EXCEPTIONALITIES, LEARNING DISABILITIES AND COMMUNICATION:

 

For many of us, the ability to communicate is a skill we take for granted.  Our communication is effortless and requires little thinking. 

 

When communication is impaired, the simplest interactions become challenging.  When a learner has a communication disorder, it limits their positive experiences in school diminishing self-esteem.   The growing number of learning exceptionalities  and speech and language impairments are the most common disability seen in schools.  It is estimated that 10 - 12 percent of school-age children have some type of special need or speech/language impairment (Winzer, 1999 and Muller, 2009). 

 

Traditionally, students with exceptionalities received educational programs in specialized classrooms.  In order to create inclusiveness students now receive the majority of their educational program from a non Special Education teacher.  As an educator we must assist the success of all learners which requires a differentiated teaching approach.  From my personal experience referring students with exceptionalities for assessment is a long process.  There are many administrative steps involved and students sometimes don't get the immediate help they need, often taking years to obtain speech language therapy (SLT) once given an IEP (Individual Education Plan). I find this sometimes long process frustrating and a detriment to my students learning and achievement.

 

Speech therapy is a very broad field, and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can help learner's with everything from pitch regulation to complete sentence formation.  The speech therapist also evaluates a learners' communication abilities in various situations by asking him to complete simple tasks and play games. Speech-language pathologists are now offering therapy online using "telepractice" to provide treatment services to a range of learners with speech, language, and hearing disorders (Houston, K. T., Stredler-Brown, A., & Alverson, D. C. 2012, p.196). 

 

Telepractice is the application of telecommunications technology at a distance by linking clinician to client, for assessment, and/or consultation. (ASHA, 2010).  Telepractice speech therapy has been around for over twenty years and its success has grown exponentially (ASHA, 2011). Telepractice is changing into conference based systems that are less expensive and web sensitive so the offering to learners and clients has become more accessible (Towey, 2010).  Web-based telepractice the learner/client is connected virtually and can talk to a speech language pathologist or occupational therapist online in real-time either through video, audio or the combination of the two (Towey, 2012, p. 73).  Families with a speech disordered child often face a financial burden due to the high cost of speech therapy and other needed treatments. A survey published in Public Health Reports found that 40% of American families with children with special needs report feeling the financial toll.

 

From an educational analysts point of view I wanted to research PresenceLearning, an online service providing Speech Language Therapy (SLT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) sessions to K12 students.  The need for SLT and OT is growing but a costly necessity.  Online therapy sessions diminishes this cost, offering students, educators, and parents speed, as well as flexibility; providing learners therapy for their communicative needs.  



 

RATIONALE FOR ANALYSIS