Fossil School District Discovers Missing Link to Speech-Language Success
Homebound distance learning students receive speech therapy services online
SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2013 – To consolidate the management of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and more efficiently provide speech therapy services to homebound students, Fossil School District in Fossil, Ore., partnered with PresenceLearning, the leader in online speech therapy services for K-12 students. With this new partnership, Fossil School District can now provide speech therapy services to students in the district’s Distance Learning Program.
“Prior to using PresenceLearning, we had to subcontract with SLPs in different areas, which was very difficult to manage” said Brad Sperry, superintendent of Fossil School District. “We had to have different SLPs in different cities to accommodate the students in the Distance Learning Program. PresenceLearning not only consolidated SLPs, it streamlined the student progress reporting process and our accounting. It made the process of providing services much smoother and more fluid.”
The Distance Learning Program, now in its fifth year, provides online learning options for 140 homebound students in Oregon’s Willamette Valley area, approximately 400 miles away from Fossil School District. The district provides the homebound students with the same support services and treatment that an on-site student receives, except it is done online. Similar to their other course work, the students use district-issued iPads to work with a live online SLP.
“The specific needs of our families vary greatly,” said Sperry. “Because the Distance Learning Program is based at home, the PresenceLearning SLPs have to contact families directly, not the district, to schedule sessions. The SLPs have been very flexible and willing to work with families’ specific needs. I have heard nothing but praise about the program and we plan to use PresenceLearning’s services for as long as our students need speech therapy.”
Since 2009, PresenceLearning’s high quality online speech therapy has provided schools with web-based access to a nationwide network of highly qualified, fully licensed speech-language pathologists who are available whenever and wherever they are needed. By partnering with PresenceLearning, school districts can fill staffing gaps related to acute and chronic SLP shortages, reduce high caseloads and workloads for onsite personnel, improve student outcomes and save money. PresenceLearning also offers access to technical specialists, as well as culturally and linguistically diverse speech-language pathologists.
During the 2012-13 school year, PresenceLearning will conduct more than 120,000 live online therapy sessions in public, charter and virtual school districts of all sizes nationwide.
About PresenceLearning
PresenceLearning (www.presencelearning.com) is the leading provider of live online speech therapy services for K-12 students and now offers online occupational therapy as well. The company offers school districts web-based access to a growing, nationwide network of hundreds of highly qualified speech language pathologists (SLPs) and occupational therapists (OTs) via live videoconferencing combined with the latest in evidence-based practices and powerful progress reporting.
Serving thousands of students in public, charter and virtual schools throughout the U.S., PresenceLearning has shown that online speech and language therapy is practical, affordable and highly effective. PresenceLearning is an ASHA-approved continuing education provider for SLPs and a U.S. Department of Education grant-winner, dedicated to bringing the highest clinical standards to online therapy.
For the 2012-2013 school year, PresenceLearning is delivering 120,000 online sessions with thousands of students in public, charter and virtual school students.
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Katie Povejsil, Vice President of Marketing, PresenceLearning
415.625.0150
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Christine Allman, Public Relations for PresenceLearning
410.975.9638
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