Yuma Elementary School District One
Yuma Elementary School District One in rural southwest Arizona serves over 8,200 PreK-8 students, approximately 1,000 of whom receive special education services
The Challenge
The district needed to provide supervision to its on-site certified occupational therapy assistants (COTAs) after an unexpected mid-year staffing vacancy left the district in need of a fully credentialed occupational therapistThe Solution
The district partnered with PresenceLearning to provide supervision of COTAs and later expanded its use of PresenceLearning to provide direct online OT and speech-language therapyThe Results
A collaborative partnership that benefits the district’s therapists, assistants, and students alike
We were in a bind – we needed to quickly fill the vacancy and provide our assistants with required supervision, but were unable to find an on-site occupational therapist.
Shannon Rouff, M.Ed, director of exceptional student services at Yuma Elementary School District One
The Story
Of Yuma Elementary School District One
Yuma Elementary School District One, located in rural southwest Arizona, serves over 8,200 PreK-8 students, approximately 1,000 of whom receive special education services. The district first partnered with PresenceLearning in spring 2016 to cover an unexpected mid-year staffing vacancy for occupational therapy. The district needed a fully credentialed occupational therapist to work with on-the-ground COTAs in providing day-to-day therapy to students.
During the 2016-17 school year, the district expanded its use of PresenceLearning to provide direct online OT to preschool students and students with autism, as well as speech-language therapy to approximately 120 students in grades K-8.
This school year, the district is using PresenceLearning to provide a combination of direct speech and OT services – primarily for middle school students – and supervision of speech-language pathology assistants (SLPAs). PresenceLearning is also helping the district’s on-site speech therapy staff provide bilingual assessments to English Language Learners (ELL).
The use of online therapy and supervision has benefitted the district’s therapists, assistants, and students alike and resulted in Yuma Elementary School District One being named a winner of PresenceLearning’s 4th annual Awards of Excellence.
PresenceLearning came in and provided a viable solution that helped our assistants and students alike. As such, our partnership has continued to grow year after year.
Shannon Rouff, M.Ed, director of exceptional student services at Yuma Elementary School District One
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