Fowler USD has Success with Online Speech Therapy

Many schools, especially those serving rural communities, have experienced difficulty providing speech-language therapy solutions. As an answer to that challenge, Fowler Unified School District, located just outside of Fresno, California recently added online speech-language therapy with PresenceLearning. Fowler USD saw increasing pressure to evaluate students and provide on-going services for those in need. After more than a year of difficulty securing an onsite speech-language pathologists (SLP), they were faced with a challenging backlog. PresenceLearning presented a network of highly skilled professionals who got to work evaluating students and providing online therapy sessions.

Dustine Borges,Chief Psychologist and Director of Special Education for Fowler USD explained their progress, “during the 2012-2013 school year, our district started using PresenceLearning for 110 students. In just one year, it worked so well that 57 of those students completed their goals and returned to general education. This was because we finally had access to SLPs who could efficiently evaluate students as well as conduct therapy. Now we are adding students to the service at about the same rate that we are exiting them, keeping our caseload balanced.” PresenceLearning has also been helpful in the district’s Response to Intervention program by taking on short-term cases and implementing resources early on.

As the world continues to change around us, online resources are a perfect example of how we meet those changes. This provides an innovative solution for a common problem. “Our students’ parents love PresenceLearning,” says Borges “We saw fabulous results almost immediately and are proud of our renewed speech therapy program.”

PresenceLearning is a Getting Smart Advocacy Partner