How to Hire the Right Pediatric Therapist for Your School

Mental health can affect every student within a school. With a qualified pediatric therapist guiding your students through healthy coping skills and therapeutic exercises throughout the school day, you can set them up for long-term success.

As a staffing agency for school-based therapists, Pediatric Therapeutic Services (PTS) has the experience and connections to help you hire the right pediatric therapist for your school.

Find a Qualified Pediatric Therapist

The journey to becoming a licensed pediatric therapist involves years of education, hours of supervised work, and a strong grasp of the topics surrounding child psychology. In order to become a pediatric therapist, a candidate must:

• Have a master’s or doctoral degree in child psychology or a related field
• Earn a passing grade on the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP)
• Complete clinical hours by interning with a clinical psychologist
• Meet the individual state requirements to practice as a child psychologist

When interviewing applicants for your school, you should ensure that they meet the qualifications listed above and have extensive experience supporting children within a school setting. Compared to clinical psychologists, school-based therapists have the unique opportunity to integrate interventions into the child’s daily educational activities.

Define Goals for Your School

A pediatric therapist should enhance and uplift the students within your school. Before hiring a school-based therapist, it’s important to understand what you’re hoping to accomplish.

While many schools, for example, offer their students one-on-one therapeutic interventions, each child can benefit from a therapist who takes a classroom-wide approach. The pediatric therapists who work alongside PTS implement a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), which groups interventions into three levels of classroom-wide, small-group, and individual support.

By implementing interventions at the classroom level first, we can better understand which students will need individual support, ensuring a manageable caseload for therapists and costing your school less. Our MTSS approach allows special education to exist within the least restrictive environment possible, which has positive long-term effects for every student.

Consider Partnering With a Staffing Agency

If you are looking to add a pediatric therapist to your school, you may benefit from partnering with a staffing agency, like PTS. Staffing agencies consist of a network of qualified service providers from various backgrounds who can support your school and students as needed.

At PTS, we place pediatric therapists and related services providers in our partnering school districts—ensuring the administration, the teachers, and the students have the support they need to succeed. As a partner of PTS, your school has access to our resources as we work together to create the most effective, cost-friendly special education program during the school year. Additionally, we can provide resources that extend beyond the school year, ensuring students have the support they need year-round.

Partner With PTS and Hire the Right Pediatric Therapist

When it comes to supporting students’ behavioral, social-emotional, and mental health, your school deserves the best. Partnering with PTS can help you hire the right pediatric therapist to support your students.

Contact PTS today to learn how you can become a partner!