Obtaining Physician Orders for PT services in School Systems?

Distinguished ERI Faculty Member, Debra Dickson asks a question of school therapists:

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY: We have a question regarding physician orders for PT services for children in school systems. Here in CT we are able to do 8 visits and then are required to obtain a script. We have 2 questions:
1. Is the same required when seeing a child in a school setting? Are school guidelines different? We have been unsuccessful in getting an answer from the State Board.
2. We have always gotten them, however, lately we have been servicing a school where parents do not show up for meetings and we have been unable to obtain a script or even a release of information so we can obtain a script ourselves. Has anyone else had this difficulty and do you stop seeing a child when the school team has recommended services? It seems we are in a legal dilemma as the IEP document is a legal document that must be fulfilled yet legally we are required to have the paperwork from the physician to fulfill those services. How have others handled this?

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