Professional Team Members

What Medical and Educational Professionals are Available to Support my Child’s Needs?

Both medical and educational professionals assist families in providing the care and services their child may need, from diagnosis to service provision in the home, school, and community. Here we provide a brief overview of terms, titles, and a brief explanation of roles and responsibilities. Some professionals may be found in both medical and school settings. The setting in which a professional may be found is indicated with a medical (Med) or education (Ed) icon. Those professionals that work across the medical and education fields have a Med+Ed icon.

Please note that many of these professionals may request your consent/release of information in order to view your child’s medical and/or educational records in order to more thoroughly address the needs of your child’s specific condition.

This section is intended to provide an overview of roles typically included in the diagnostic, evaluation, and educational process, and my not include all professionals you encounter. We realize each child is different. We hope you find this overview helpful. We have included:

• Adaptive Physical Education Teacher (APE)
• Audiologist (clinical and educational)
• Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS)
• Nurse
• Occupational Therapist (OT)
• Ophthalmologist
• Optician
• Optometrist
• Otolaryngologist (ENT)
• Paraprofessional
• Physical Therapist (PT)
• School Psychologist
• Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)
• Teachers, including general education/classroom teacher, intervention specialist/special education teacher, and teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI).