If it already feels like your special education team is balancing spinning plates while riding a unicycle, planning Extended School Year (ESY) services would be the tiny plate added to the top that makes the crowd gasp.
You’re doing so much to accelerate the academic and social development of your students, but the summer break may be giving you more anxiety than relief. Your team may be looking ahead and wondering: Will students be able to meet the goals that were planned by the end of the school year? Are some of our students at risk for regression during the summer break?
If these are the questions that keep you up at night, a fresh take on ESY services and beyond may well be the right approach. Read below to learn how Presence can help you keep all of your metaphorical plates spinning.
A fresh approach to ESY
1. Partnering with parents
ESY is not designed to serve every student. It is part of providing special education and related services to a student with special needs beyond the regular school year, in line with the student’s Individual Education Program (IEP) and support of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
However, ESY services are up to the discretion of a student’s parent or guardian. Ask them what they may need for ESY to work for their child.
2. Beyond the building
ESY doesn’t always have to take place within the school building. With families traveling or with limited transportation options, delivering ESY services can prove complicated. With modern technology and a reliable platform, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and mental health services can be done virtually. Parents may be more inclined to accept ESY services for their child if doing so doesn’t require going to and from school.
3. Teletherapy
Since teletherapy can be supported from nearly any location with high-speed internet access, it can easily fit into the summer plans a family has while helping the child make progress toward their goals.
Presence provides speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, mental health counseling, or behavioral services throughout the summer. They can help guide conversations with parents before teletherapy begins so they and their students can become familiar with virtual sessions.
Schools across the country are turning to live, online services on a high-quality teletherapy platform to extend their services during the summer months, provide recovery services, and ensure continuity of services.
Beyond ESY
While a small subset of students receiving special education services qualify for Extended School Year programs, there are unique scenarios in which special education teams may be tapped in the summer months. Some students require compensatory services, otherwise known as “recovery services,” in the summer if therapy minutes were not met due to staff shortages or short-term leaves.
Presence can build a solution to support your team with compensatory time. Our network of clinicians has experience in so many situations, with an average tenure of over 13 years. And many of them are available year-round.
Schedule a consultation today, and we’ll match you with a Presence partner who can help you establish a plan to provide consistent instruction through the summer months.
