# MinuteGrid, full text > Turn IEP service minutes into a weekly pull-out schedule around class blocks, lunch and never-group pairs. Free, no sign up, runs in your browser. Every public page of https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev, as Markdown, in sitemap order. Built from the exported pages at build time. The short index is https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/llms.txt. --- # IEP service minutes scheduler for school SLPs, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > Turn IEP service minutes into a weekly pull-out schedule around class blocks, lunch and never-group pairs. Free, no sign up, runs in your browser. ## Type the minutes. Get the week. MinuteGrid turns each student's service minutes into a weekly schedule that keeps them out of lunch, specials and the blocks their teacher says they cannot miss, never groups the students who must not be together, and tells you plainly who is still short on minutes and why. ### Initials only. Nothing leaves your browser. MinuteGrid never asks for a student's name, date of birth, disability category, goals or anything else from an IEP. A student is a set of initials or a nickname you choose, a grade, a homeroom teacher and the minutes you type. There is no account and no server: your caseload is saved in this browser only, and you can export it as a file whenever you like. ### How it works 1. **Set up your week.** Your days, start and end times, and the blocks you are never free: lunch, meetings, and travel between buildings. 2. **Add your teachers.** For each homeroom, the blocks a student cannot be pulled from, such as math, ELA, specials, lunch and recess, and the ones to avoid if possible. 3. **Add your students.** Minutes per week or per month, session length, sessions per week, the days that work, group size, and who they may or may never be grouped with. 4. **Build the schedule.** The solver places every session it can, spreads them across the week, groups by grade where it can, and lists anything it could not place with the reason. #### A week you can adjust Drag a session, or select it and use the arrow keys. Every move is checked again as you make it, and a conflict turns red with the rule named. #### Minutes you can defend Minutes scheduled against minutes required for every student, short and over, per week or per month, ready to print for a meeting. #### Sheets people will read A pull-out sheet for each homeroom teacher, a schedule slip for each student and a week sheet for your door, all with a clean print layout. ### Guides - [How to schedule IEP service minutes, step by step](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/how-to-schedule-iep-service-minutes/) - [IEP minutes per week vs per month, how to convert](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-per-week-vs-per-month/) - [Speech therapy caseload scheduling, groups and conflicts](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/speech-therapy-caseload-scheduling/) - [What to do when a student's minutes cannot fit](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-cannot-fit/) - [Related services scheduling tool vs spreadsheet](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/scheduling-tool-vs-spreadsheet/) - [How minutes, groups and blocks work](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/) ### Free to use Every feature is free with no sign up: any number of students, several scenarios, every printable report and CSV export. Try it with the example caseload in the scheduler, then replace it with your own. --- # Build a weekly schedule from service minutes, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/schedule/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > Enter your week, homeroom class blocks and each student's service minutes, and get a pull-out schedule that keeps every rule and names what could not fit. This page is the app itself. It runs in the browser; there is no text to extract. --- # How minutes, groups and blocks work, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > Reference for scheduling service minutes: weekly and monthly minutes, the 15 minute grid, class blocks, groups, buildings, and why a session is unplaced. ## How minutes, groups and blocks work Reference for scheduling service minutes: weekly and monthly minutes, the 15 minute grid, class blocks, groups, buildings, and why a session is unplaced. ### Minutes per week and per month Every student starts with a number of service minutes. Under IDEA an IEP states the anticipated frequency, location and duration of each service (34 CFR 300.320(a)(7), last reviewed 26 September 2026), and some plans state the minutes per week, such as 60 minutes a week. Others state them per month, such as 240 minutes a month. A schedule is weekly, so a monthly number has to become a weekly target first. MinuteGrid divides monthly minutes by the weeks in a month you set on the Week tab, which starts at 4. If your district counts a month as 4.3 weeks, type 4.3, and 240 a month becomes about 56 a week. Separately, you tell it how you plan to deliver those minutes: a session length and a number of sessions a week. Two sessions of 30 minutes deliver 60 minutes. If the plan you type cannot reach the required minutes even when every session is placed, the student form says so before you build anything, so a short plan is never mistaken for a short schedule. ### Sessions and the 15 minute grid Time is kept in 15 minute steps. You choose how often a session may start: every 15 minutes, or every 30 minutes if you prefer a tidier week. A session of 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes fills its steps exactly. A 20 minute session holds the next whole step, so it keeps 30 minutes of your day. The student is out of class for 20 minutes, and the other 10 are yours for walking, setting up and writing a note. The minutes report counts the 20 minutes of service, not the 30 held. ### Your own blocks On the Week tab, list the times you are never free to see students: lunch, meetings, duties, planning time, and travel. Each block has its days, so an IEP meeting every Wednesday afternoon blocks only Wednesday. No session is ever placed over one of your blocks. ### Class blocks: never and avoid Each homeroom has its own day: when the class eats, goes to recess, goes to specials, and teaches math and ELA. For every class block you choose one of two rules. - **Never.** A student from this room is never pulled during the block. Lunch, recess and specials usually belong here, and so does anything the teacher or the plan says the student cannot miss. - **Avoid if possible.** The scheduler tries hard not to pull during the block, and only does so when nothing else fits. Core instruction often belongs here. When it happens, the grid marks the session in amber and names the block. A class block applies to the service minutes only. A 20 minute session that ends 5 minutes before math is fine, even though it holds your time until later. ### Groups Students share a session when all of these hold: - They have the same session length. - The group is no larger than the smallest group size any member allows. A group size of 1 means individual only. - Neither has ticked the other under never group with. One side ticking is enough. - If a student is limited to the students you pick, every partner is on their list. With the limit on and nobody ticked, that student is seen alone, so removing a student's only listed partner never opens them to anyone. - The time works for every member: their days, their class blocks and their building. Within those rules the scheduler prefers groups of the same grade and the same service, and it prefers a group to a second session when the grades are close, because a group frees your time for the rest of the caseload. ### Buildings and travel If you work in one building, leave every building field empty and none of this applies. If you split your week, set the building you start in, give each homeroom its building, and add a travel block for each trip with the building you arrive at. From the end of the travel block until the next one that day, you are in that building, and only students from it are placed there. ### How the schedule is built The scheduler first places every session in a careful order: high priority students first, then everyone's first session before anyone's second, then the students with the fewest open windows. Each session takes the cheapest legal spot, either joining a group already placed or opening a new time. Then it improves the week by trying thousands of small changes: shifting a session, swapping two, clearing a window for a student who was left out and finding the others new homes, and rebuilding one student's week. A change is kept only when it makes the week better. Better means, first, fewer sessions left unplaced. After that it means sessions spread across different days, less time pulled from blocks marked avoid, groups of close grades and one service, and fewer separate sessions. The rules above are never traded away for any of those. The whole thing runs in your browser, in the background so the page stays responsive, and a 40 student caseload takes a fraction of a second on a laptop. The same caseload gives the same week every time; the Try another arrangement button asks for a different, equally legal one. ### Why a session is not placed Some caseloads do not fit in a week. When a session cannot be placed, it is listed with one of these reasons, checked in this order: - **No shared day** None of the student's allowed days is one of your working days. Tick another day for the student, or add a working day. - **Longer than your day** The session is longer than your whole day, which usually means a typing slip in the session length or your hours. - **Your blocks leave no window** Your own lunch, meetings, duties and travel leave no gap long enough on the student's days. - **Never in their building** You are never in the student's building during a free window on their days. Check the travel blocks and the homeroom's building. - **Class blocks leave no window** The class blocks the student can never miss cover every gap you have. Ask whether one of them can become avoid if possible. - **Too few separate windows** There are open windows, but fewer separate ones than the sessions asked for. Fewer, longer sessions may fit. - **Every window is taken** The student could be seen, but every window that fits is used by another session that cannot take them, because it is full, starts at a different time, has a different length, or includes someone they must never be grouped with. ### Changing it by hand Drag a session to a new time, or select it and use the arrow keys: up and down move by one block, left and right move a day. Every move is checked again as you make it. A move that breaks a rule is allowed, because you know things the scheduler does not, but the session turns red and the rule is named, both on the grid and in the list of conflicts. From the panel beside the grid you can take a student out of a session, add one, delete a session, or place an unplaced student by hand at the first open window. ### Reports and scenarios The Reports tab prints a minutes report with scheduled against required minutes for every student, a pull-out sheet for each homeroom teacher, a small schedule slip for each student, and a week sheet for you. The Scenarios tab keeps more than one version of the week, such as fall and a January redo, and compares how many students each one serves in full. Export everything as a file to keep a backup or to move to another computer. ### Step by step guides - [How to schedule IEP service minutes, step by step](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/how-to-schedule-iep-service-minutes/) - [IEP minutes per week vs per month, how to convert](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-per-week-vs-per-month/) - [Speech therapy caseload scheduling, groups and conflicts](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/speech-therapy-caseload-scheduling/) - [What to do when a student's minutes cannot fit](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-cannot-fit/) - [Related services scheduling tool vs spreadsheet](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/scheduling-tool-vs-spreadsheet/) [Open the scheduler](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/schedule/) and try it with the example caseload. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [34 CFR 300.320, Definition of individualized education program](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.320), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Paragraph (a)(7): the IEP states the projected start date and the anticipated frequency, location and duration of services. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. - [34 CFR 300.34, Related services](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.34), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Related services include speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, and counseling. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. --- # How to schedule IEP service minutes, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/how-to-schedule-iep-service-minutes/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > How to schedule IEP service minutes step by step: weekly targets, your own blocks, class blocks, hardest students first, groups, and a minutes check. ## How to schedule IEP service minutes, step by step To schedule IEP service minutes, give every student a weekly minutes target, block out your own commitments and each classroom's no-pull times, place the most constrained students first, group students only where the rules allow, and check minutes scheduled against minutes required before you print. The IEP sets how often, how long and where; the schedule is how you deliver it. ### The seven steps 1. **List each student's service line.** For every student, note the minutes, whether they are per week or per month, the session length, sessions per week, group or individual, and the days that work. Use initials only. 2. **Turn monthly minutes into a weekly target.** Divide monthly minutes by the weeks in a month your district uses, usually 4, so every student has a weekly number to schedule against. 3. **Block out your own week.** Mark lunch, meetings, duties, planning time and travel between buildings, on the days they happen. No session goes over these. 4. **Collect each classroom's blocks.** Ask each homeroom teacher for lunch, recess, specials and core instruction times, and mark each block never or avoid if possible. 5. **Place the hardest students first.** Start with high priority students and those with the fewest open windows: few allowed days, individual only, long sessions, strict classrooms. 6. **Group where the rules allow.** Put students together only when they share a session length, the group fits everyone's size limit, and no one is paired with someone they must never be grouped with. 7. **Check minutes, then print and share.** Compare minutes scheduled with minutes required for every student, deal with anyone short, then give each teacher a pull-out sheet and keep a week sheet for yourself. ### Why the order matters Scheduling is a puzzle with fixed pieces. Your blocks and the classroom blocks do not move, so they go down first. Then the students with the fewest possible times: a student who can only come on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or who must be seen alone, or who must never share a room with a particular classmate. If you place the easy students first, they take the windows the hard ones needed, and you end up tearing the week apart in October. Groups come after that because a group saves your time only when it does not break a rule. Two students with the same session length, compatible goals and close grades are a good group. Two students who must never be grouped are not, however convenient the time. ### Worked example: eight students, three classrooms MinuteGrid's example caseload has eight students in three homerooms, a provider day of 8:00 to 3:00 with lunch, bus duty on Mondays and Fridays, and IEP meetings on Wednesday afternoons. Two students have monthly minutes, one must never be grouped with a classmate, one is individual only in 20 minute sessions, and one may only be grouped with one named peer. The scheduler placed all 17 of 17 sessions, 6 of them as groups: | Day | Time | Students | | --- | --- | --- | | Monday | 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM | Ella (grade 2, Room 9) | | Monday | 10:45 AM to 11:15 AM | GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12) | | Monday | 1:00 PM to 1:20 PM | FT (grade 2, Room 9) | | Tuesday | 1:15 PM to 1:45 PM | Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9) | | Tuesday | 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM | AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4) | | Wednesday | 1:00 PM to 1:20 PM | FT (grade 2, Room 9) | | Thursday | 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM | AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4) | | Thursday | 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM | Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9) | | Friday | 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM | GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12) | | Friday | 12:30 PM to 12:50 PM | FT (grade 2, Room 9) | | Friday | 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM | DM (grade K, Room 4) | The minutes check shows 8 of 8 students met, 0 short. The rules hold in every row: CJ never shares a session with DM, FT is always seen alone for 20 minutes, and JK only ever shares with Ella. ### Common mistakes - Starting before you have every teacher's class blocks, then redoing the week. - Treating monthly minutes as weekly, or forgetting to divide them at all. - Grouping students with different session lengths, so one is short or the other misses class. - Scheduling over specials or lunch because the slot looked empty on your own calendar. - Never checking the total: a student can look scheduled and still be ten minutes short a week. ### Try it with your caseload The [scheduler](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/schedule/) follows these steps for you: it places the hardest students first, keeps every rule, and lists anyone it could not place with the reason. Read the [guide to minutes, groups and blocks](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/) for how each rule works. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [34 CFR 300.320, Definition of individualized education program](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.320), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Paragraph (a)(7): the IEP states the projected start date and the anticipated frequency, location and duration of services. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. - [34 CFR 300.34, Related services](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.34), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Related services include speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, and counseling. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. ### Frequently asked questions **What does an IEP have to say about service minutes?** Under IDEA, the IEP states the projected start date and the anticipated frequency, location and duration of each service (34 CFR 300.320(a)(7)). Your schedule is how those minutes are delivered, so it should add up to them. **Should I schedule the hardest students first?** Yes. A student who can only be seen on two days, or never with certain peers, has few places to go. Placing them first keeps the easy students from using up the only windows they had. **How long does it take to build a schedule?** Gathering class blocks from teachers takes the longest. Once the data is in, a scheduler places a caseload of 40 in well under a second on a laptop; by hand on paper it can take a day. --- # IEP minutes per week vs per month, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-per-week-vs-per-month/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > How to convert IEP service minutes per month to per week and back, which weeks-per-month figure to use, and how to keep a monthly total honest. ## IEP minutes per week vs per month, and how to convert them To turn monthly IEP minutes into a weekly schedule, divide by the weeks in a month your district uses: 240 minutes a month is 60 a week at 4 weeks, or about 55 a week at 4.33. To go the other way, multiply. Per month and per week describe the same service with a different checking period, so the schedule must meet whichever one the IEP states. ### Why plans use two units Federal rules ask an IEP to state the anticipated frequency, location and duration of each service (34 CFR 300.320(a)(7), last reviewed 26 September 2026). They do not say per week or per month; that is a choice your district, state forms or IEP team make. A weekly figure is easy to schedule and easy to check. A monthly figure absorbs a holiday, a field trip or a testing week, because the minutes can be made up later in the month. ### Conversion table | Minutes per month | Per week at 4 weeks | Per week at 4.33 weeks | | --- | --- | --- | | 60 | 15 | 13.9 | | 120 | 30 | 27.7 | | 180 | 45 | 41.6 | | 240 | 60 | 55.4 | | 360 | 90 | 83.1 | The 4.33 column is the calendar average (52 weeks over 12 months). The 4 column is the usual planning figure, and it rounds in the student's favour: scheduling 60 a week against 240 a month gives 260 in a month with four and a third school weeks. ### Worked example A student's plan says 240 minutes a month of language therapy, in 30 minute sessions. At 4 weeks a month the weekly target is 60, so two 30 minute sessions a week. In a month with a week off for a break, the student gets three weeks of sessions, 180 minutes, and is 60 short for the month unless the missed sessions are made up. With a weekly plan of 60 minutes the same break is simply a missed week, handled by your district's make-up rules. In MinuteGrid, choose per month on the student, set weeks in a month on the Week tab (it starts at 4), and the minutes report shows the weekly target, the scheduled weekly minutes and the monthly equivalent side by side. ### Check that the sessions can reach the target Session length times sessions per week must reach the weekly target. A 45 minute weekly target with 30 minute sessions needs two sessions, which is 60 minutes: over by 15, which is usually fine. A 25 minute target with 20 minute sessions needs two, not one. MinuteGrid flags a plan that cannot reach its minutes before you build anything. ### Common mistakes - Entering monthly minutes as weekly, which quadruples the student's time. - Dividing by 4 on one caseload and 4.33 on another without writing it down. - Assuming a break week does not count against a monthly total. - A session plan that falls short of the weekly target by a few minutes every week. ### Next Once every student has a weekly target, follow [how to schedule IEP service minutes, step by step](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/how-to-schedule-iep-service-minutes/), or read the [guide to minutes, groups and blocks](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/). Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [34 CFR 300.320, Definition of individualized education program](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.320), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Paragraph (a)(7): the IEP states the projected start date and the anticipated frequency, location and duration of services. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. ### Frequently asked questions **How do I convert IEP minutes per month to per week?** Divide the monthly minutes by the number of weeks in a month your district uses. With 4 weeks, 240 minutes a month is 60 a week. With 4.33 weeks, it is about 55.4 a week. **Should I use 4 or 4.33 weeks in a month?** Use the figure your district or state tells you to. Four weeks is the common planning figure and is slightly generous to the student; 4.33 is the calendar average. Write down which one you used. **What if a month has school breaks?** A monthly total is still owed for the month unless your district's rules say otherwise. Plan sessions so the weeks you are in school add up to the month, and follow your district's policy on missed and make-up sessions. **Is per month better than per week?** Per month gives flexibility across a month with a holiday or a testing week; per week is simpler to schedule and to check. Which one a plan uses is an IEP team decision, not a scheduling one. --- # Speech therapy caseload scheduling, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/speech-therapy-caseload-scheduling/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > How school SLPs schedule a speech therapy caseload: forming groups, never-group pairs, class blocks, split buildings, and conflicts, without losing minutes. ## Speech therapy caseload scheduling: groups and conflicts A school speech therapy schedule works when groups are built from students who share a session length, fit each other's group size limits and are never paired with someone they must be kept apart from, and when every session lands in a time the classroom can release them. Most conflicts come from three places: class blocks that leave no window, groups that break a rule, and minutes that do not add up. ### Caseload and workload ASHA's Caseload and Workload practice portal (last reviewed 26 September 2026) separates caseload, the students you serve, from workload, everything the job takes, and recommends no fixed caseload number. It reports a median of 48 students from its 2022 Schools Survey, and notes that big caseloads push SLPs from individual to group sessions and from small groups to larger ones. It also describes alternative models such as 3:1, three weeks of direct service and one flexible week. Whatever the model, the weekly grid is where the minutes are won or lost. ### Rules for a group that holds - **Same session length.** A 20 minute student and a 30 minute student cannot share a session without one being short or out of class longer than the plan says. - **Smallest limit wins.** If one student's plan allows groups of 2, the group is 2, even if the others allow 4. - **Never group, either side.** If either student is marked never group with the other, they are never together. One mark is enough. - **Only with named peers.** Some students may only be grouped with specific classmates. With nobody named, they are seen alone. - **Close grades and one service.** Not rules, but preferences: a group of second graders working on language is easier to run than a K to 4 mix of articulation and fluency. ### Common conflicts and what resolves them - **A classroom leaves no window.** Ask the teacher which block could become avoid if possible rather than never. Core instruction often can; lunch and specials usually cannot. - **Two good partners have different lengths.** Check whether one plan's length is a habit or a requirement. Matching lengths opens groups. - **A split week between buildings.** Put travel on the grid as a block with the building you arrive at, so students are only placed where you are. - **A never-group pair in one classroom.** Give each a different group, or different days, before the rest of the room is placed. ### Worked example: who got grouped and why In MinuteGrid's example caseload of eight students, the scheduler formed 6 group sessions: - Monday, 10:45 AM to 11:15 AM: GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12) - Tuesday, 1:15 PM to 1:45 PM: Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9) - Tuesday, 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM: AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4) - Thursday, 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM: AB (grade K, Room 4), CJ (grade K, Room 4) - Thursday, 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM: Ella (grade 2, Room 9), JK (grade 2, Room 9) - Friday, 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM: GR (grade 4, Room 12), Hal (grade 4, Room 12) Every group shares one session length, and no group contains a pair marked never group. FT, whose plan is individual only in 20 minute sessions, is always seen alone, and JK, who may only be grouped with Ella, is never placed with anyone else. ### Common mistakes - Building groups by grade first and checking session lengths afterwards. - Forgetting that a never-group rule applies even when only one student's plan lists it. - Leaving travel off the grid, so a student is scheduled in a building you are not in. - Growing a group past one member's limit because a slot was convenient. ### Try it The [scheduler](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/schedule/) keeps every one of these rules and lists anything it could not place. The [guide to minutes, groups and blocks](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/) explains each rule in detail. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [Caseload and Workload, Practice Portal](https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/caseload-and-workload/), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. No recommended caseload number; a 2022 schools survey median of 48 students; scheduling models such as 3:1; group size pressure on large caseloads. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. - [34 CFR 300.34, Related services](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.34), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Related services include speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, and counseling. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. ### Frequently asked questions **How many students should be in a speech therapy group?** There is no single right number. It depends on each student's goals and plan, and many plans cap it. ASHA's caseload guidance notes that large caseloads push SLPs toward bigger groups even when that is not ideal. **What is the average school SLP caseload?** ASHA reports a median of 48 students from its 2022 Schools Survey and deliberately recommends no fixed caseload number, because students' needs vary so much. **How do I handle two students who cannot be in the same group?** Mark them as never group with each other. A scheduler then keeps them apart in every session, and you can still group each of them with other students. **Can students from different classrooms share a session?** Yes, if the time works for both classrooms, both are in the building you are in at that time, and they share a session length and a compatible group size. --- # When IEP minutes cannot fit the week, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/iep-minutes-cannot-fit/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > What to do when a student's IEP minutes cannot fit your schedule: the seven reasons a session will not place, what each means, and what usually fixes it. ## What to do when a student's minutes cannot fit When a student's minutes cannot fit, find out exactly why before changing anything: no shared day, your own blocks, their building, their classroom's blocks, too few separate windows, or every window already used by a session they cannot join. Each has a different fix, and some of them are conversations with a teacher or the IEP team rather than changes to the grid. ### The seven reasons, in the order to check them MinuteGrid checks these in order, from the things no other session can change to the ones that depend on the rest of the caseload, and names the first one that applies. - **No shared day** None of the student's allowed days is one of your working days. Tick another day for the student, or add a working day. - **Longer than your day** The session is longer than your whole day, which usually means a typing slip in the session length or your hours. - **Your blocks leave no window** Your own lunch, meetings, duties and travel leave no gap long enough on the student's days. - **Never in their building** You are never in the student's building during a free window on their days. Check the travel blocks and the homeroom's building. - **Class blocks leave no window** The class blocks the student can never miss cover every gap you have. Ask whether one of them can become avoid if possible. - **Too few separate windows** There are open windows, but fewer separate ones than the sessions asked for. Fewer, longer sessions may fit. - **Every window is taken** The student could be seen, but every window that fits is used by another session that cannot take them, because it is full, starts at a different time, has a different length, or includes someone they must never be grouped with. ### Worked example: what the scheduler says Take the eight student example caseload, make the provider's week Monday to Thursday, and add three students: LB, who can only be seen on Fridays; MN, whose Room 15 never releases students on Wednesday before the provider's afternoon IEP meetings; and PQ, who needs five one hour sessions and can only come on Tuesdays. The scheduler places 21 of 25 sessions and explains the rest in its own words: LB: No shared day > None of LB's days (Fri) is one of your working days (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu). MN: Class blocks leave no window > The blocks MN cannot miss in Room 15 leave no 30 minute window on Wed when you are free. PQ: Too few separate windows > Only 4 separate 60 minute windows fit PQ's day (Tue), and the plan asks for 5 sessions a week. Each points to a different fix. LB needs another allowed day or a Friday back in the provider's week. MN needs Room 15's teacher to release a block, marked avoid if possible, or a day other than Wednesday. PQ's plan asks for more separate hours than one school day holds, which is a question for the IEP team about how the minutes are delivered, not something to solve by squeezing. ### Fix in this order 1. Check the data first: days ticked, session length, hours of your day. 2. Open a window that costs nothing: another allowed day, a travel block moved. 3. Ask a teacher to change one block from never to avoid if possible. 4. Rearrange groups: raise a group size the plan allows, or match session lengths. 5. Only then take it to your supervisor or the IEP team, with the reason in hand. ### Common mistakes - Moving a different student around to make room without knowing why the first one failed. - Shortening a session below the plan to squeeze it in. - Pulling during a block the teacher said never, because it was the only gap. - Leaving a student short and hoping the minutes report is not read. ### Try it The [scheduler](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/schedule/) lists every unplaced session with its reason and lets you place one by hand at the first open window, naming any rule it breaks. The [guide to minutes, groups and blocks](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/) covers each rule in more detail. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [34 CFR 300.320, Definition of individualized education program](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/34/300.320), US Code of Federal Regulations (IDEA Part B), via the Legal Information Institute. Paragraph (a)(7): the IEP states the projected start date and the anticipated frequency, location and duration of services. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. ### Frequently asked questions **What if a student's IEP minutes truly cannot be scheduled?** Do not quietly deliver fewer minutes. Tell your supervisor or case manager, document what blocks the schedule, and follow your district's process; the IEP team may need to look at the service's frequency, duration or location. **Can I pull a student from core instruction to fit minutes?** Only if the teacher and the plan allow it. Mark those blocks avoid if possible rather than never, and the scheduler will use them only when nothing else fits, marking each such session so you can see it. **Why does another arrangement sometimes place one more session?** Scheduling is a search. A different starting order can find a week where one more session fits, so trying another arrangement is worth a click when a caseload is nearly full. --- # Related services scheduling tool vs spreadsheet, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/scheduling-tool-vs-spreadsheet/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > Spreadsheet or scheduling tool for SLP, OT and resource service minutes? What each checks, where each breaks, and when a spreadsheet is still enough. ## Related services scheduling tool vs spreadsheet A spreadsheet is enough when your caseload is small, in one building, with few grouping rules: you can see every conflict by eye. A scheduling tool pays off when classroom timetables, never-group pairs, group sizes, monthly minutes and a January redo all have to hold at once, because it checks every rule on every session and tells you who could not fit and why. ### Side by side | Question | Spreadsheet | Scheduling tool | | --- | --- | --- | | Setup | A grid you already know how to build | Enter your week, class blocks and students once | | Finding a time | You scan the grid and every teacher's timetable by eye | Every legal time is found for each student | | Class blocks and lunch | Checked by memory | Never blocks are never used; avoid blocks only when nothing else fits | | Never-group pairs and group size | Checked by memory | Enforced in every session | | Minutes met | A formula you maintain | Scheduled against required for every student, per week or per month | | A change in January | Redo by hand, hoping nothing breaks | Change the data and rebuild, or move one session with live checks | | Who could not fit, and why | You find out when a teacher asks | Listed with the reason | | Student data | Often full names in a shared drive | Initials only, kept in your browser | ### Where spreadsheets break The grid itself is not the hard part. The hard part is everything the grid does not know: that Room 9 has specials at 2:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only; that two students in Room 4 must never share a session; that one student's 20 minute sessions cannot join a 30 minute group; that a monthly 240 is a weekly 60. In a spreadsheet those rules live in your head, so every change means checking them all again. ASHA's caseload guidance (last reviewed 26 September 2026) reports a median school caseload of 48 students, which is a lot of rules to hold in your head. ### Worked example: one change in January A second grade teacher moves math to 10:00. In a spreadsheet, you find every student in that room, check each of their sessions against the new block, find new times that also suit their groups' other members, their other classrooms and your own meetings, and recheck everyone's minutes. In a scheduler, you change the one block and rebuild, or keep the week and look at the sessions now marked in red with the rule named. Either way the minutes report tells you whether anyone is now short. ### When a spreadsheet is still the right call - Fewer than about ten students, one building, and no grouping restrictions. - A schedule that is set by the school, where you only record it. - Tracking attendance and notes, which a scheduler does not do. ### Common mistakes - Keeping full student names in a shared spreadsheet when initials would do. - A minutes formula that silently stops counting a row after a copy and paste. - Color coding as the only record of a never-group rule. - Choosing a tool that needs student records uploaded to someone else's server. ### Where MinuteGrid fits MinuteGrid is a free scheduler that runs in your browser: initials only, no account, nothing uploaded. It builds the week, checks every rule, lists unplaced sessions with reasons, prints teacher and student sheets, and exports CSV for your spreadsheet. It does not track attendance or write notes. Start with [how to schedule IEP service minutes](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/how-to-schedule-iep-service-minutes/) or the [guide to minutes, groups and blocks](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/). Last reviewed 26 September 2026. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### Sources - [Caseload and Workload, Practice Portal](https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/caseload-and-workload/), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. No recommended caseload number; a 2022 schools survey median of 48 students; scheduling models such as 3:1; group size pressure on large caseloads. Last reviewed 26 September 2026. ### Frequently asked questions **Is a spreadsheet good enough for an SLP schedule?** For a small caseload in one building with few grouping rules, often yes. It gets hard when classroom timetables, never-group pairs, group sizes and a mid-year change all have to be checked by eye. **Can I keep using my spreadsheet alongside a scheduler?** Yes. Build the week in the scheduler, then export it as CSV and open it in your spreadsheet for notes, attendance or anything else you track there. **Is it safe to put student information in a scheduling tool?** Only what the tool needs, and only where your district allows. MinuteGrid asks for initials or a nickname and keeps everything in your browser, so no student record leaves your device. --- # Service minutes scheduler FAQ, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/faq/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > Answers about MinuteGrid: what it asks for, where your caseload is kept, monthly minutes, 20 minute sessions, grouping rules and unplaced sessions. ## Questions about MinuteGrid Short answers. The [guide](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/guide/) explains minutes, groups and blocks in more detail. ### Frequently asked questions **What does MinuteGrid do?** It turns each student's service minutes into a weekly pull-out schedule. You enter your working hours and the times you are busy, each homeroom's class blocks, and each student's minutes, session length, days and grouping rules. It builds a week that keeps every rule, spreads sessions across days, groups students where it can, and lists anything it could not place with the reason. **Who is it for?** School based speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, resource teachers and special education case managers who schedule their own caseload around classroom timetables. **What do I have to tell it about each student?** Initials or a nickname, a grade, a homeroom, the minutes and how you want to deliver them, the days that work, the largest group they can be in, and who they may or may never be grouped with. Nothing else is asked for, and there is nowhere to type a full name. **Is my caseload uploaded anywhere?** No. The scheduling runs in your browser and your work is saved in this browser's local storage. There is no account and no server. Export a file from the Scenarios tab to keep a backup or to move your work to another computer. **Is it free?** Yes. Every feature is free with no sign up: any number of students, several scenarios, every printable report and CSV export. **What if my minutes are per month?** Choose per month on the student and set the weeks in a month on the Week tab. Monthly minutes are divided by that number to give a weekly target, and the minutes report shows both. **Can it do 20 minute sessions?** Yes. Time is kept in 15 minute steps, so a 20 minute session holds 30 minutes of your day. The student is out of class for 20 minutes and you keep the other 10 for transition. The minutes report counts the 20 minutes of service. **What is the difference between never and avoid if possible?** A class block marked never is never used for a pull-out. A block marked avoid if possible is used only when nothing else fits, and the session is marked in amber so you can see it. **It left some sessions unplaced. What now?** Each one comes with a reason, such as class blocks leaving no window or every window being taken by a group that is full. The guide explains each reason and what usually fixes it. You can also place a session by hand; the grid will name any rule it breaks. **Can I move sessions myself?** Yes. Drag a session, or select it and use the arrow keys. Every move is checked as you make it, and a session that breaks a rule turns red with the rule named. **Does it work on a phone or a tablet?** Yes. The grid fits a narrow screen, sessions can be dragged with a finger, and the panel beside the grid has buttons to move a session earlier, later, or to another day. **Is MinuteGrid connected to my district or a professional association?** No. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. It does not connect to any student information system and it does not decide services; it schedules the minutes you type. --- # Privacy: initials only, nothing uploaded, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/privacy/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > How MinuteGrid handles your data: students are typed as initials, the caseload is scheduled in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere. ## Privacy: initials only, nothing uploaded How MinuteGrid handles your data: students are typed as initials, the caseload is scheduled in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere. ### What we ask for about students Initials or a nickname you choose, a grade, a homeroom, the service minutes, session length and days, group limits, a short service label and a priority. That is all. MinuteGrid never asks for a name, a date of birth, an identification number, a disability category, goals, progress notes or anything else from an education record, and it has no field where one would go. Please keep it that way: use initials, not names. ### What stays on your device The scheduling runs in your browser, in a background worker on this page. There is no server side to this site: it is a set of static files. Nothing you type, build, move or print is transmitted anywhere. Your work is written to your browser's own local storage, under keys beginning with `minutegrid.` and nowhere else. It belongs to one browser on one device: it does not follow you to another computer, it is not backed up by us, and nobody else can read it. Clearing site data for this site removes it permanently. Use the export button on the Scenarios tab to keep a copy as a file; that file is saved wherever you choose and is yours to keep or delete. ### No accounts There is no sign up, no sign in, no email capture and no password. Every page, including the scheduler and every report, works without identifying yourself in any way. ### What is collected No account, no advertising identifiers, and nothing you enter. Standard web server logs kept by the static host may record the request for a page, its time and a network address, in the ordinary way any web server records a request. ### Page counts This site counts page visits through Cloudflare. The count sets no cookie, cannot follow you to another site, and records that a page was opened, never what is on your caseload. ### Purchases If paid plans are offered, a purchase is handled by RevenueCat and Stripe, who receive what a payment needs, such as your email address and card, and never your caseload. An anonymous purchase id is stored in this browser so your access is recognised here. ### Cookies MinuteGrid sets no cookies of its own and carries no advertising or cross site tracking scripts. ### Children The site is a planning tool for school staff and is not directed at children. ### Changes If this policy changes in a way that affects what is collected, the change will appear on this page. ### Contact Questions about privacy go to socialreminderinfo@gmail.com. Since nothing is stored on a server, most requests are answered by telling you which local storage keys to clear. --- # Terms of use for the minutes scheduler, MinuteGrid URL: https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/terms/ Last reviewed: 2026-09-26 > The terms that apply when you use MinuteGrid, the limits of what a scheduling aid can be relied on for, and what stays free for every provider. ## Terms of use The terms that apply when you use MinuteGrid, the limits of what a scheduling aid can be relied on for, and what stays free for every provider. ### What this is MinuteGrid is a planning aid that turns the service minutes, blocks and grouping rules you type into a proposed weekly schedule. It does not decide what services a student receives. The minutes in each plan are the ones you enter, and it is your job to check them against the student's current plan and your district's rules. A schedule it builds is a draft for you to review, not a record of services delivered. ### Student information Enter initials or a nickname only. MinuteGrid is built so that nothing more is needed, and nothing you enter leaves your browser. You remain responsible for following your school's rules about student records on the device you use. ### Names used Descriptive terms such as IEP or service minutes are used only to say what the tool works with. MinuteGrid is not affiliated with any school district, state education agency, or professional association. ### What is free A full schedule for up to 8 students is free to use with no account and stays that way, including the week grid, the minutes report, student slips, the provider week sheet, printing, and JSON export and import. When billing is enabled, a paid tier adds larger caseloads, more scenarios, CSV export and teacher pull-out sheets on top of that. Nothing free is moved behind a gate to make room for it. ### Your data Anything the site remembers is stored by your own browser on your own device. You can clear it at any time, we cannot recover it, and it does not follow you to another device. Export a file regularly if the schedule matters to you. ### Refunds Not happy with a purchase? Email [socialreminderinfo@gmail.com](mailto:socialreminderinfo@gmail.com) within 14 days of a first purchase, or within 7 days of a renewal, and we will refund it. Send the message from the email address you used at checkout, and include: - the email address used at checkout (if you are writing from a different address) - your access code, shown on the [Premium](https://minutegrid-web.pages.dev/premium/) page while you have Premium on the browser you purchased from - roughly when you purchased, and which plan (yearly or lifetime) - the last 4 digits of the card, if you have the receipt handy That is everything needed to find the purchase and process the refund. This policy does not limit any statutory rights you may have. ### Acceptable use Use the site to plan services. Do not scrape it at a rate that degrades it for other people, and do not enter information that identifies a student beyond initials or a nickname. ### Warranty and liability The site is provided as it is, without warranty of any kind. To the extent the law allows, MinuteGrid is not liable for any loss arising from its use or from reliance on a schedule it proposes. Check every schedule before you publish it to staff or families. ### Contact Questions, and reports of a schedule that breaks a rule it should have kept, go to socialreminderinfo@gmail.com. A hard rule broken by the solver is a defect and gets fixed.