School-Based Assistive Technology Specialists
School-based Assistive Technology Specialists help ensure every student can fully access their education by using a wide range of specialized equipment. They also provide technical consultation on instructional accommodations and physical accessibility.
When working as an Assistive Technology Specialist alongside PTS, you may provide training and demonstrations on how to use various technologies to support students with special needs. Along with that, you will serve on student IEP teams and:
- Help write, implement, and monitor IEPs.
- Support educational instruction for students using assistive technology.
- Evaluate and assess students to determine their eligibility for assistive technology.
- Recommend and implement the appropriate assistive technology for each student.
- Consult, coordinate, and collaborate with other providers, teachers, and administrators.
Throughout the school day you will help create a safe, educational environment in which each student has the tools and resources they need to participate and engage. PTS can place you in one of our partnering schools where you can support students in achieving their goals.
Finally, to become registered, you must pass the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam and apply for a license. By engaging with PTS, you can jumpstart, shift, or advance your career as an OT in a school setting. If you are still completing your education, contact your university to learn more about fieldwork placement opportunities with PTS.
PTS Applies an Integrated Systems of Support Model
At PTS, we know that even when students get the right support, they may continue to struggle if their interventions and treatment sessions are done separately rather than together. That’s why we apply an Integrated Systems of Support Model to maximize benefits for students.
By using strategies that integrate all the services they receive throughout the school day, this consultative model helps create more inclusive interventions and classrooms.
Along with that, we facilitate Multi-Disciplinary Teacher Training. As an Assistive Technology Specialist engaging with PTS, you will play an important role in teaching educators and fellow service providers how to work with students using assistive technology. You will also learn from professionals in other disciplines so you can apply this knowledge to your own practice.
Engaging With PTS as an Independent Contractor
At PTS, we consider ourselves the helpers of the helpers. Over the past 25 years we’ve developed The Therapist Achievement Approach™ to enhance the school-based service provider experience. Our Clinical Directors play a key part in this by continuing to provide access to resources and support long after the school placement process is complete.
We also offer access to:
- Optional School-Based Academy annual orientation
- Private community Facebook group to network and connect
- Free library of clinician-developed resources and interventions
Many of the service providers who engage with us feel they can achieve a healthy work-life balance that works for them—and it shows. Nearly half of all the applicants we engage with have been referred to us by a current clinician.
That means, as an OT engaging with PTS, you’ll work alongside other service providers to better understand each student’s needs and address the root causes of barriers to their development.
Apply for an Assistive Technology Specialist Opportunity Today
Do you feel excited about advancing your career as a school-based Assistive Technology Specialist? If you’re ready to work alongside a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team in an educational environment, check out the current opportunities in our partnering districts and apply to work alongside PTS today!