Educational therapists collaborate with all the significant people concerned with the student’s learning, and they focus not only on remediation but also on building self-awareness and underlying learning skills to help clients become more self-reliant, efficient learners. Referrals for educational therapy are often made by allied professionals such as speech and language pathologists, psychotherapists, and neuropsychologists, among others, who see an educational need that their specific services do not address.

Educational therapy differs from tutoring and other remedial interventions in the way that it considers the impact of school, family, and community on the client’s learning. In addition to academic goals, educational therapy attends to psycho-educational and socio-emotional goals as well.

The Association of Educational Therapists, the international professional organization for educational therapists, has set professional standards and requirements for educational therapists, including academic criteria, standards of ethical practice, and continuing education requirements. AET benefits the public by verifying the training background of educational therapists at the Associate Educational Therapist, Educational Therapist/Professional (ET/P®), and Board Certified (BCET®) levels of membership and provides an online database of qualified practitioners. Consumers can be confident that these professionals have met rigorous training requirements.

AET Can Help You Find An Educational Therapist

The Association of Educational Therapists, the international professional organization for educational therapists, has set professional standards and requirements for educational therapists, including academic criteria, standards of ethical practice, and continuing education requirements. AET verifies the training background of educational therapists at the Associate Educational Therapist, Educational Therapist/Professional (ET/P®), and Board Certified (BCET®) levels of membership and provides an online database of qualified practitioners. You can be confident that these professionals have met rigorous training requirements.

Find an Educational Therapist

Collaborating With An Educational Therapist: The Educational Therapist-Allied Professional Partnership

An educational therapist is skilled at gathering, synthesizing, and coordinating information from other specialists in order to develop and implement remedial programs. In addition to working closely with parents and school personnel, educational therapists interface regularly with a multitude of allied professionals. These allied professionals may include: speech and language pathologists, psychotherapists, educational psychologists, school counselors, marriage and family therapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, physicians, or optometrists.

Contact between an educational therapist and other professionals may be made at the initial time of referral and then may continue throughout the intervention. Exchange of reports, telephone conferences, and email are the most common means of communication.

Many benefits can accrue for the client when professionals confer. With the client’s consent, each professional can share relevant background information, diagnostic testing, and clinical impressions to broaden and further each other's knowledge. Goals and strategies that complement the work of each professional with the client can be developed, shared, and carried out.

This collaboration frequently leads to a more powerful intervention because of the broader perspective it provides. Educational therapists hold confidentiality in high ethical regard and obtain a written consent to release information prior to conferring with other professionals.