At some point during your search to find an allied health appointment (Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Psychology etc.), you have likely been offered a telehealth/teletherapy appointment.
You also may have wondered why you would choose telehealth instead of visiting a health professional in-person.
Telehealth is vastly becoming a commonly used service delivery model, which is being used globally.
There is a growing body of evidence to verify the effectiveness and positive impact telehealth can have on your child’s development and learning. COVID-19 has accelerated the development of platforms to support the delivery of online services.
Platforms such as Zoom are often used to conduct group video calls, making appointment attendance easier than ever.
A study was conducted in 2022 by Alfano & Concepcion which investigated the effectiveness of language assessment administration via teletherapy services versus face-to-face services.
Results found no significant difference between face-to-face and telehealth assessment administration.
Another research article by Furlong & Serry (2021) investigated the effectiveness of telehealth for literacy intervention and found that teletherapy “can be feasible and engaging, and may be as effective as in-person delivery for school-aged children with reading and/or writing difficulties”.
However, language assessments and literacy intervention are not the only communication areas that are likely to be successful.
Valentine & Hall (2021) investigated the effectiveness of assessment, monitoring, and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and found that telehealth had a positive impact on therapy, particularly providing improved caregiver competence, child participation and increased communication responses during parent training.
Parents in these research studies have also reported general satisfaction with telehealth.
At Box Hill Speech Pathology, all of our clinicians conduct teletherapy sessions often. We have experienced an enormous amount of success with a number of children and adults with a range of communication difficulties.
Each clinician has their own collection of assessment and therapy tools that are suitable for the online service delivery model.
Telehealth provides many benefits for both the client and their family which includes easy accessibility to sessions, greater comfortability in their own environment if a child finds the clinic setting overwhelming, and greater satisfaction and enjoyment in a number of app-like activities and videos rather than table top games and worksheets.
As a clinician who has used telehealth to manage and treat many clients, it is my professional
opinion that telehealth can be just as effective, if not more effective for a child’s engagement and participation in therapy.
This can be child dependent; however, I have been pleasantly surprised in the value that telehealth can bring to my clients on an every day basis.
It is important to consider teletherapy as an option for receiving management and treatment of any communication disorder you or your child presents with.
It can be an easy, accessible, and enjoyable way for your child to engage in therapy.
The growing amount of evidence and practical use in society has allowed for telehealth to succeed and become an effective service delivery model now and into the future.
