{"id":10518,"date":"2017-02-23T09:30:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T17:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=10518"},"modified":"2017-11-14T07:18:52","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T15:18:52","slug":"how-northside-isd-improved-articulation-outcomes-across-their-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapist\/how-northside-isd-improved-articulation-outcomes-across-their-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Artic Outcomes for Students and SLPs: How One Big School District Did It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TSHA<\/p>\n

I have had the pleasure of working with Justina Heintz, M.S. CCC-SLP, an SLP with Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio, Texas. \u00a0This school district is not only one of the largest in Texas but is one of the top thirty largest school districts in the United States. \u00a0They approached Speech Buddies with the primary aim of reducing caseloads. And in order to justify such a large-scale adoption of Speech Buddies Tools the district, under the supervision of Ms. Heintz, undertook a pilot study to determine the effect of Speech Buddies Tools on the districts\u2019 caseloads. \u00a0Ms. Heintz presented her findings at the 2015 annual convention of the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association. \u00a0Recently, I had a chance to speak at length with her about this study. <\/span>She shared some <\/span>updates:\u00a0about how the first year of\u00a0Northside\u2019s district-wide Speech Buddies Tools adoption\u00a0program\u00a0progressed, about\u00a0the impact that Speech Buddies Tools are already having on reducing clinician\u00a0caseloads, and about how Northside SLPs are\u00a0improving\u00a0the lives of the children of NISD.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reduce Caseloads! Get Kids Back into the Classroom!<\/h2>\n
\"Northside

A summary of research from Ms. Heintz’s study.<\/p><\/div>\n

Although she\u00a0cited a number of reasons why\u00a0her district became interested in adopting Speech Buddies Tools, their primary impetus was that, in Ms. Heintz\u2019s words, \u201cwe weren\u2019t really seeing a decrease in our caseloads.\u201d Too many children were moving on to junior high school and even high school with, say, an S sound still in need of work. They needed to try something new. Hearing so many promising things about Speech Buddies, Ms. Heintz and her colleagues approached their special education coordinator, the person in charge of approving large-scale purchases. After their initial purchase of Speech Buddies, Ms. Heintz spearheaded a pilot study to confirm what they had heard about the clinical power of Speech Buddies Tools.<\/span><\/p>\n

The data she and her colleagues gathered forms the backbone of what she\u00a0presented at TSHA in\u00a0March<\/a>\u00a02015.\u00a0In\u00a0short, in an average of 4 hours of therapy, their kids got to, on average, about 80% accuracy across all contexts in words<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents Got it!<\/h2>\n

In general, the parent response within the district to Speech Buddies Tools was highly positive. \u00a0At first, because the approach is so innovative and new to parents, there were questions as to how the tool was used. \u00a0In some cases, some parents asked whether they should consider purchasing a Speech Buddy for home practice. \u00a0This is, of course, a case-by-case consideration and by no means would a school district adopting Speech Buddies Tools require or even suggest to parents that they too had to purchase the tools. \u00a0But, the bottom line was that parents were very much on board with Northside incorporating evidence-based technology to improve outcomes. \u00a0And, as a speech pathologist, Speech Buddies Tools can make your communications with parents all the easier, as Ms. Heintz reported one of her parents saying to her, \u201che doesn\u2019t have his lisp any more!<\/span><\/p>\n

Training makes perfect.<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span>One of the reasons I believe Northside Independent\u00a0School District achieved such\u00a0exceptional results for its students was its\u00a0commitment to training and educating\u00a0their\u00a0SLPs. The district purchased a professional set of Speech Buddies Tools for nearly every one of their 144 SLPs, but required an in-person training before any SLP received their\u00a0set. This training focused on:<\/span><\/p>\n