During these challenging times, the team at First Words Therapy are listening to our parents and caregivers who are concerned about COVID-19, but they also understand the importance of continuing their child’s speech – language therapy.
Teletherapy has become very popular since all of us have been spending more time at home. But what exactly is Teletherapy and how effective is it for Speech -Language Therapy?
Teletherapy is a fun and interactive platform allowing children to continue their Speech Language therapy. Is is recognized by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and supported by several research outlets as an effective form of therapy.
“The speech telepractice is the application of telecommunications technology to the delivery of speech language pathology and audiology professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client or clinician to clinician for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation.” (ASHA).
Early intervention can help children with speech and language disorders meet higher social and academic potential.
The Efficacy of Telehealth-Delivered Speech and Language Intervention for Primary School-Age Children: A Systematic Review, indicates there are no notable differences between traditional in person therapy and teletherapy for elementary school aged children with challenges with speech and language. Both groups showed a significant increase on their test scores and similar progress from pre to post intervention.
Telepractice Treatment of Stuttering: A Systematic Review concluded that “live-stream, video telepractice appears to be a promising service- delivery method for treatment of stuttering.”
A Pilot Exploration of Speech Sound Disorder Intervention Delivered by Teleheath to School-Age Children, showed live interactive videoconferencing has become an effective delivery method for intervention for speech – language disorders.
An Investigation of the Efficacy of Speech-Language Interventions with Students with ASD Using Telepractice – “Overall, these findings suggest that a telepractice service delivery method is an effective and valid way to provide interventions to students with ASD.
The SPLs at First Words Therapy values open communication with parents to establish and meet their child’s goals. If you are interested in teletherapy and want more information, contact us, we will be happy to help.
