If you’re a clinician working in a school setting, you know it’s important to prepare yourself for the back-to-school season. Our Head of Clinical Standards and Outreach, Kristin Martinez, CCC-SLP, provides tips on teletherapy organization and time management as we embark on the FY19–FY20 school year: How do you set yourself up for success with time management and organization in teletherapy? Whether you are located onsite or virtual, the school-based SLP’s primary role and responsibility is maintaining compliance for all students on his/her caseload. Maintaining compliance includes provision of direct therapy and consultation according to each IEP’s service delivery statement, reporting progress as outlined in the IEP, and, of course, ensuring that all annual and triennial review meetings and associated reevaluations are completed according to…

Cindy H., M.S., CCC-SLP, started her studies at the University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou), and later transferred to Southern Illinois University where she finished her B.S. and M.S. degrees in 1995 and 1997. Cindy worked as an SLP in “brick & mortar” schools for 15 years initially and has now been a provider with PresenceLearning for seven years.  How has the PL online platform enabled you to help your students and the schools you serve in new ways? The PL platform provides me with a wealth of organizational tools which enable me to utilize my time efficiently. I can access my student schedule quickly and view it in varied formats to suit my needs, making scheduling or rescheduling easy. The platform allows me to organize…

Angela Coyle, M.S.Ed., was born and raised in Iowa and attended college at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana where she lived for 30 years. She currently lives in Arizona with her husband. She has two sons in college, ages 20 and 22.  What inspired you to become a school psychologist? I always thought I’d be an educator, but I went through a back door. I started working for public television for PBS and NPR and really liked that. I started doing education outreach through Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and realized I really was supposed to be an educator. I didn’t necessarily want to go through a classroom process and be a classroom teacher. I decided to be a school psychologist because I really…

  Hollie F., CCC-SLP, graduated with her speech language pathology degree from Missouri State University and has been a practicing SLP for 12 years. We interviewed her to understand how she collaborates with the school partners she supports: How has the PL online platform enabled you to help your students and the schools you serve in new ways? The PL platform has enabled me to increase students’ success toward goal mastery by providing essential assessment and treatment materials at my fingertips. The ability to document goal progress during the session is priceless. My productivity is maximized and my time can be spent focusing on face to face interactions with the students. Can you tell us a little about how you collaborate with teachers and other…

How important is it to take time away to rest and recharge? Those of us who work primarily in school-based settings have a somewhat complicated relationship with summer break—we are grateful for extended time away from work, but the school year, while rewarding, is also incredibly demanding of our time, as well as of our physical and mental energy. By Memorial Day, many of us are celebrating our students’ achievements, counting down the days until we get a break, but also eyeing that ever-growing list of “I’ll get to it over the summer” items: Read that tall stack of journal articles. Apply techniques from those amazing evidence-based-practice presentations to our therapy. Complete CEUs required for license renewal. Create goal-directed, engaging new activities for our students.…

Hollie Fleming, CCC-SLP, grew up in Springfield, Missouri. She graduated with her speech-language pathology degree from Missouri State University and has been a practicing SLP for 12 years. She’s also a certified yoga instructor. Hollie travels with her husband who is in the military. They have a twelve-year-old daughter. Their family currently lives in South Dakota. Hollie joined the PL Care Network in 2018. Can you tell us a little about yourself, where you live, your hobbies?  I enjoy practicing yoga and taking yoga classes. My family is an outdoor family so we enjoy hiking, being outdoors, and gardening. I’m kind of a techie so I enjoy creating materials for my practice on the computer—graphic design, just anything that is visual. Most of my materials…

Trisha Ray, CCC-SLP, first became an SLP in 2010 and held several different positions before becoming a teletherapist. She worked in an autism-based school for 4 or 5 years and she did some outpatient therapy as well—all pediatrics. Trisha got her BA in elementary education and right after college started substitute teaching. She hated it. She wanted a full time teaching job but was having a lot of trouble because the market was really saturated. While subbing, she met an SLP and realized that was a great fit for her—it would let her differentiate herself in a crowded market, and she could work one-on-one with students—so she went back to school to do the required supplementary coursework and went on to grad school to become…

Barbara Jones, M.S., CCC-SLP, grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. She went to college in Texas where she met her husband. They lived in Texas for 9 years after graduate school and then moved to Arkansas where they’ve lived ever since. About her home state, Barbara told us, “Arkansas is a well kept secret. It’s really a beautiful place and not too big and not too busy. It’s just about right.” What do you and your husband do outside of work? We have 3 children and 2 grandchildren. Outside of work I spend a lot time doing volunteer work. I work a lot with Young Life, an outreach organization to adolescents. So sometimes I’m spending my outside time with college kids—that’s the area of…

Sylvia Freire, CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist Sylvia Freire is originally from Florida. She now lives in Ecuador with her husband and three sons, ages 15, 13, and 11. Sylvia became a practicing SLP in 2000 and joined the PL Care Network as a teletherapist in 2015. She currently works with students in Maine and California. Can you tell us a little bit about your lifestyle in Ecuador? The city where I live is Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It has mountains all around it, but it’s like California because it’s hot, but it’s windy. The weather is similar to California where it rains one minute and the next minute it’s sunny again. When I’m not working, my family and I like to play racquetball, bowling, or…

This month we spoke with Kristin Martinez, M.A., CCC-SLP, Head of Clinical Standards and Outreach with PresenceLearning, to discuss how therapy happens online within the PresenceLearning platform. During this interview, Kristin focuses on the outlets for support that PresenceLearning offers providers in the PL Care Network. What type of support does PL offer to new clinicians in the PL Care Network?               Support for our new and returning providers is a top priority for PL, and we offer multiple options depending on what is needed. After first contracting with PL, all providers have access to Telehealth Institute, a self-paced tutorial on all things PL. Beyond Telehealth Institute, all providers have access to our Support Services department, our team of clinical…