Teletherapy or Telepractice is a field of practice which has been extending over recent years. It was developed initially for rural areas or where there has been a shortage of SLTs in school settings. In Stammering Support it has been especially successful in placing clients with the specialist practitioner they need to access. Telehealth has been encouraged throughout the NHS and utilised by a wide range of professionals.
The research basis is growing and re-assuring.
In the current health crisis more remote working is becoming more normal.
What happens?
This practice runs using a Therapy Platform with built in Video Conferencing for individual and group provision. The system is developed for therapy with security which is more robust.
The therapist sends you a Link to access your session.
Once you are working with Ruth then it is possible to look at the schedule and book into an available session.
Guidance from Professional Body in the UK and USA
ASHA
https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589934956§ion=Overview
RCSLT Website
https://www.rcslt.org/members/delivering-quality-services/telehealth/telehealth-guidance
This ASTLIP Article gives on overview
https://www.asltip.com/news/9705
“As well as being convenient, teletherapy is proven to be beneficial in most cases. The American Association of Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) has looked at 40 peer-reviewed studies that confirm teletherapy produces outcomes that are as good as direct contact for services including:
- Articulation therapy
- Fluency/stuttering therapy
- Expressive and receptive language therapy
- Parent coaching and strategy implementation
- Stroke”
Keeping in Touch Scheme in Liverpool
The Efficacy of Telehealth-Delivered Speech and Language Intervention for Primary School-Age Children: A Systematic Review (2017)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5546562/
Telepractice in SLT reference base ASHA
https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589934956§ion=References
Telepractice: an overview and best practices (2014)
https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/aac23.1.4
Speech-Language Pathology in rural and remote educational settings: decreasing service inequities (2016)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/17549507.2016.1143973?src=recsys&journalCode=iasl20