For decades, the data collection process for behavioral therapists has mostly been manually done. But now, a new startup called Nightingale is seeking to change the way that behavioral therapists collect and report data, simplifying the process with mobile apps instead of pen and paper.
According to Nightingale co-founder Delian Asparouhov, most behavioral therapists today take notes manually and then transcribe those notes and enter them into Excel spreadsheets. As a result, they spend most of their days not working with students, but doing paperwork.
Furthermore, not much is done with the data once it’s collected. It’s used to measure improvement in a student’s behavior, and is occasionally audited by insurers to qualify payment for therapy. But that’s about it.
To start, Nightingale is targeting Autism therapy. It provides a solution that will allow clinical directors and behavioral therapists to decide which data is collected and how it is graphed, with an easy, customizable drag-and-drop system.
Asparouhov says that while there are a standard set of data types that therapists collect, there are different things that each therapist will want to track with each student, and that can change over time. As a result, customization is key since each program and therapist has different data that they need to collect.
But moving to mobile means that behavioral therapists can make notes more quickly, and have those notes automatically uploaded to the cloud. That saves hours out of their day that used to be spent on paperwork.
The pitch to behavioral therapists is saving them time. The pitch to their program directors is helping them to serve more students with all the extra time that they have.
Since January, Nightingale has been testing its software with five alpha schools, and a handful of students each, using that feedback to help improve its product. But it’s ready to expand its availability to other schools now and is targeting program directors at some of the largest special education programs out there.