Lead an In-Service for Teachers That Improves School-Based OT Collaboration
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
What if 20 minutes with a group of teachers could open the door to better collaboration all year long?
Some of the most helpful occupational therapy work I have done in schools happened in a room with zero students.
Instead, it happened while sitting with teachers, talking through a concern they were seeing every day, and helping them look at that challenge through an OT lens.
In my experience, one focused teacher in-service can lead to more follow-up questions, classroom conversations, and opportunities to support students than a polished report that gets filed away and rarely revisited.
And you do not need to prepare a 90-minute professional development session or build an elaborate slide deck.
An actionable in-service can be 20 or 30 minutes long. It can focus on one concern teachers already want help with and end with one realistic next step. Here is how to plan a session teachers can use—and that makes it easier for them to collaborate with you afterward.
How a teacher in-service can change collaboration
Most teachers know that occupational therapy supports students, but they may not always know when to contact you, what to share with you when they do contact you, or how OT fits into their classroom system.
This is not due to a lack of respect for OT.
Teachers have full plates, and our role can look different from one campus or district to another. In episode 175 of the OT Schoolhouse Podcast, I discussed how teachers and administrators really think about school-based OT. Their perspectives are a helpful reminder that collaboration starts with understanding each other's roles and realities.
Recent research out of Australia also highlights the value of clear communication, understanding each other's roles, and giving teachers and OTs opportunities to learn together.
These studies do not prove that one short presentation will change student outcomes, but they support working together around the classroom activities that matter to students (Lavery, MacKinnon, & Clark, 2026; Jeremy, Hinitt, & Spandagou, 2025).
An in-service gives you a reason to begin that conversation. The goal isn't to show teachers everything you can do.
Instead, the goal is to make one school problem easier to address together.
Of course, a presentation will not fix a large caseload, limited planning time, or staffing shortages. But it can give everyone a shared way to talk about the concern and make it easier for a teacher to approach you later with a question.
Start by asking teachers what they need
The easiest mistake is choosing your topic before talking to the people who will attend.
It may be tempting to automatically present on handwriting, sensory processing, or fine motor skills. Those can all be useful topics—but only if they match a current need.
Instead, start with one question:
What is one concern you wish you had more support with this year?
You can ask it in a one-question email, a short staff survey, a grade-level meeting, or a conversation with a teacher leader. You do not need a lengthy survey. You just need enough input to notice a pattern.
If several teachers mention students shutting down during writing, your topic might be reducing barriers to written output. If transitions come up repeatedly, you might focus on routines and environmental supports. If teachers are unsure when to request an OT consultation, you might explain what early collaboration looks like.
This is the same teacher-first mindset discussed in Episode 194 on coaching and creating lasting impact. When we begin with the teacher's priorities, the session is more likely to feel relevant than when we arrive with a predetermined list of strategies.
Choose one outcome, not the entire OT scope
Once you have a few possible topics, decide on one main goal for the session. Ask yourself:
Is this a problem teachers are already trying to solve?
Can I offer a participation-focused perspective?
Can teachers use at least one idea within the next week?
Can I cover the topic responsibly in 20–30 minutes?
For example, “understanding occupational therapy” is too broad.
“When a classroom observation may help before a formal referral” is more focused.
“Sensory processing” is broad. “Ways to make classroom transitions more predictable” gives everyone a clear topic they can use.
Your session is not a test of how much content you can fit into 20 minutes. It is an opportunity to help teachers leave with one useful shift in thinking and one action they can try.
Seven in-service ideas for school-based OT
If you are not sure where to begin, these topics can help you turn common school concerns into focused, useful sessions. But be sure to find out if these resonate with your teachers before starting to plan it all out.
1. How OT supports participation beyond handwriting
Help teachers connect OT to access, routines, self-care, regulation, organization, play, and participation throughout the school day. Use a few brief examples from common school occupations instead of reviewing every area in the OT scope of practice.
Practical takeaway: Give teachers a one-page “When might I collaborate with OT?” guide.
2. When to collaborate with OT before a formal referral
Explain how a brief conversation, classroom observation, or Tier 1 support may help clarify a concern before anyone assumes that an evaluation is the next step. The article on Tier 1 OT interventions to reduce unnecessary referrals offers more ideas for this approach.
Practical takeaway: Share two or three examples of concerns that could begin with collaborative problem-solving.
3. Classroom supports for regulation and attention
Focus on routines, task demands, environmental factors, and student participation—not a menu of disconnected “sensory tools.” Help teachers observe when and where a student has difficulty and match supports to the activity.
Practical takeaway: Walk through one classroom routine and identify a support that can become part of that routine.
4. Supporting written output beyond “more handwriting practice”
Show how written work can be affected by motor demands, language, idea generation, executive functioning, visual demands, endurance, and the classroom environment. This helps the team move beyond a single explanation for every writing concern.
Practical takeaway: Give teachers a quick checklist for identifying where the writing process may be breaking down.
5. OT collaboration within MTSS
Clarify how OT practitioners may contribute to universal supports, targeted problem-solving, data collection, and team decision-making. For a deeper dive, see OTS 203 on MTSS interventions for sensory processing.
Practical takeaway: Identify one existing school routine where OT can support a whole class or grade level.
6. Environmental changes that promote independence
Use examples involving seating, materials, visual cues, room arrangement, and task setup. Emphasize that small environmental changes can sometimes reduce the need for repeated adult prompts.
Practical takeaway: Invite teachers to look at one classroom area and ask, “What could we change here to help students do more on their own?”
7. What information makes an OT consultation more useful
Teach staff to describe the activity, context, frequency, current supports, and effect on participation. “The student has poor fine motor skills” gives us less to work with than “During independent writing, the student stops after two sentences and needs repeated prompts to continue.”
Practical takeaway: Provide a simple before-consultation prompt teachers can use to organize their observations.
A simple 20–30 minute in-service agenda
You can build a helpful session around this structure:
2–3 minutes: Name the teacher-identified problem.
5 minutes: Reframe the problem through participation, the activity, and the environment.
8–10 minutes: Teach two or three usable strategies.
5 minutes: Work through one realistic classroom example.
5 minutes: Invite questions and agree on one next step.
I have used slide decks for in-services, but 15 slides are not a requirement. A one-page handout, short demonstration, whiteboard sketch, or guided discussion may work better for your staff.
The format matters less than the focus. Teachers should be able to answer three questions when the session ends: What did I learn? What can I try? When should I follow up with OT?
How to ask your administrator for time
Once you have a topic, make the request specific. An administrator is more likely to understand a focused proposal than a general request to “talk about OT.”
You can adapt this:
I would like to offer a 20-minute in-service based on a concern teachers have identified: [topic]. My goal is to give staff two practical supports they can use immediately and clarify when collaboration with OT may help. Could we reserve 20 minutes during [meeting/date]?
If possible, explain how the topic connects to a current school goal, a concern teachers mention often, or current MTSS work. Do not promise that one session will reduce referrals or improve scores. Keep the goal realistic: useful strategies, clearer collaboration, and one agreed-upon next step.
Follow up so the in-service becomes collaboration
The presentation is the beginning, not the finish line.
Afterward, send the handout or slides and ask teachers to try one strategy—not all seven. Set a specific time to check in, even if it is just a quick email two weeks later. Invite a teacher to share what worked, what was difficult, and what they noticed about student participation.
When appropriate, offer a classroom observation or a brief problem-solving conversation. These six strategies for impactful school-based OT consultations can help you plan what comes next.
To see whether the in-service was helpful, pay attention to a few simple things:
Did teachers try the strategy?
What follow-up questions did they ask?
Did anyone request an observation or consultation?
What should you explain differently or revisit next time?
Research on school-based consultation suggests that collaboration is most useful when it stays connected to school activities and student participation—not when it ends after we share information (Villeneuve, 2009). An older, small study of therapist-teacher teams also found encouraging results when they worked together on practical classroom goals, although the study was limited in size (Dunn, 1996).
In other words, the real value is not the presentation itself. It is what the team does next.
Start small and make it useful
You do not need a perfect slide deck, a full professional development day, or even a "Perfect" explanation of OT.
Ask teachers what they need. Choose one focused outcome. Share two or three practical ideas. Then make it easy to continue the conversation.
That small, useful starting point can help teachers understand how you think, help you understand the realities of their classrooms, and create a stronger foundation for supporting students together.
Want help planning your first—or next—teacher in-service? Get the free School-based OT Teacher In-service Starter Kit using the form above.
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And, if you want an editable sensory-focused presentation and more ongoing support, you can also explore The OT Schoolhouse Collaborative.