An educational therapist is a professional who combines educational and therapeutic approaches for evaluation, remediation, case management, and communication/advocacy on behalf of children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities or learning problems.
What is an Educational Therapist?
Be aware that there are a number of people who attach the title Educational Therapist to their names without having gone through the preparation to become one and without being a part of the Association of Educational Therapy (AET).
I am a Professional Level Educational Therapist (ET/P) and the way that I became one is through the Association for Educational Therapy. I applied for membership based on my extensive graduate school work in Special Education; extensive teaching and assessment work in three states; hours working with students; and years teaching teachers in the areas of Literacy, Educational Research, and Strategies for Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. AET reviewed my paperwork and accepted me as an Associate member. In order to become a Professional Level Educational Therapist, I was assigned a number of hours to complete a practicum and a number of hours to work with a supervisor. The other path to becoming an Educational Therapist is to graduate from a recognized program of Educational Therapy (see https://www.aetonline.org for more information). All Educational Therapists are required to participate in ongoing professional development.
Educational Therapists work in schools, private practice, in learning clinics, and/or in practice with other professionals such as speech/language practitioners or psychologists. The majority of practicing members of AET live and work in California, but Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Massachusetts have growing numbers of practicing ETs. I am one of two Educational Therapists in New Mexico, but hope to increase our numbers in the state.
Why did I decide to become an Educational Therapist after so many years in graduate school and working in public schools and universities? When I found AET at the Learning and the Brain conference in Boston years ago, I knew that I had found a group that valued what I do in learning—respecting individual learning differences, looking at the "whole" learner, using assessments to drive instruction, being a detective of learning differences and profiles, including the family as part of the learner's team, working as a team member with all professionals who work with the learner, and valuing and encouraging ongoing professional development.