementation. The IEP team has the final decision on service implemention. This is a mandatory tool now used by Pinellas County to help plan OT and PT services.
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