Abstract
Little information exists regarding the statewide adoption of telepractice, the delivery of speech-language services at a distance through telecommunications, for addressing the documented shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in rural communities. A statewide survey of directors of special education revealed that only two school districts out of 87 respondents had adopted telepractice as a means of addressing job vacancies, whereas 79% (n = 69) of the districts had never considered telepractice. A lack of knowledge about telepractice was not the primary barrier to adoption. Instead, concerns about the validity of telepractice, technology-related concerns, and inadequate support staff were noted as barriers to adoption.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 92-100 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Rural Special Education Quarterly |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2017.
Funding
Initially, we had surmised that factors associated with technology would be the primary reason for not adopting a telepractice model. Instead, only 6% of DoSEs reported insufficient hardware and software and only 12% reported concerns regarding the quality of audio and video transmissions. The lack of concern regarding the technology aspect of telepractice may be attributed to the Kentucky Department of Education’s strategic goal to make all schools technologically sophisticated. Ninety-four percent of classrooms are deemed “intelligent classrooms,” student-to-Internet connected instructional computer ratio is 2:1, and 100% of computers meet state imposed standards. In the past year, Kentucky became the first state to reach the national goal of 100 kb in Internet capacity for every K–12 student. Barriers associated with the technological and Internet aspects of telepractice may be more pronounced in rural states in which technology has taken a backseat to other pressing state-level issues. For these states, telepractice could be supported through collaborative agreements with university training programs and or through extramural funding from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s Distance Learning and Telepractice Grants, and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Telehealth Network Grant Program.
| Funders |
|---|
| Health Resources and Services Administration |
| Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development |
Keywords
- related services
- speech-language pathology
- technology
- telepractice
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Development
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