The school based-Occupational Therapist is getting ready to head back into the school year this Fall. Getting organized can be one of the hardest parts of school-based OT. These tips and tricks are some that I’ve used during my years as an Occupational Therapist working in the schools.
Getting Organized for Back-to-School as a School-Based OT
A new school year brings new schedules, caseloads, and responsibilities. The workload can feel overwhelming before the first week ends. Building strong organization systems now is actually a form of self care that supports a smoother year and protects against burnout. A well-planned routine can help you stay focused on your students and the meaningful work you do.
Organization begins with the tools you use daily. Here are some ideas I like that are free or inexpensive and are easy to implement:
Paper Planner
A physical calendar or paper planner keeps schedules, meetings, and deadlines in one place. Writing things down creates a visual record that’s easy to reference during a busy day.
Weekly Brain Dumps
Weekly brain dumps clear mental clutter by moving every task, reminder, and idea onto paper. This keeps priorities visible and reduces the risk of forgetting important details. It’s important to put it on actual paper as opposed to a digital list on your phone. Then cross off those tasks or to-do’s when they are done@
Clean your space
A tidy workspace supports focus. Clearing surfaces at the end of the day means you start fresh each morning. Decluttering removes unnecessary items and creates space for the materials and tools you use most. Having a designated home base for keys, wallet, and phone prevents wasted time searching for essentials.
Morning routines
Morning routines set the tone for the day. Planning clothes, meals, and therapy materials the night before prevents rushing. This extra preparation gives you more time to connect with students and begin the day with energy. Recognizing your own wins, no matter how small, helps maintain motivation and reinforces the value of the work you do.
Strong organization habits allow you to manage the demands of school-based OT more effectively. Clear systems, purposeful routines, and intentional self-care can help you maintain balance through the school year.
One of the tell-tale signs of a school based OT is the suitcase on wheels that is pulled around from school to school. Some school-based OTs pull a bin or carry a large bag, but whatever the means of dragging around that bag of OT tricks, it needs to be organized and it needs to be all in one place.
The OT who works in schools might see kids from Kindergarten on up through high school age in the same day. They could be travelling from school to school within a single school day and have a work day that includes visits to classrooms, scheduled IEP meetings, make parent phone calls, and complete annual reports.
In order to avoid feelings of overwhelming disorganization, the school-based OT needs to be organized!
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School-Based Occupational Therapy Organization Tips
These are some of the ways that I maintained order while working as an Occupational Therapist in the schools:
- A great travel bag: A bag on wheels is perfect for pulling fine motor tools, visual motor integration exercises, various types of scissors, and creative treatment activities. You’ll want a bag on wheels because sometimes an OT working in schools has to set up shop in storage areas, stairwell hallways, or backstage extra rooms. Being a therapist who only visits a particular school one day a week, most Occupational Therapists don’t get a special work area. They might need to find a desk area where they can and that can mean a lot of walking inside the school. You’ll also want to use a durable bag with a lot of pockets for holding treatment materials.
- Paper organization: An accordion-style file folder is great for organizing different types of writing paper, several thicknesses of paper for teaching scissor skills, and therapist-parent communication forms or home recommendation sheets.
- Binder: Keep all of your documentation sheets, schedules, calendars, note pages, and treatment planning templates in one place. A portable three hole punch is perfect for filing away and organizing sheets of paper while on-the-go.
More School-based Occupational Therapy organization ideas:
- Take time to observe students in their natural environment. Plan on “pushing in” to the classroom with treatment occurring right at the student’s work space. Making adaptations and accommodations can happen with the tasks the student is working on at that moment.
- Make time to get to know the “helpers” and staff in your school. The school principal, secretary, custodian, and teacher’s assistants can be a great help.
- Keep extra pens, post-it notes, and highlighters in your bag.
I am hopeful that these tips will help with organizing a successful start to the school year. An organization system can be so helpful in improving productivity, maximizing time management, and reducing feelings of overwhelming stress due to paperwork and disorganization.
One tip that I always use as a school-based OT is using a paper planner. I NEED to write things down on calendars, lists, and have it all in one place. Digital just doesn’t work for me!
That’s why I created my own therapy planner where I can pull out the types of pages that I need for my specific caseload. I print off pages and use them over and over again to make lists, brain dumps, and more.
The Build Your Own Therapy Planner is the ultimate back-to-school organization tool for school-based OTs. Designed with flexibility in mind, it lets you choose exactly the pages that work for your caseload so you can stay organized all year long.
The planner includes a one-page master planning sheet to map out your schedule with teacher lunch, recess, specials, and caseload information all in one place. This is perfect for taking the chaos out of scheduling. You’ll also find monthly calendars, to-do lists, IEP-at-a-glance pages, evaluation and re-evaluation trackers, and monthly consultation logs to keep your workload on track. For a personalized touch, choose from a variety of cover designs and patterned pages that you can print, laminate, and reuse to make your planner fun and functional.
It’s great for tracking meetings, planning therapy sessions, keeping tabs on your students’ progress. The Build Your Own Therapy Planner is designed to help you start the school year organized and confident.
Get it inside The OT Toolbox Membership.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
