Investigating Use of the Transdisciplinary Approach in the Public School System: Assessment of the Interaction Between the Physical Therapist and the Regular Education Teacher

The purpose of our research was to determine the extent that physical therapists utilize components of the transdisciplinary approach in their interaction with regular education teachers when working with children kindergarten through sixth grade who participate in regular education classes. 325 surveys were distributed to physical therapists in the Midwest region of the United States who work in a school environment. 46% of the surveys were returned and met our inclusion criteria. Our results showed that 28.7% of the respondents indicated use of the transdisciplinary approach. 41% of the respondents reported presence of a written philosophy. 9% of the therapists reported meeting on a weekly basis. 20% of the respondents use a transdisciplinary goal setting strategy. 39% stated that both the therapist and the teacher are present at 75-100% of team meetings. 72% of the therapists document every treatment session. 11% of respondents stated that therapy notes are reviewed by the regular education teacher and 28.5% of the therapists reported that teams keep notes in a central location that can be easily accessed by all team members. We concluded that therapists are beginning to utilize components of the transdisciplinary approach and that therapists have a desire to increase the interaction between themselves and the regular education teacher but find that time and availability constraints cause the ideal interaction to be unrealistic