IEPs | News

New Dashboard Monitors Progress of Special Needs Students

• By Kevin Hudson
• 07/18/13

PresenceLearning has launched a new dashboard aimed at providing special needs program administrators with data for monitoring the progress of students participating in online speech therapy programs.

The dashboard, SPEDinsight, will provide an "actionable, 'bird's eye' view of the progress made by students with special needs who are receiving speech and other related clinical services online," according to information released by the company.

"What administrators need is actionable data. Are IEPs being completed on time? Which students are making progress? Which ones are not? Which ones are missing too much therapy time to complete their goals by the end of the year," said Clay Whitehead, co-CEO of PresenceLearning, in prepared statement. "SPEDinsight allows them to see this information live and at a glance, bringing accountability and transparency to clinical service delivery."

The dashboard is designed to deliver a "top-level graphical view of data summarizing progress on IEP goals," according to the company, along with delivery of therapy time owed and timely completion of mandated IEP meetings.

"I now can make better decisions and communicate much more effectively with my staff and students' parents. If a question comes up, I have instant access to answers," said Dustine Borges, director of special education and chief psychologist of Fowler Unified School District near Fresno, CA. "PresenceLearning's SPEDinsight dashboard provides me with an unprecedented degree of transparency and accountability regarding the progress of our special education students receiving clinical services."

PresenceLearning has offered online speech therapy programs since 2009, providing schools with Web-based access to a network of licensed speech-language pathologists. As of the end of the 2012-2013 school year, the company had conducted more than 200,000 online therapy sessions.