How Stepping Stones Group supports clinicians with MagicSchool

Across the country, school-based clinicians are looking for ways to spend more of their time working directly with students. 

Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists often manage large caseloads while navigating complex documentation and compliance requirements. As those demands grow, the work outside the therapy session can quickly expand as well.

The Stepping Stones Group (SSG) began exploring how better tools could support clinicians in managing that workload.

Today, nearly 1000 SLPs, OTs, and PTs across 48 states use custom MagicSchool tools that help reduce documentation time and streamline planning. Clinicians report saving seven to eight hours each week, time that can go back to students, collaboration, and life outside of work.

The challenge facing school-based clinicians

School-based therapy comes with unique demands. Across SSG’s network, clinicians support students both virtually and on site while managing large caseloads and meeting strict documentation requirements for session notes, IEP updates, and other compliance reporting. Many clinicians manage caseloads of 50 students or more, even as districts continue to face staffing shortages.

Tricia Castellan, Director of K-12 Special Education Solutions at The Stepping Stones Group, understands this firsthand. Before moving into leadership, she spent 15 years working as an occupational therapist and sees how documentation demands continue to expand alongside caseloads.

“As budgets tighten, therapists are often supporting larger caseloads while the number of students requiring special education support continues to grow,” she explains. “This increases the time and coordination needed for documentation, session planning, and IEP meetings.”

Across SSG’s network of more than 1,300 schools nationwide, clinicians face many of these same pressures. That prompted leaders across the organization to evaluate tools that could lessen administrative demands, free up clinician time, and enable a greater focus on direct student support and improved outcomes.

Why Stepping Stones Group partnered with MagicSchool

In early 2024, SSG began exploring whether new technology could meaningfully support their clinicians without compromising quality or compliance.

Their first pilot involved 17 special education teachers using MagicSchool’s planning and documentation tools. Those educators reported significant weekly time savings, closely matching what MagicSchool had already seen across other districts.

“Data from our teachers reported saving seven to eight hours a week, and MagicSchool’s findings reflected that same impact,” says Tricia.

SSG then focused on their clinicians. Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists make up a large portion of their workforce, and their workflows differ from classroom teaching.

Because MagicSchool was built specifically for education, the platform already reflects how schools operate, including IEP workflows, compliance expectations, and district privacy requirements. Together, SSG and MagicSchool began developing tools tailored to therapy workflows within schools.

Tools designed for therapy workflows

Working alongside SSG’s leadership team, MagicSchool helped develop tools designed around the daily work of school-based clinicians. Since launching in fall 2025, up to 1000 clinicians across SSG have chosen to use these tools in their work.

One example is the Speech Therapy Companion, which supports treatment planning through structured prompts that help clinicians organize their thinking. For early-career clinicians, it provides helpful structure as they build confidence in treatment planning and documentation, while experienced clinicians often use it to streamline preparation and ensure important elements are included.

SSG and MagicSchool also created documentation templates aligned with district compliance requirements, helping clinicians complete progress notes and daily documentation more efficiently while maintaining accuracy. In districts with heavier documentation demands, clinicians report faster completion and increased compliance from district partners.

Occupational therapists have also used the tools to build individualized programs more efficiently. One clinician used the platform to design a six-week life skills program for two classrooms that incorporated parent input gathered through questionnaires, along with individualized activities that could be used both at school and at home. What would typically take weeks to assemble was completed in significantly less time.

What clinicians are experiencing

Across SSG, clinicians using the tools report saving seven to eight hours each week on planning and administrative tasks. That time often goes back to direct services with students, collaboration with teachers and families, and completing documentation during the school day rather than in the evening.

Joni Maroney, who oversees SSG’s clinical department and previously worked as a school-based SLP, sees the impact directly.

“Our goal is to support our employees and make their job as easy as possible,” she explains. “Reducing the time they spend on documentation helps them spend more time working with students.”

Clinicians also report improvements in documentation quality. Structured prompts and templates help reduce errors and ensure required elements are included before submission, which can lead to fewer revisions and follow-up requests in districts with heavier compliance requirements.

For clinicians earlier in their careers, the tools also support stronger clinical reasoning by guiding treatment planning and documentation decisions. And when clinicians have more time and energy for direct services, the benefits extend to students as well.

Across SSG’s network of schools, that shift is helping clinicians focus more fully on the work that brought them into the profession. When clinicians have the time and support they need, students benefit from stronger therapy sessions, more consistent support, and the kind of care that helps them grow.

A partner to districts, not clinicians only

When clinicians spend less time on documentation, the benefits extend well beyond the individual therapist. Districts see faster documentation turnaround, stronger compliance records, and more consistent service delivery across growing caseloads. Critically, when therapists reclaim hours previously lost to paperwork, that time goes directly back to students. More thorough session preparation, more focused in-room attention, and more thoughtful intervention planning all add up to better outcomes for the kids who need support most. 

In a funding environment where adding staff isn't always an option, that efficiency creates real leverage. Students continue receiving the services they're entitled to, districts can demonstrate accountability to families and oversight agencies, and clinician retention improves because burnout decreases. MagicSchool is built to support educators doing the work, and that mission carries through to every student they serve.

Learn more about The Stepping Stones Group.