To overcome the costs and time constraints associated with speech language pathologists (SLPs) traveling to the district schools' remote locations, and to lessen the case load for current SLPs, Union County School System in northern Georgia has adopted PresenceLearning to provide online speech therapy services. After a successful pilot of PresenceLearning’s services in May 2012, the district will start using live online speech therapy this fall for a number of the district’s students receiving speech language services.
“We received great feedback from students, parents, current SLPs and district staff after piloting PresenceLearning last school year,” said Kristy Chapman, special education director of the Union County Board of Education. “Given our rural location, the virtual access to SLPs, in addition to the privacy, availability and ease-of-use of the services, makes PresenceLearning a great fit for our district.”
Located in the Appalachian Mountains in upper northeast corner of Georgia, Union County consists of six schools – one primary school, one elementary school, one middle school, one high school, one K12 school and one alternative education school. The district currently has approximately 2,700 K12 students, including approximately 350 special needs students with individualized education programs (IEPs). This school year, PresenceLearning will be the primary speech therapy service provider for a selected group of elementary through high school students.“PresenceLearning allows us to serve a portion of our students with special needs without having to overload our SLPs,” said Chapman. “We would love to expand our district’s use of PresenceLearning to more students in the future.”
