Schools today are challenged by a variety of issues—regional staffing shortages, increased demand for special education services, and seasonal spikes in student referrals, to name a few. No matter the issue, the result is the same: despite best efforts, too many students are not being evaluated in a timely manner, and educators are not receiving the data they need to support educational planning.
“We are seeing an unprecedented number of students who need evaluations in preK and are grateful for help in managing the volume. We usually see some uptick during Kindergarten registration, but never like this—and so far most of the evaluations have been legitimate and absolutely necessary….
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The consequences of evaluation delays
What happens when kids don’t get evaluated quickly? Not only are school districts in danger of missing evaluation deadlines, but referred students cannot be appropriately identified to qualify for individualized education programs or IEPs that specify the special education services, accommodations, and modifications they need to access general education. Progress can come to a screeching halt, putting students at risk of missing crucial developmental windows, with repercussions for their entire educational careers.
And not only students are impacted by evaluation delays. Dr. Geremy Grant, a nationally certified school psychologist and clinical assessment support expert at Riverside Insights, writes, “The increasing backlog of assessments for students who may qualify for special services is, perhaps, one of the greatest sources of stress for school clinical practitioners, who spend almost 60% of their time assessing and serving students with special needs.”
Remote evaluations can close the gap—helping clinicians to reduce their stressful backlogs and ensuring students get the services they need as soon as possible.
Remote evaluation–a standard option for the digital age
Hinsdale School District, located in a rural southwest New Hampshire community, serves 600 students in preK-12. The district first partnered with Presence during the 2014–15 school year when a part-time speech-language pathologist (SLP) it shared with a neighboring district went on maternity leave. While originally planning on using Presence for only six weeks, the district saw initial success and decided to continue using Presence services when its shared SLP returned from maternity leave. And in the 2016–17 school year, Hinsdale School District expanded its partnership with Presence to include online psychoeducational assessments, making it the first district in the region to do so. With the help of an onsite support person, an online school psychologist from Presence conducted psychoeducational assessments for the district’s middle and high school students.
Julie Fenrich, director of special services and middle/high school special education coordinator at Hinsdale School District, explains why she turned to online evaluation: “I needed to expand our onsite school psychologist’s responsibilities, but I knew she would not be able to do that on top of her ongoing evaluation duties.”
“Now that the Presence online school psychologist is conducting the middle and high school assessments, our onsite psychologist has more time for therapy with students and other projects. She’s freed up and better utilized.
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The use of online speech-language therapy services and psychoeducational assessments has helped the district ensure students are receiving the services they need and provides more efficiency in its special education program.
Do online assessments work?
Remote, online assessments conducted live by fully-credentialed professionals are not new, and their use has become even more prevalent over the last few years. A wide range of professional organizations, including ASHA, AOTA, the American Psychological Association, the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, and the InterOrganizational Practice Committee, have given guidance on tele-assessment.
In 2016, a researcher from Empire State College, SUNY was the principal investigator for an equivalency study using the WJ®️ IV cognitive and achievement batteries. In 2017, PAR conducted an equivalency study using the RIAS™-2 cognitive battery. And in 2020, before the pandemic, a WISC®-V equivalency study was conducted. These studies demonstrated the equivalence of remote and in-person assessments. Remote assessments offer an important solution to ensure students get the crucial services they need as soon as possible.
“I love administering assessments on the Presence platform because we have access to a multitude of test batteries that allow for comprehensive evaluation of student needs. I value the research-based approach utilized to ensure the assessments are equivalent to in-person administration and standardization for a telehealth platform.
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The Presence solution
The need for student evaluations across all services—cognitive and academic concerns, speech-language therapy, and occupational therapy—is more urgent today than ever. Presence helps districts nationwide—we offer student evaluations, provide comprehensive reports, attend meetings to share findings, and help make plans to meet student needs—whatever they may be.
Our proprietary therapy platform features assessments—embedded right into the platform for easy online administration—from top publishers including Pearson, Riverside Insights, WPS, PRO-ED, and others.
We’ll partner with your onsite team to develop a plan that’s just right for you, by:
- Supplementing your team with licensed clinicians in our network—they’ll deliver direct services for behavioral and mental health therapy, speech-language therapy, and occupational therapy. And they’ll administer evaluations, including speech-language, occupational therapy, and psychoeducational.
And/or
- Equipping your team with our award-winning platform built specifically to deliver online therapy and administer evaluations to preK-12 students. We’ll train your clinicians and provide them with top-notch live, online support so they can seamlessly continue to deliver services to your students.
Either option gives you access to the largest library of assessments administered on our secure therapy platform designed specifically for remote therapy and evaluations.
You can learn more about tele-assessments and what the research says in our whitepaper Remote Administration of Psychoeducational Assessments. Also, if you would like to find out more about how Presence can help your school district, schedule a free consultation today.
“Being able to use the Presence platform to administer assessments has allowed me to get caught up on my caseload. Students are very comfortable with the online platform and I am able to test at least two students a day.
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