What is a Grant?
In my words, a grant is an opportunity to request funding of a project, item, or service when no other option exists. You can research grants available internally within your School District or externally within the Community with Google searches such as “Grants for *** School District”. This will give you a starting point.
What were my first steps in deciding what to write a grant for?
I collaborated with district Intervention Specialists in each grade level, Behavior Specialists, Principals, SpEd Administrators, and Sendero OT/ PT staff regarding a need for sensorimotor and therapeutic strategies in our buildings. As a new therapist to the district, I noticed a need for adapted equipment for our special education students to help with participation, mobility, social, and self-regulation needs. There are sensory rooms in the buildings, however there is a general lack of resourceful equipment. I have used adapted tricycles in my practice of pediatric physical therapy as an assistant for over 15 years and have experience with their use as a therapeutic tool to support a child’s functional skill sets. Lucky for me, one of the High School Intervention Specialists has a daughter with Autism that benefited greatly from riding an adapted tricycle. This motivated me just enough to write the grant because I knew that I had support within the district from teachers and staff. So my advice is stay true to your intention and passion for therapy and don’t be afraid to ask questions that ideas may spawn from. And it doesn’t hurt to ask, the worse they can say is no.
How did I find out about grant options and its process at my school district?
Conversations with Intervention Specialists! Especially the ones that have been in the district for a long while. I found out that they are familiar with an internal, annual grant opportunity for teachers and staff (that’s us!) from the Schools Foundation. An IS was kind enough to share with me her previous year’s grant application so that I could look through the grant’s application process and requirements. I researched the Schools Foundation website reviewing information about the group and the previous year’s approved grants, but they did not have their annual application posted.
How did I write the grant?
Again, I had the kind act of an IS to share her previous year’s grant application, so
I prepared myself for the grant requirements based off of that outline. I looked up
deadlines off the old grant application and asked SpEd Administrators if they had
any information about the Schools Foundation to share with me. I found out
that this year’s grant application would be emailed out to staff from the district’s
Curriculum Director around February/ March. Since I wasn’t on that email chain, I
asked the SpEd administrator to please email me the grant application when they
had it. I started my rough draft outline based on the requirements from the
previous year’s grant in January 2025. Specific to the Schools Foundation,
there were 8 requirements within the grant application. Which is A LOT! (P.S.-
I’ve assisted in writing one other grant for another school district and our grant
application was only 2 pages long. My grant application for the Schools
Foundation was 10 total pages when all complete, because it had to be.) I realized
that I needed time to organize my thoughts and gather information, such as
purchasing information, in a timely manner. Once the email with this year’s grant
application was sent to me in March, I saw that the deadline for final submission
was June 3, 2025. Since I started writing the grant early in January, I never felt
rushed to complete the grant application process and just plugged away at it when I had spare time.
What components were in the grant and what obstacles did I come across while writing the grant?
For my grant, the Schools Foundation Grant Application had 8 components. I
needed to provide a project description, research, budget, timeline, measurements
for outcomes, and details on how the project aligns with core curriculum and
educational standards, innovation, and the district’s mission and vision for its
students. I used resources from APTA, Rifton, Amtryke, and searches for lit
reviews/ research studies on Medline and other databases. I also needed to look up
the District’s Vision and Mission statements. One of my PT colleagues is the
Chapter President of Amtryke Cleveland, therefore I did pick his brain a bit too
and he helped me with contacts at Rifton and Amtryke. The biggest obstacle for
me was aligning this project with core curriculum and educational standards. That
is where the School adapted trike team of 4 Intervention Specialists stepped in to
help write those standards with me. We also collaborated on measurements of
outcomes, innovation, and district mission and values.
Where in the project am I now?
I found out that the grant was approved at the district’s convocation in August
2025. Yay! We then put everything detailed in our timeline into practice. Since
August, I secured how to purchase the trikes from the vendors by the district.
The trikes were then delivered and tagged. I sent emails to all building principals
notifying them that the trikes will be delivered soon. We had a “Build Day” at the
High School that consisted of High School SpEd students building 4 adapted
tricycles. It took us 2.5 hours to build 4 trikes. These kids got to be the first to
try them out, which was a blast seeing them ride down the hall with smiling faces.
The trikes have been delivered to each building in the district with designated
“parking spot” locations. I have created a rough draft of “Adapted Trike Riding
Guidelines” that is being proofread by our PT/OT team. Once all edits are done, I
will distribute the guidelines to the SpEd department and attend a meeting next
month to briefly talk about the trikes in the building. We will use visual supports to
teach children how to use the trikes properly and safely, along with charts to
measure frequency of the use of trikes and for which reasons, i.e.- therapeutic,
self- regulation, sensorimotor, social, or functional (mobility).
Cristina Wells PTA