Texas schools provide students access to new speech therapy service

A number of school districts in central Texas have signed up for a new digital platform enabling speech-language pathologists to remotely connect with students during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

KXAN reported Austin Independent School District (ISD), Hays CISD, Lockhart ISD, Marble Falls ISD and Manor ISD are all using AmplioSpeech, which provides speech-language pathologists with the tools needed to schedule individual lessons, engage students and monitor their progress.

Through a partnership with the Texas Education Agency, the speech therapy service addresses a number of challenges experienced by both pathologists and families with special education children amid the coronavirus pandemic. Among those challenges are difficulty adapting to at-home learning standards, maintaining privacy in group settings and making sure there is accountability in learning.

“When we stop therapy, we lose those teaching opportunities,” Julie Roberts, a speech-language pathologist for AmplioSpeech, told KXAN. “That’s how we are able to teach them skills and acquire the gains in the skills they do have.”