Dallas District Turns to PresenceLearning for Speech Language Therapy
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 04/07/20
A
Texas school district has signed a contract for online speech
language therapy. Dallas
Independent School District
is using services provided by PresenceLearning
to support 515 elementary and secondary students from 30 campuses in
the district through "teletherapy."
The
company has a network of certified clinicians who work with students
via video conferencing. The PresenceLearning platform also integrates
assessments, class assignments, games and other activities into the
student sessions.
"Due
to the nationwide shortage of licensed speech-language pathologists,
we needed to find new and innovative ways to ensure our students
would receive necessary services and that we, as a district, would
meet evaluation timelines," said Kristin Davis, director of
districtwide services at Dallas ISD, in a statement. "This is
why we are turning to teletherapy as a supplement support to the
onsite services we provide. We are very excited to push this
initiative forward in partnership with PresenceLearning."
"As
our district was looking at teletherapy options, PresenceLearning's
proprietary platform really stood out," said Davis. "Being
able to securely share data is a priority, so having this
functionality was a huge asset and selling point for us in choosing
PresenceLearning as our sole teletherapy provider."
According to district
spokeswoman Nina Lakhiani, while the district has shut its schools
and shifted to remote learning during the pandemic, it's also
continuing to use PresenceLearning for assessment and therapy
services. District speech therapists are continuing to provide their
therapy services using Zoom with their current caseload.
PresenceLearning has also offered licenses to the internal therapists
to allow them to use their interactive platform for service delivery.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.