Workforce shortages are forcing school districts across the country to rethink how they deliver speech-language and related services. In this episode of Elevate Care, host Kerry Perez talks with Laci Hathcock, M.S., CCC-SLP, Manager of the Speech/Language Department at Denver Public Schools, and Kristin Preuss, M.A., CCC-SLP, Senior Director of Teletherapy at AMN Healthcare, about what it really takes to deliver equitable care when demand outpaces supply. Laci shares how Denver Public Schools builds equity into every layer of its program, from workload calculators to individualized IEPs to a senior-lead coaching structure that supports contract and direct-hire clinicians alike. Kristin brings the national perspective, explaining why teletherapy has become a vital tool for closing service gaps and what districts need in place to make virtual care succeed. Together, they offer a candid, practical look at how equity, workforce strategy, and quality care intersect in today's schools.
Workforce shortages are forcing school districts across the country to rethink how they deliver speech-language and related services. In this episode of Elevate Care, host Kerry Perez talks with Laci Hathcock, M.S., CCC-SLP, Manager of the Speech/Language Department at Denver Public Schools, and Kristin Preuss, M.A., CCC-SLP, Senior Director of Teletherapy at AMN Healthcare, about what it really takes to deliver equitable care when demand outpaces supply.
Laci shares how Denver Public Schools builds equity into every layer of its program, from workload calculators to individualized IEPs to a senior-lead coaching structure that supports contract and direct-hire clinicians alike. Kristin brings the national perspective, explaining why teletherapy has become a vital tool for closing service gaps and what districts need in place to make virtual care succeed. Together, they offer a candid, practical look at how equity, workforce strategy, and quality care intersect in today's schools.
Learn more about School Staffing Solutions
· Equitable access means individualized goals and flexible service models, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
· A senior-lead coaching structure helps school districts maintain consistent quality across contract and direct-hire clinicians.
· Contract clinicians, especially travelers, bring valuable cross-district knowledge of student rights and best practices.
· Teletherapy works best when paired with the right technology, trained support staff, and buy-in from on-site teams.
· Treating all clinicians as part of the school community, regardless of employment type, improves retention and continuity of care for students.
· Strong staffing partnerships rely on open communication, flexibility, and a willingness to problem-solve together.
00:00 – Introduction to equitable access in schools
01:11 – Meet Laci Hathcock and Kristin Preuss
04:22 – Defining equity within Denver Public Schools
07:47 – How a senior-lead structure supports quality care
10:07 – Why shortages affect rural and metro districts alike
15:03 – The evolving role of contract clinicians
18:03 – What to look for in a staffing partner
22:46 – Why consistent support matters for all clinicians
24;54 – Teletherapy as a tool for equity
32:04 – What makes virtual service delivery succeed
34:26 – Final advice for school leaders
Laci Hathcock, M.S., CCC-SLP is the Manager of the Speech/Language Department at Denver Public Schools, where she has worked since 2008, starting as a school-based speech therapist before moving into administration four years ago. She leads staffing, professional development, and student support efforts for one of the country's largest school districts, with a focus on equitable access, clinician support, and sustainable workforce systems.
Kristin Preuss, M.A., CCC-SLP is the Senior Director of Teletherapy at AMN Healthcare. A speech-language pathologist since 2000, she transitioned into teletherapy in 2012, long before it became a mainstream service model, and has since worked with school districts nationwide to build flexible, sustainable related-service programs.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;02;05
Kristin
There's not physically enough of
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Kristin
to meet the needs of
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Kristin
students across the country.
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Kristin
it's not just rural
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Kristin
areas. It's areas like DPS, metro areas where
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Kristin
there
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Kristin
so many students that they can't bring in enough.
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Kerry
Welcome to Elevate Care. The podcast where we explore the ideas, innovations and leadership shaping the future of healthcare and education. I am your host, Cory Perez, and today we're diving into a topic that's top of mind for school districts across the country. How do we ensure every student has equitable access to high quality related services, even as districts continue to face workforce shortages?
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Kerry
Joining me today are Laci Hathcock, M.S., CCC-SLP Manager of the Speech/Language Department, Denver Public Schools, and Kristin Preuss, M.A., CCC-SLP Senior Director, Teletherapy, AMN Healthcare. Lacey leads efforts that
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Kerry
support speech language services across one of the country's largest school districts, bringing a unique perspective on workforce strategy, clinician support, and creating systems that prioritize both students and the professionals who serve them.
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Kerry
Kristen partners with school districts across the country to help build sustainable related service programs through innovative workforce strategies, including teletherapy and hybrid service delivery models. Together, they all share perspectives from both the district and provider sides of the partnership, offering practical insights into how schools can improve access while supporting clinicians and maintaining quality. Lacey and Kristen, thank you both so much for joining us today.
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Kerry
To get us started, I'd love for each of you to briefly share your background and what brought you to the work you're doing today.
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Laci
So I started as a school based speech therapist working for Denver Public Schools back in 2008
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Laci
up until about four years ago. That's that's what I did. I,
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Laci
did what every school based SLP does. I saw kiddos back to back. I handed out stickers, I got sneezed on, I wrote IEPs and just did the circus of service deliveries in a large public school district.
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Laci
And then about four years ago, I took the leap to move into administration. And since then
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Laci
I've been working with my co-manager, Alyson to to lead the department, just staffing PD supports for the schools and for the
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Laci
students. Excellent. Thanks, Lacey. Kristen. So
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Laci
I also.
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Kristin
Am a speech language pathologist. I started in 2000 and was an on site SLP
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Kristin
working in Colorado, and I worked on site for up until about 2012. And then based on a variety of circumstances, I had taken a bit of time away and ended up trying tell me again in 2012.
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Kristin
at a time when I had, I didn't know anybody who was doing teletherapy.
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Kristin
It was pretty new at that time,
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Kristin
but really discovered that I, I loved it and so was practicing as a teller for
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Kristin
a few years and was a lead clinician. And then I transitioned into clinical management with a company and then was a clinical director and in some different roles, and just really enjoyed that. And I had the opportunity to really see what services look like across the country.
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Kristin
And so that really opened my eyes
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Kristin
to what, again, the idea, you know, talking about equity of services, access looks like for students across the country. It's just really broadened my knowledge of what that means. Of of physically where I was living in Colorado. And so that really shaped the work that I was doing. I became an advocate for teletherapy as a tool, as a resource to bring services to students.
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Kristin
And I joined Am three years ago. And so it is. Yeah. So I get to work with districts again across the country, including Denver Public Schools and Lacey. So
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Kristin
yeah, great.
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Kerry
So wonderful to have you both and to both have had that clinical background and to still be working within the profession. It's clear that we're going to have a really passionate conversation. So let's jump right into it. The first thing we want to talk about is just kind of grounding in equity as that guiding principle. So student equity is a priority for many districts.
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Kerry
But defining and operationalizing it can be challenging. How does Denver Public Schools approach equity within the provision of related services.
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Laci
So first of all, DPS, at least in my opinion, just to stand out when it comes to truly standing by that principle of equity. So we get a lot of support from all sides, right. There's a lot of by in in that really helps. And we look at it in different layers. Right. So in terms of specialized services for students or related services for students with disabilities, we want to make sure that all of our staff across the district have what they need in terms of space, materials and knowledge, resources.
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Laci
And then for a school level, right, we want to ensure that each school has the amount of specialized service
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Laci
support that they need. So it means we use a workload calculator, right, to decide how much time we need to give to each school. It means that we connect with the school leaders so they have support from the department.
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Laci
They know where to go if they have questions, concerns and then on student level, just making sure that we write IEPs that are truly reflective of student needs and that our providers have the resources to provide for what individual student needs, not a cookie cutter kind of approach.
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Kerry
And would you say that's a pretty unique philosophy.
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Laci
In the theory? No. In practice, yes. I don't think that people mean to write. I think that most people understand the theory of needing to provide equitable services. But there are a lot of systems in a lot of different places that prevent it from truly happening.
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Kerry
And so what does equitable access actually look like for students who do need speech language support?
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Laci
So it means that each student has really individualized goals and services tailored to what they need, and that we're able to adjust our services to meet those needs. So it means that some students get one on one sessions maybe multiple times a week, right? It means that other students get push in services in the classroom. It means that service or services are tailored according to how students will most engage.
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Laci
Right. That we're able to group kids according to what they need, not according to just schedules, that we're able to be flexible and really thoughtful to implement individualized.
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Kerry
So that tailoring of the plan, obviously that takes a lot of time. It probably takes a lot of focus. How are you ensuring that that quality of care is administered to all of those different tailored plans, regardless of who is giving the service?
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Laci
Yeah. Good question. So one of the really cool structures that we have in place in Denver Public, we have an organizational setup that ensures that each specialized service provider gets support from a senior lead. So it doesn't matter if they're a contractor, if they're a direct hire, if they've been a speech therapist for 30 minutes or for 30 years, you get assigned to a senior lead, and senior leaders spend half their time delivering services themselves, carrying a caseload, doing the work of a speech therapist.
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Laci
But they spend the other half of their time supporting the SLPs on their team. So
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Laci
they have one on one coaching sessions with everybody. They do record reviews
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Laci
evaluation reports of IEPs for each person on their team. They are the resource when people need to talk through clinical challenges or, you know, communication with families or administration or best ad, best practice or advocacy routes.
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Laci
And so just having that resource for all of them ensures that everybody is getting support and making quality decisions. Writing quality IEPs, providing quality services. But then also these senior leaders are compliance check ins, right. So they make sure that IEPs are well written. The evaluations are comprehensive.
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Laci
They provide, you know, therapy feedback to ensure that best practices are in place and then as needed.
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Laci
They they bring things to my attention. And Alison's intention, if we need to lean in and provide additional support, we can do that.
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Laci
and that's what just ensures that everybody is taking care of kids the right way.
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Kerry
That sounds very systematic and layered, and it feels like people have a clear understanding of how to escalate and how to make sure that care is, you know, not standardized, but the quality is there. That's excellent. So I'm sure, you know, equity and access is not just a,
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Kerry
your district challenge. Kristin, are you seeing from your exposure to
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Kerry
school systems across the country similar challenges?
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Kristin
Absolutely. It's everywhere. And it has been for quite some time,
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Kristin
Teletherapy was born out of shortages.
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Kristin
I mean, since I graduated, I came out of grad school and before that there has been a shortage of not only SLPs, OTS, school psychologists, other related service providers. There's not physically enough of us to meet the needs of students across the country.
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Kristin
And it's not just rural area areas. It's areas like DPS, metro areas where there are so many students that they can't bring in enough.
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Kristin
you know, the numbers are growing, the needs of students
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Kristin
talking about, you know, what, what equity of services means. You know, all all of these services fall under the umbrella of Ida individuals with Disabilities and Education Act.
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Kristin
And what that means is that, you know, student services shouldn't depend on geography. It shouldn't matter where they live in the country. It shouldn't matter where they live within a city. They have the right to receive equitable services. They have right to access to services. So what I love about DPS approach, what Lacey supports, is that they are really bringing a holistic approach.
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Kristin
It's a dynamic approach because, you know, it really shouldn't be black and white. It shouldn't be that, yes, onsite services are the answer to everything. Teletherapy is the answer to everything. It is bringing a combination of service service types, service delivery models in order to meet the needs of all students. You know, we are not talking about different therapy types because we have SLPs.
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Kristin
They are the, you know, can be the same SLP who are delivering services remotely, or they might be delivering services in person. I have done both many, many SLPs, many OTS, school psychologists have done both in-person services. They have done virtual services.
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Kristin
I found that when I transitioned from being an in-person SLP to a remote,
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Kristin
I feel like I became a better therapist.
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Kristin
I had to become more creative. I had to really tailor my skills and learn how to do things differently. I had to research.
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Kristin
the districts that I have worked with, including DPS, who really do take that bigger picture holistic approach and incorporate
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Kristin
the idea of looking at different models, they are successfully meeting the needs of students in a way that districts that are, you know, more set in the idea of we are only going to use one service delivery model unless we, you know, it's only an emergency that we are going to use teletherapy,
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Kristin
they end up with kids who are not getting services.
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Kristin
They have gaps, sometimes months of services that, you know, that kids go without services. So so you know, absolutely. We are seeing it. We hear from districts really every day we see, you know, postings. They're trying to get services. And you know, we absolutely understand that. It is it's such a challenge and
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Kristin
that districts are they are trying to find their posts.
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Kristin
And
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Kristin
in the end it is it's the kids who they need support. And it is important. You know we're talking about development, child development. It's important that kids are getting the intervention in a timely manner during these developmental windows, especially when we're talking about early intervention. And so, you know, holding off on services, delaying services that can really matter for a lot of these kids.
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Kristin
So that is why, you know, I really I really love the approach that DPS takes because it is it's dynamic. It is changing and evolving to meet the needs of the kids.
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Kerry
So it's not a one size fits all approach, but certainly taking that more holistic ability to look at different service models to tailor how you actually deliver that care to the tailored program for the child is a really great mixture for success, right? Yeah. Excellent. Okay. So we started talking about equity as this guiding principle to really found set the foundation.
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Kerry
And now let's talk about how we are going to be building a workforce that is going to be supporting that equity.
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Kerry
Many districts rely on contract clinicians. How is your perspective on contract staffing evolved?
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Laci
contractors are wonderful.
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Laci
Close to half of the speech therapist that work for Denver Public are contractors. And we we couldn't do it without our contractors and our contracting agencies. And not just because they're warm bodies, right? Like we get so much incredible knowledge and just experience that contractors bring, especially travelers, right? Like, I find that people that have worked around the country just come in
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Laci
like a very strong knowledge of Ida, right?
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Laci
They know they knew of student rights. They know expectations. They also tend to be really flexible in solving problems, to best support students.
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Laci
And just working with some of our contract agencies
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Laci
has led to so many growth opportunities for our entire department. For instance, you know, when we started doing tele therapy, we were the first department in Denver Public Schools to adopt virtual services as a regular part of who we are.
00;16;19;20 - 00;16;44;17
Laci
And knowing like, hey, they're they're not going away and they're not bad, right? They're quality services. But like, how do we introduce this? How do we roll this out? How do we support these clinicians to support these students and support this communication. And we learned how to do that through our work with agencies that have done it with other districts.
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Laci
So we love contractors, and we think in our department that it's really important to support contractors the same way that we would our direct hires. Right.
00;16;55;12 - 00;17;17;08
Laci
They're not second class therapists, right? Some of our best therapists are contractors, and they need to have, in the name of student equity, right? All of the same resources and supports that all of our direct hires get. So whenever possible, we also extend all of our like, union contract rights
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Laci
to our contract therapists to.
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Kerry
That's amazing. So first of all, congratulations for being a trail
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Kerry
trailblazer and introducing virtual care. That's that's really impressive. And then I loved your commentary on just the different perspectives that the contractors are bringing specifically from being travelers. I guess if you think about it just from ourselves and why we like to travel, we're we're picking up unique perspectives.
00;17;40;28 - 00;17;54;21
Kerry
We're understanding how to interact with different cultures. We're bringing our knowledge with us. So it does make sense to be able to appreciate the value of that travel perspective coming into your environment. So thank you for that.
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Kerry
You mentioned, you know, working with staffing partners, what qualities should people look for? Did you look for when selecting a partner.
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Laci
I wasn't part of the RFP process to get to select our partners. Although I definitely have my look for qualities that I appreciate and contract partners.
00;18;16;06 - 00;18;52;17
Laci
One just like a willing, a willingness to pivot, a willingness to think outside the box for us to to do wrap around support, right? Like if we have an SLP through an that that needs more help, right. That it's just taking longer to onboard. Or maybe they have something going on in their lives right wheeling in. But we also work with an to lean in and to check on them to make sure that they understand expectations, but also like that they know how to do everything and that they feel heard and supported.
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Laci
So,
00;18;52;28 - 00;19;17;25
Laci
it's really amazing when we get the chance to problem solve. Like our contract agencies are truly partners, not just machines for therapists supply. I mean, we do a lot of communicating in a lot of learning when they're like, hey, this is how it's maybe done in Albuquerque. Or, you know, we had a similar situation here. I wonder if we try that.
00;19;17;26 - 00;19;29;02
Laci
Like it's been a phenomenal quality when people come ready to problem solve, ready to hear, ready to listen and ready to pivot if need be.
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Kerry
That's great. Kristen, is there anything that you want to add on? Just that, the partnership in general?
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Kristin
You know, I mean, I just add on to what Lacey is saying, I think the openness and willingness to partner and have open conversations is just it's tremendous because that's that is what clinicians need and everything done to support clinicians, support students. So communication is key. You know, there is all there always going to be things that come up.
00;20;03;15 - 00;20;31;06
Kristin
You know, regardless it's it is just whether you are have direct hires, whether you're working with contractors. There are things that happen in clinicians lives. There are circumstances that come up. There are gaps in, you know, maybe a clinicians experience where they might need additional, you know, more clinical support. So they're all things that can be worked through if that line of communication is there.
00;20;31;06 - 00;20;52;27
Kristin
And we yeah, we we work together to support and keep services going and making sure that the kids are supported. So yeah, so we really appreciate that with Lacey and with DPS that we feel like that is so strong and and we appreciate the opportunity that we have
00;20;52;27 - 00;21;07;08
Kristin
to hear about any issues that are happening or so that we do have the chance to to come in and support our clinicians so that yeah, so the services are always continued and that, you know, any that we can pivot if needed.
00;21;07;11 - 00;21;28;16
Kerry
I appreciate that. And Lacey, I like the sound bite of not just, you know, supplying the therapy machines, the partnership to be able to collaborate upfront and to problem solve, to to have that deep level of relationship, to understand how to pivot, that's best going to work for you and ultimately to be more proactive versus reactive.
00;21;28;16 - 00;21;38;04
Kerry
So I can speak for AM2 is like, we really appreciate that partnership and that opportunity to to come in and to and to brainstorm and not be just a last minute resort.
00;21;38;04 - 00;21;39;28
Kerry
So thank you.
00;21;40;00 - 00;22;07;28
Laci
One other thing that I don't think a lot of people know that our agency partnerships bring is just how much our agencies invest in our students in other ways to, you know, agencies provide professional development for our providers. They pour it into materials for us. They fill our materials library. They provide space or food for department meetings or.
00;22;08;00 - 00;22;24;25
Laci
Just additional things that all of our SLPs need, not just the SLPs that they provide. And so they're our agencies are constantly pouring them to our community. And I don't know that people always see that part of the partnership, but it's.
00;22;24;27 - 00;22;46;22
Kerry
That's wonderful. I don't even think I realize that. That's that's so cool. And, you know, that brings up maybe the next question. You hinted at it in a previous answer. And just right here about kind of looking holistically at at contract workers and at staff, why is it important that district employed and contract clinicians have access to the same onboarding resources, coaching and professional development?
00;22;46;22 - 00;23;10;02
Laci
I would say two big reasons. And the second one is part of the first one. So first is student equity, right. Making sure that they all have quality services. I mean, if you have a student with a disability that needs speech services, would you rather them get their speech services from someone that has 30 kids on their caseload or 70 kids on their caseload?
00;23;10;02 - 00;23;30;04
Laci
Right. So your caseload assignments need to be consistent. Also, do you want them to get services from the person that gets individualized coaching or the person that doesn't like they they all should. Right. So for us to be able to provide quality services to all of our students, we need to give the same supports to our contractors.
00;23;30;06 - 00;23;45;20
Laci
Second, like when contractors are invited into our department family and feel like they matter and that they belong and that they appreciate their appreciated, they're more likely to stick around.
00;23;45;21 - 00;24;13;25
Laci
And then sticking around means services for kids and quality and consistent services right from providers that already know them and love them and have a relationship with their family and with their teachers. And so, yes, it saves us money by not onboarding new people all the time, not looking for new people all the time, but at the end of the day, like it's better both for our SLPs and our kids.
00;24;13;28 - 00;24;40;06
Kerry
That's such a good point, and it corroborates some research that we had done a while back, which was talking about the satisfaction on an assignment is really directly correlated, and almost as the number one, is that how well they are embraced as part of the core. And so that that's such an important part for you. And you recognize because we're people, everyone's traveling around, they're not, you know, just a second class citizens, as you said.
00;24;40;06 - 00;24;43;03
Kerry
And I'm sure that it just creates
00;24;43;06 - 00;24;47;10
Kerry
I don't know, family environment between between staff. So thank you for sharing that.
00;24;47;10 - 00;24;54;00
Kerry
Kristen. You mentioned in a previous answer we were talking about you started talking about Teletherapy a little bit. I want to touch on
00;24;54;03 - 00;25;03;00
Kerry
You'd been to school based SLP for 26 years and you worked in tele specifically since 2012, which was long before the pandemic.
00;25;03;03 - 00;25;09;04
Kerry
Why are you so passionate about telling me as an important piece of service programing and equity?
00;25;09;06 - 00;25;18;09
Kristin
Well, like I mentioned it, it is the way to bring services to students who are not going to get get it otherwise.
00;25;18;12 - 00;25;39;09
Kristin
You know, it's it's a very practical matter. It just it just is. And, you know, and we're also seeing the trend of more and more, not just in, in therapy, I think just across the workforce in general, we're seeing more people wanting to work remotely. And so we at AMN are seeing more and more of our clinicians wanting to work in positions.
00;25;39;15 - 00;25;42;18
Kristin
So the workforce is changing.
00;25;42;21 - 00;25;54;13
Kristin
The more districts understand that fact and work to adjust and build the supports to
00;25;54;14 - 00;26;01;14
Kristin
be more dynamic to, you know, include teletherapy as part of a flexible program,
00;26;01;17 - 00;26;08;15
Kristin
you know, the more they will be able to have that continuity of service from year to year. And again,
00;26;08;15 - 00;26;21;00
Kristin
I've worked with districts that, you know, going back to 2013, 2014, I think we're already experiencing experiencing such shortages.
00;26;21;03 - 00;26;50;04
Kristin
We're really very forward thinking and started to already integrate some tell therapy, and we're building in the what they needed the foundation for that, which meant understanding that there needed to be some support staff in place that they were going to have, you know, that they needed to have of paraprofessionals built into the budget that were to support teletherapy in some buildings, or a floating person who would move from building to building.
00;26;50;07 - 00;27;03;14
Kristin
that can be a tough part of introducing Teletherapy is when that isn't understood as part of the cost, potentially. Then every year it seems like it's
00;27;03;14 - 00;27;18;07
Kristin
it seems like a new cost. So when districts start to build that in and integrate that as part of an ongoing, this is how services are provided, then it's not a shock to the system.
00;27;18;07 - 00;27;24;18
Kristin
It's not a shock. And also as staff and parents understand, this is this is part of how
00;27;24;25 - 00;27;31;04
Kristin
our kids get services. And this is then again, it's not a shock every year. It's not a you know, this is just
00;27;31;07 - 00;27;34;16
Kristin
part of the quality of care. This is how we do,
00;27;34;16 - 00;27;35;13
Kristin
provide equity.
00;27;35;13 - 00;27;35;26
Kristin
And
00;27;35;26 - 00;27;38;20
Kristin
so it is it's a paradigm shift.
00;27;38;20 - 00;27;46;24
Kristin
And but it's, you know, it's highly successful if it is done well and if it's done with fidelity and,
00;27;47;01 - 00;27;53;15
Kristin
but it can, you know, again, it can be a challenge. And I really give a lot of credit to,
00;27;53;18 - 00;28;04;15
Kristin
partners I've worked with at school districts who have taken that on to, to really push for it and be champions on site, because it's not easy.
00;28;04;17 - 00;28;15;11
Kristin
It has there's a lot of kind of miseducation around it and lack of understanding sometimes, and it can go wrong if it's not done well
00;28;15;14 - 00;28;22;27
Kristin
there can be poor outcomes or there can be poor experiences if there's missing pieces. And
00;28;22;29 - 00;28;29;25
Kristin
and I think, you know, a lot of people did have just negative experiences with online learning during the pandemic.
00;28;29;25 - 00;28;39;16
Kristin
So that set us back a bit, just in general, because of a lot of people generalize that to what was, you know, separately.
00;28;39;18 - 00;28;51;04
Kristin
We tell a therapy that had been, you know, researched and, you know, there's this entire body of research around teletherapy services and evaluations. And,
00;28;51;06 - 00;28;57;15
Kristin
we have platforms. Aman has our own platform that's built specifically for clinical services. And
00;28;57;15 - 00;29;00;21
Kristin
I am passionate for it because I have done it myself.
00;29;00;21 - 00;29;36;13
Kristin
I have seen the results. I've seen how incredible it can be. It's, you know, for some people, even better for them than not. But it is absolutely a something that should be, I believe, integrated as part of a program. And so yes, it's something that I think that, you know, I'm really I'm really proud to be an advocate for and to continue to work with school districts on as part of the broader program.
00;29;36;15 - 00;29;37;04
Kristin
Excellent.
00;29;37;08 - 00;29;39;05
Kerry
You might have already answered
00;29;39;07 - 00;29;44;08
Kerry
some of your explanation, but you've brought up a few times, you know, if the program is done well,
00;29;44;11 - 00;29;47;15
Kerry
what does that look like for it to be successful.
00;29;47;17 - 00;30;14;08
Kristin
So there's a few different components. So one of the key components is that there does need to be a support person, a physical person at the school to with the student, so that the level of support depends on the independence of that student. And, you know, age level, you know, essentially how independent that child is on a computer
00;30;14;11 - 00;30;35;21
Kristin
we, you know, never advocate that a student would be alone anyway, interacting with somebody online. So if they do not have somebody who can be there to support a child, bring them to the computer. You know, some children just need a person in the room to have kind of line of sight supervision. Come over to the computer.
00;30;35;21 - 00;30;48;26
Kristin
If there's tech issues, other kids need one on one person with them throughout the entire session. So there's that entire spectrum, but that needs to be understood, discussed before services ever start. There needs to be appropriate technology.
00;30;48;26 - 00;30;52;22
Kristin
I never advocate for healthcare services be done on an iPhone.
00;30;52;24 - 00;30;55;11
Kristin
ideally we have a certain size screen,
00;30;55;11 - 00;30;57;07
Kristin
headphones, you know, sound.
00;30;57;07 - 00;31;07;05
Kristin
They need to we're talking about speech services especially. They need to be able to hear their therapist. So you know there's parameters. There's all of, you know, an appropriate space.
00;31;07;05 - 00;31;20;24
Kristin
So yeah, there's a list of all of these things that we want to make sure are in place to so that there's quality of services and so that things are happening the way that they should.
00;31;20;26 - 00;31;29;13
Kristin
Because if you know, if any if any of those are not set up, well, then it can be a poor experience.
00;31;29;13 - 00;31;41;21
Kristin
for Teletherapy, we are being held to a higher standard and we hear about it if it's not. But again, in the end it's about it's about the kids getting the services they need.
00;31;41;23 - 00;31;58;09
Kristin
And so that's what I care about I, I want them, you know, we want them to be receiving the, the therapy and the evaluation services that they should be getting. So that's important that everything is being delivered well.
00;31;58;16 - 00;32;04;18
Kerry
Makes sense. Lacey, is there anything else that you'd want to add on the telly therapy discussion?
00;32;04;20 - 00;32;07;01
Laci
Man, I think you nailed it.
00;32;07;03 - 00;32;32;16
Laci
what I found has been the biggest difference, where we've had really successful rollout of virtual services and where we haven't is so much depends on the school leader and on the school team. Yeah, we found that when there's an openness, right, like, hey, like we are just excited to get a quality provider in front of our kids.
00;32;32;18 - 00;33;31;05
Laci
We are happy to support with schedules. We are excited for the chance to facilitate and learn from this SLP. We've had incredible success, right? Like we've we have schools that actually request their virtual provider back over an in-person provider. Because it's been so wonderful. The experience has been great where we have had trouble with successful virtual services is where we have specifically school leaders, but school leaders, other special education team members that don't understand the data, the research, and have have a really bad taste in their mouth from Covid and they're not willing to actually partner and collaborate with the virtual provider to make sure that students are getting logged on when they're supposed to
00;33;31;05 - 00;33;48;13
Laci
be logged on and they're not. And quite honestly, this collaboration should be happening all the time, right? It shouldn't matter if the SLP is virtual or in person, but it becomes very obvious. Teams that are less collaborative.
00;33;48;14 - 00;33;51;03
Kristin
They're not being set up for success because locations.
00;33;51;05 - 00;34;00;19
Laci
Yeah. You know, you're not yeah. You're not going to win on those friends until you get buy in and support from the in person staff.
00;34;00;23 - 00;34;26;29
Kerry
Great. Great point. Well what a robust conversation talking about, you know, equity as well as the workforce to support it. And models including Teletherapy. Before we wrap, I do want to ask one question for each of you. If you had to give one piece of advice to school leaders working to balance workforce challenges while keeping student outcomes at the center of every decision, what would that advice be?
00;34;27;01 - 00;34;50;17
Laci
Can I pick two pieces of device one? I'm going to say like be open, right? The same way that our therapists have to pivot and get creative to meet individual student need. Like we have to pivot and be creative to, to support all of our students, right. To look at the current staffing landscape and know how to respond.
00;34;50;20 - 00;34;52;05
Laci
And then
00;34;52;08 - 00;35;11;19
Laci
making your providers part of your community right, making sure that they feel heard and supported, right. That they have an appropriate workspace, appropriate materials, that that they get a mug just like everybody else gets a mug, right? Like you taking time to get to.
00;35;11;19 - 00;35;24;25
Laci
Support, to get to know each individual staff member is going to make sure that you keep the highest quality staff, which ultimately means you're providing the highest quality services. Excellent.
00;35;24;27 - 00;35;44;25
Kristin
Chris, I mean, honestly, that's basically what I would say as well, I think be open and just keep keep the big picture in mind. Keep if you are keeping students at the center, which we really, you know, all of us, that's why we're in this business.
00;35;44;28 - 00;36;03;00
Kristin
truly, I believe if that's what we're doing, then all good ideas should be on the table and we should be in conversation and considering the options and how we can help them and what is out there.
00;36;03;03 - 00;36;08;22
Kristin
So yeah, just being open and having those conversations around what we can do. Excellent.
00;36;08;25 - 00;36;30;08
Kerry
Lacey and Kristen, thank you both for joining us and sharing your perspectives. Today's conversation is a great reminder that achieving equitable student outcomes isn't just about addressing staffing shortages, it's about building intentional systems that support clinicians, foster meaningful partnerships, and ensure every student has access to the services they need to thrive.
00;36;30;10 - 00;36;33;21
Kerry
To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Elevate Care.
00;36;33;21 - 00;36;51;19
Kerry
If you enjoyed today's conversation. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you'd like to learn more about innovative workforce strategies and solutions supporting schools and health care organizations, visit AMN Health Care for additional insights and resources. We'll see you next time on Elevate Care.