If you’ve been following along with the OT Schoolhouse, you know I’ve been an advocate for the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) by school-based OT practitioners.
The truth is, none of us became school-based OTPs because we were passionate about paperwork. Rather, you got into this field for the same reason I did: to help students through direct evaluation and intervention, not to spend endless hours documenting.
Fortunately, AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Magic School can now help us reduce the time we spend on documentation and planning.
In this article, I’ll share seven AI prompts designed to save you time while improving the quality of your documentation and interventions.
But before we jump into the prompts, it’s important to touch on how to use AI responsibly, particularly regarding HIPAA and FERPA compliance. So, let’s talk about how you can harness the power of AI while staying within ethical and legal boundaries. Ready to dive in? Let’s go.
Responsibly Using AI in School-based OT: HIPAA/FERPA Compliance
Before jumping into the prompts, it’s crucial to understand that as healthcare professionals, we must maintain strict confidentiality and comply with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) standards. So as you use the prompts below, please adhere to the following guidelines:
Avoid inputting identifiable information
Always use de-identified data when interacting with AI so no specific student can be recognized.
Choose AI tools carefully
Ensure that the platform you are using is committed to privacy and data security. While tools like ChatGPT and Magic School offer high levels of privacy, always verify. With any AI tool, check the account settings to see if you can limit the tool from “learning” or “improving” from your data.
Double-check AI-generated content
AI is not foolproof, and it’s important to ensure that any content produced aligns with your professional judgment and ethical standards. Never assume that what AI gave you is 100% correct. Always read it and make changes as necessary. At the end of the day, “I used AI” will not work as an excuse for why your progress report made zero sense.
Okay, now that we know how to use AI responsibly, let's get to the prompts!
The 7 AI Prompts for OT Practitioners
Now, let’s get into the practical part—how can AI help you save time and improve your work as a school-based OT?
Below are seven AI prompts you can use today. Please note that wherever you see brackets - (...) - you will need to remove the brackets and input your information to get a real result.
Let AI Write Your Observation
Transforming classroom observation notes into a well-structured narrative can take time, especially when you’re trying to synthesize a lot of detailed information. This prompt helps you take your raw observation notes and quickly convert them into a (mostly) polished narrative for your school-based OT evaluation reports. By automating this process, you can focus more on assessing the student’s needs and less on the time-consuming task of writing up the report.
Prompt:
Please turn my classroom observation of a student into a cohesive narrative that I can use in my school-based OT evaluation report. (Attach handwritten or typed observation notes)
Extra tip: Ask Chat GPT to remove any OT jargon and ensure that it can be easily understood by a parent.
Create SMART Goals for the IEP
Crafting individualized and measurable IEP goals is a key part of your role as an OT, but it can sometimes be overwhelming to get all the details just right. This prompt allows AI to assist in creating three potential OT-related SMART goals for a student’s IEP, complete with present levels of performance. It saves you time while ensuring that the goals are meaningful and aligned with the student’s unique needs.
Prompt:
Based on my observations, assessment results, and synthesis, please write three potential OT-related SMART goals for this student’s IEP, ensuring they are neuro-diversity-affirming. Also, include a present level for each goal, indicating how the student is currently performing on the goal. (Attach/paste your de-identified evaluation or specific sections of your report)
Extra tip: In Word Doc, hit Ctrl + H (Command+F on a Mac) to quickly find and replace your student’s name with “STUDENT.” Now, you can input your de-identified report into the AI tool.
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Create a Custom Goal Measurement Chart
Tracking progress is crucial, but creating charts to measure goal achievement can be time-consuming. This prompt allows you to easily generate a custom progress-tracking chart, ensuring you have a structured way to measure how a student is progressing toward their IEP goals. By automating the chart creation, you free up time for more meaningful work while staying organized.
Prompt:
Please create a simple chart to help me measure the following goal. Ensure it includes enough rows and columns to measure the goal at least [#] times. Here is the goal: [insert goal].
With a ready-made chart, you’ll have an easy, visual way to monitor progress and discuss it with the IEP team.
Discover Occupation-Based Therapy Ideas
Developing new, creative, and occupation-based therapy ideas for each student can be mentally taxing. This prompt generates a list of 10 therapy ideas to support the student’s IEP goal, organized from least to most task-demanding. It helps ensure you have a wide range of activities to meet the student’s evolving needs without starting from scratch every time.
Prompt:
Based on the following goal, please list 10 occupation-based therapy ideas that I may use to support the student in achieving it. Order them from least to most task-demanding based on your knowledge of the student. Here is the goal: (Insert goal).
This prompt is perfect for streamlining session planning while ensuring that your interventions are appropriately challenging and engaging for the student. I'll let you imagine what a follow-up prompt could be... Imagine the detailed intervention plan possibilities.
Analyze Any Task Using Theories/Models
Task analysis is a fundamental skill in OT, but breaking every task into manageable steps can be time-intensive. This prompt uses AI to help you conduct a task analysis based on the theory or model you’re working with, such as sensory integration or motor learning. It saves you time while providing a detailed breakdown that you can use to plan interventions.
Prompt:
Based on [insert theory/model, ex. Sensory integration], conduct a task analysis of a child [insert task].
Example:
Based on sensory integration theory, conduct a task analysis of a child tying their shoelaces. - Just try it! Then email me later...
Write Quick SOAP Notes Using Just Your Voice
Documenting sessions is one of the most time-consuming aspects of OT practice, especially if you type as slowly as I do. This prompt helps streamline the process by turning your spoken notes into a structured SOAP note format. Simply dictate what happened during the session, and AI will organize the information into a clear and concise note.
Prompt:
(Tap the little microphone to record your voice) Turn these thoughts into a brief and organized SOAP note – [speak to what you did during the treatment, how the student reacted, any data related to their goal(s), how you supported the child, and the plan for moving forward].
Bonus tip: Clicking on the headphones in the Prompt Bar will allow you to have a verbal conversation with Chat GPT. That's right! Chat GPT will speak back to you! It's not super helpful as a therapist, but it's fun to play with.
Prepare Trimester/Quarterly Progress Notes
Parents are key partners in the IEP process, but it can be challenging to translate clinical progress into language that is easy for them to understand. This prompt helps you create parent-friendly progress notes that clearly communicate how their child is doing in therapy. This helps ensure parents feel informed and included in their child’s progress without getting lost in jargon.
Prompt:
[Attach or paste previous notes and data] Based on the attached OT notes, please write a progress note for the following goal/s. The progress note should be written with the parent in mind as the primary audience. Goal: [insert goal/s].
This prompt will cut your progress on goal notes in half and make it easier for parents to understand your progress updates in a clear, digestible format.
The Final Word
As I hope you can see, AI has the potential to transform your school-based OT practice by saving you time, improving your documentation, and helping you to be more evidence-based.
The seven prompts above are just the beginning, though.
As you become more comfortable with AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Magic School, you’ll find that they can be customized to suit your needs.
Remember, while these seven prompts can be extremely helpful, you must use AI tools responsibly. Ensure you comply with HIPAA and FERPA guidelines and always review AI-generated content to maintain the highest professional standards.
Using AI in OT is no longer the future. It is here today. I hope these seven prompts will help you get started with AI (if you haven't already) and save you hours each and every week from now on!
Do you have a favorite prompt to share with your fellow OT colleagues? Paste it in the comments below to help a fellow OTP out!