Consult Week means that I will see students for 3 weeks of months and on week 4, I will test, write reports, check on my consulting students and meet with their teachers and case managers.

   Consultation Weeks for 2023-2024

 

 

Currently the WNY School District employs 17 speech therapists and contracts with a provider for an additional Speech Language Pathologist.  Occupational and physical therapy services are provided by Occupational Therapy Consultants.  Over the years the size of the caseloads for these providers has increased as well as the complexity of the disabilities that individual students present; Autism Spectrum Disorders, Multiple Disabilities, Medically Fragile, English Language Learners, etc.  As a result the service delivery model that is used is becoming ineffective and does not allow the related service providers to be in compliance with federal requirements under IDEA 2004 and NCLB.  No Child Left Behind talks about using research-based practices to meet our students’ needs. 

 

Under the traditional model the related therapists provide direct services on a weekly basis, not allowing time for other in-direct tasks during school hours.  The 3:1 Service Delivery Model allows the related service personnel to provide direct services for three weeks and during the fourth week provide in-direct services such as meeting with teachers, parents, developing materials, designing home programs, conducting evaluations, report writing, etc.  The 3:1 Service Model is a research-based model that can be implemented without increasing budget costs.  It is successfully used in various school districts throughout the United States and is supported by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). The primary objective of the 3:1 Model is to work with the goal of aligning with the curriculum and general education teacher's objectives for better generalization of skills.  Research indicates that this model provides more consistent services to students and increases collaboration time with teachers and parents.  Research has also proven that concentrated, intense therapy is beneficial for retention of learned skills. 

 

The proposed change in the delivery model will not affect SEMI revenue as the calculation is based on services delivered twice a month.   Direct services will be documented on a monthly basis in the Individualized Education Plans (IEPS) instead of weekly, as is the current practice.