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PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com
new realities
Robin Lake, who leads the Center on Reinventing Public Education, has been studying special education in charter schools for the last two years. She is the author of a great new book on this topic, Unique Schools Serving Unique Students. We asked her for her perspective on the interest in online speech therapy for charters. Robin said, We recognize the positive impact that charters can have on the entire field of special education, to experiment, to innovate and advance the knowledge of new approaches for helping exceptional children succeed. In addition to the perspective of these two national experts, we also have the view of two charter school special education administrators. Joe Pacheco, of California-based Leadership Public Schools says because they operate charter high schools in four geographic areas approximately 50 miles apart, it has been a real challenge to find added coverage for services they need. Joe and his team looked to the use of online speech therapy services as a way of dealing with the geographic issues. Shawn Whitney, who oversees special education at Edison Charter Academy in San Francisco, says because they have just one site and a relatively small number of students in need of speech and language services, it is difficult to find a service provider willing to work just a couple days a week. That situation prompted Shawn to start looking outside the box to get the best services for her students. Right now, using online speech therapy is doing wonders for them. School administrators know that when it comes to implementing new technology, especially in an educational setting, there are four areas that we have to pay attention to. First of all, we need to train the staff and the users. We need to train them both in the use of the technology and then also about the program itself. Secondly, we have to think about the technology. The technology has to work and it has to be set up correctly. Third, there has to be support available, because we know technology doesnt always work the way we want it to. Finally, we have to think about the set-up -- the physical location and the educational technology -- and how they all work together. We need to consider how we put it all together to make the online experience most beneficial to our students.
PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com
new realities
Another struggle for Shawn when her school was beginning to implement online therapy was getting the kids to and from class to the room that is set up for online therapy. For safety reasons, we dont allow the kindergartners through third grade to be on campus by themselves, so we had a hard time monitoring the transition during the first year of using the online service, she said. They hired a part-time staff member who is at the school Monday, Wednesday, Friday, the same days as the online services are being provided. As a result, everything has been very smooth. Joe Pacheco also had some struggles with Internet speed. After upgrading their network (what did this involve? New equipment or a call to the provider?) they have had no problems at all with the technology. For his staff and students, very little training was needed. Joe says, The system is so simple to operate and high school students receiving online speech language therapy are so familiar with technology that they are the ones who train the staff how to use it. They have been able to schedule a lot of their students who are receiving online services into a guided studies class. And since many them are also research (resource?) specialist students, they have them scheduled into a class that coincides with their placements. This facilitates them moving from place to place without difficulty. Joe says that logistics will be the main issue for people to consider when they are coming aboard with online speech therapy. Shawn agrees that logistics can be a challenge. Scheduling services can be difficult when you are working with a large number of teachers, she says, Communication between the speech language therapist and the school staff is the solution. Both Joe and Shawn have seen the ease-of-use of the technology evolving. And, as location issues are solved and their students become more comfortable with the process of going to the service, they expect things are going to get even better. Charter school administrators have a number of questions about how online speech therapy is integrated with general education and the staff. How does the remote online SLP fit in and become an active part of the IEP team? How can you mix online speech therapy with the general curriculum? How do we involve parents and teachers and keep the online service from being its own separate entity? Joe Pacheco reports that the online SLPs that serve their charter school students have been very successful using email to engage the general staff, the classroom teacher and other instructional staff. The SLP also communicates via email and phone with the resource specialist. They all have a very good working relationship with the online SLP. Shawn agrees. The online SLP that works with her students uses email and also calls and speaks to teachers, especially the newer teachers. At Edison Charter Academy, they have quite a few first year teachers on campus who have many questions on how to support students with speech and language issues. The online SLP is always willing to spend some time on the phone and sends activities that follow up on the services provided during the online session, Shawn says. The remote SLP uses email to send follow-up activities to the teachers and often times to the parents as well.
PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com
new realities
At Edison Charter Academy they have the RTI (response to intervention) component and qualified tutors in that program piggyback on activities done during online speech therapy. Some students spend 5-10 extra minutes during the RTI time working on speech-related activities provided by the online therapist. School administrators considering any new approach, especially something that is as important as speech language services, appreciate peer advice. We all want to avoid problems and get up to speed smoothly. Shawn again reflects and provides advice regarding transition needs, wishing she had been better prepared. She doesnt see this as a problem for older students. For grades 4-8 they provide passes to the teachers and the kids come to services on time and there is no issue. For kindergarten to third grade students, getting them to and from the online services room was difficult at first, and as a result, they missed some services. But now with the extra part-time staff to assist, things are going well. The other advice from Shawn is to address scheduling as soon as possible, ideally before school starts and to have a schedule worked out at least a week in advance. Joe says that his students have been very comfortable with the service. He had one student who was embarrassed about having online speech therapy; but when Joe had a conversation with him about his concern, the student said he didnt like going to see the live therapist either. Joe is using a live SLP at some sites and online therapists at others, and when comparing the use of one to the other he finds that they are both excellent in providing service and he says, It just comes down to a matter of availability, money and logistics!
PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com
new realities
PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com
new realities
About PresenceLearning
At PresenceLearning, we love to see children thrive, which is why we are making the promise of live online speech therapy (sometimes called telepractice) come true. With the ongoing shortage of SLPs (speech language pathologists) and budget pressures in school districts reaching crisis proportions, innovative modes of delivery have become essential for giving children the speech therapy services they need. A large and growing body of research, starting with a seminal study by the Mayo Clinic in 1997, demonstrates that live online speech therapy is just as effective as face-to-face therapy. Our mission is to make live online speech therapy practical, affordable and convenient while providing an extraordinary therapy experience for each child. The PresenceLearning solution includes: access to our large and growing network of top-notch SLPs the latest video-conferencing technology the most engaging games and evidence-based activities time-saving collaboration and practice management tools targeting SLPs and educators Join the growing group of SLPs, educators and parents committed to seeing children thrive as part of the online speech therapy revolution.
PresenceLearning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 580 Market Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 | www.presencelearning.com