Q: Do you know of any free resources for equipment for positioning, transfers, and mobility?

Yes! There are plenty of resources created by the School-based Special Interest Group (and other SIG) of the APTA Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy. We love that they made these resources available online for free to support member and non-member school-based practitioners alike. In fact, there’s plenty of great resources that we decided to make a few separate lists. To answer this week’s question, we are sharing five of our favorite school-based PT resources related to equipment use throughout the school day, from safe transfers and transportation to emergency planning and power mobility, created by your fellow school-based/pediatric PT practitioners. Check these out before your team reinvents the wheel.

• • • And support the APTA Academy of Pediatric PT and School-based Special Interest Group who created these and many more resources as volunteer leaders and members. We thank all of you!

#1: Safe Student Lifting and Transfers in the School Setting: A Decision-Making Guide

• • • This resource provides school-based PTs and PTAs with guidance for making safe decisions when lifting, transferring, and repositioning students with physical or complex disabilities. It outlines key considerations when developing a lifting and transfer plan, including the student’s abilities, environment, available staff, equipment, training, and administrative supports. 
    • Why we love this resource: This document incorporates guidance from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to provide simple “yes-no” decision-making trees for common school situations, such as chair and toilet transfers, floor transfers, changing-table transfers, and repositioning. It answers questions we are commonly asked, like: “What’s the weight limit for safe manual transfer?”, “When would we need a mechanical lift for transfers?”
    • Go there now!

#2: School Transportation for Children with Special Needs: An Overview and Resources for School-Based Physical Therapists

• • • This resource gives an overview of transportation services for students with disabilities and explains the role of PT practitioners in developing safe, student-specific transportation plans as part of the IEP or 504 process. It outlines areas PTs may assess and address, including vehicle access, seating and positioning, wheeled mobility, equipment, staff assistance and training, emergency planning, and transportation-related goals. 
    • Why we love this resource: It includes a detailed Physical Therapy Transportation Checklist that can help teams systematically identify and document a student’s transportation needs, equipment, supports, and safety considerations. Take this document out next time you discuss with the team specific students that may require transportation support.
    • Go there now!
      • Want a deeper dive into this topic? Take Carly Matichak Stock’s 1.5–hour webinar, which includes her “Ready to Ride?” Decision-Making Guide to identify and problem-solve safety concerns for bus transportation: 3 Steps to Safe Transportation for Students with Wheeled Mobility: Role of Related Services and Practical Solutions

#3: School Emergency Management Planning for Students with Disabilities

• • • • This fact sheet provides school-based PTs and PTAs with guidance for helping schools plan for the safety of students with disabilities during emergencies. It outlines the PT/PTA role in assessing students’ physical and functional needs, identifying environmental barriers and emergency equipment, collaborating with the IEP/504 team, and training students and staff. 
      • Why we love this resource: It includes an organized table of practical planning considerations and specific suggestions that you can always refer back to in team discussions. It also has a 1-page Example Student Evacuation Plan that your team can modify and adopt for documenting routes, equipment, assigned staff, evacuation times, and practice drills for various emergency situations, such as fire, earthquake, tornado, etc.
      • Go there now!
        • Want a deeper dive into this topic? Take Karen Tartick’s 1.5-hour Webinar, which includes her emergency evacuation devices pros-and-cons and planning resources  : Emergency Evacuation Planning for Students with Disabilities: 3 Steps for Planning and Implementation

#4: Power Mobility in Pediatrics Fact Sheet Series

• • • This fact sheet provides pediatric and school-based PT practitioners with an evidence-informed guide to considering, selecting, obtaining, and implementing power mobility for children with disabilities. It reviews the benefits of independent mobility, types of power mobility devices, seating and safety features, environmental and funding considerations, and available pediatric power mobility tests and measures. 
    • Why we love this resource: At 26 pages, this guide is comprehensive! It includes images of different power mobility features, a table of outcome measures, and an example of an IEP Intervention Plan Example.
    • Go there now!
      • Want a deeper dive into this topic? Take Karen Tartick’s 1.5-hour Webinar, which includes multiple images and videos in the school setting: 5 Strategies for Successful Integration of Powered Mobility in Schools

#5: Management of Equipment Used by Physical Therapists in School-Based Practice  

• • • This resource provides school-based PT practitioners with practical guidance for managing the adaptive equipment used to support students’ access, participation, and progress in school. It addresses the equipment-management process, including acquisition, inventory, cleaning, maintenance, repair, replacement, modification, fabrication, and lending or borrowing equipment. 
    • Why we love this resource: It includes 2 resources that you can easily adopt into your practice: Example of Cleaning Procedure Log, and an Equipment Management Recommendations Checklist. These resources can help schools establish more consistent procedures for tracking equipment, assigning responsibilities, maintaining safety, and documenting equipment use and care.
    • Go there now!
    • Want a deeper dive into this topic? Take Joanne Bundonis’ 1.5-hour webinar, which includes her Comprehensive Seating Equipment Checklist and Traffic-Light Decision-Making Framework to help you decide when to do it yourself and when to call the vendor: Caring for Wheelchair and Other Seating Devices in the School: The Who’s Who and How-to of Maintain, Adjust, Replace, and Repair

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