Now Hiring for the 26-27 School-Year! School-Based OT, PT, & SLP Careers: Join Our Team
School districts today are navigating one of the most complex educational environments in recent history. Increasing student needs, evolving service delivery models, staffing shortages, and changing regulatory expectations have made it more important than ever for educational leaders to think strategically about how related services are delivered.
Related services, including occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology (SLP), play a critical role in helping students with disabilities access and participate in their educational programs.
As schools continue adapting to changing student populations, workforce challenges, and increasing expectations for educational outcomes, collaboration and thoughtful leadership have become essential. Recognizing these evolving needs, Austill’s Educational Therapy Services alongside our family of companies is launching its Educational Services Leadership Series, a complimentary webinar series designed to provide school and district leaders with practical strategies for strengthening related services.
Today’s therapists do much more than provide isolated intervention sessions. School-based clinicians work alongside teachers, administrators, families, and other educational professionals to remove barriers to participation and help students succeed within their natural learning environments.
The U.S. Department of Education emphasizes that related services are individualized supports that enable students with disabilities to benefit from their special education programs. As educational practices continue to shift toward inclusive classrooms and collaborative service delivery, therapists are increasingly embedded within classroom routines and multidisciplinary teams rather than working independently. This collaborative approach allows interventions to be more meaningful, functional, and directly connected to educational outcomes.
At the same time, student needs have become increasingly diverse. School teams are supporting growing numbers of students with complex communication needs, executive functioning challenges, sensory processing differences, social-emotional concerns, and multiple disabilities. Addressing these needs requires coordinated planning and ongoing collaboration among educators, therapists, administrators, and families.
Webinar: Beyond Filling Vacancies: What Districts Should Expect from a Related Services Partner
July 15, 2026 | 10:00 AM ETExplore workforce trends, recruitment challenges, retention strategies, and the characteristics of strong district partnerships.
Across Pennsylvania, district leaders are navigating ongoing staffing challenges while balancing compliance, budgets, and student needs. An MSP model offers a centralized approach to managing supplemental staffing, helping districts improve vendor oversight, increase transparency, strengthen reporting, and reduce administrative workload, allowing leaders to focus more on supporting students and staff.
Webinar: Managing Supplemental Staffing: Is an MSP Right for Your District?
July 21, 2026 | 12:00 PM ETLearn how Managed Service Provider (MSP) models can improve vendor oversight, strengthen compliance, streamline reporting, and reduce administrative burden.
Across the country, recruiting and retaining qualified related service providers remains one of the most significant challenges facing school districts.
While workforce shortages often receive the most attention, successful districts recognize that simply filling vacancies does not guarantee high-quality services. Sustainable programs depend on strong clinical support, ongoing professional development, effective communication, thoughtful onboarding, and partnerships that understand the unique demands of school-based practice.
A successful related services partner should provide more than staffing. They should understand educational timelines, IEP implementation, collaboration with instructional staff, documentation requirements, compliance expectations, and the day-to-day realities of working in schools.
When therapists feel supported professionally and clinically, districts experience greater continuity of care, improved retention, and more consistent services for students.
One of the most significant shifts occurring within school-based therapy is the increased emphasis on consultative service delivery.
Rather than viewing consultation as occasional communication between providers, today’s consultation models encourage ongoing collaboration that empowers teachers, paraprofessionals, and families to incorporate therapeutic strategies throughout the school day.
Research has consistently demonstrated that interventions embedded within authentic educational routines often promote better generalization of skills than isolated therapy activities. Collaborative consultation allows therapists to build capacity within educational teams while supporting students in the environments where they learn best.
Effective consultation can include:
When consultation is viewed as an ongoing partnership rather than a separate service, entire educational teams benefit.
Webinar: Consult is Changing: Supporting Student Success Through Collaboration
July 30, 2026 | 12:00 PM ETDiscover how collaborative consultation models are evolving to maximize student participation and educational outcomes.
Educational leaders increasingly rely on data to evaluate the effectiveness of related services.
While compliance measures remain important, districts are also examining operational metrics that help improve efficiency and student outcomes. Questions leaders are asking include:
Reviewing these metrics allows districts to make informed decisions about staffing, workflows, resource allocation, and service delivery models.
Continuous quality improvement helps ensure that related services remain responsive to both student needs and district priorities.
Webinar: Are Your Services Running Efficiently? Key Metrics Every District Should Review
August 10, 2026 | 11:00 AM ETReview operational metrics that can help optimize caseloads, improve workflows, and strengthen related services programs.
Supporting students extends beyond addressing isolated skills. Increasingly, school teams are working together to understand the connection between sensory processing, emotional regulation, communication, behavior, and participation.
Rather than treating these areas independently, multidisciplinary collaboration helps create comprehensive support plans that recognize how multiple factors influence a student’s ability to learn.
Occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, teachers, school psychologists, counselors, behavior specialists, and administrators each bring valuable perspectives that contribute to student success. When these professionals work collaboratively, interventions become more cohesive, consistent, and meaningful.
The emphasis is shifting from asking, “Who owns this challenge?” to “How can we support this student together?”
Webinar: Supporting Regulation: A Collaborative Approach to Behavior, Sensory & Social-Emotional Needs
August 25, 2026 | 10:00 AM ETExplore practical, interdisciplinary approaches to supporting student regulation and participation throughout the school day.
To help school districts navigate these evolving challenges, Austill’s Educational Therapy Services is offering a complimentary Educational Services Leadership Series for special education and student services leaders.
Presented by Maria Lehman, OTR/L, Vice President of Clinical Services; Elena Spearing, PT, DPT, MBA, Director of Clinical Operations; and Monica Gaertner, Vice President of Managed Services – Education, the series focuses on practical leadership strategies that districts can immediately apply.
Register Here: Education Webinar Series
As the landscape of special education continues to evolve, so do the opportunities to strengthen how related services are delivered. Today’s school districts face complex challenges from staffing shortages and increasing student needs to changing service delivery models, but these challenges also present opportunities to innovate, collaborate, and build stronger support systems for students.
The Educational Services Leadership Series was created to provide district leaders with practical strategies, expert insights, and meaningful conversations around the issues shaping special education today. Whether exploring sustainable staffing solutions, enhancing collaboration, or improving program efficiency, each session is designed to help schools navigate change with confidence.
For more than 40 years, Austill’s Educational Therapy Services has remained committed to partnering with school districts to deliver high-quality, school-based occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology services that support student success. As education continues to evolve, our commitment to schools, students, and the professionals who serve them remains as strong as ever.
We look forward to continuing these conversations and partnering with school leaders to build stronger, more effective related services programs.
