Teletherapy

“Telepractice has been used to evaluate and treat people of all ages.  Researchers have found few differences between telepractice and in-person services.  Most clients who receive telepractice say they are very satisfied.” (ASHA, 2020)

Although telepractice is not the right fit for all children, there is growing research that supports use of telepractice with the autism spectrum population.  Some children respond better with increased attention while using the computer. (Boisvert, M., Lang, R., Andrianopoulous, M., & Boscardin, M. L. (2010).  Telepractice in the assessment and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.  Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 13, 423-432.  As quoted in Boisvert, M. webinar: ASHA Private Practice convention, 2017)

When studies looked at speech sound therapy, “the results…suggest that there are no significant differences in treatment outcomes between traditional face to face interventions and services provided through telepractice.”    (Coufal et al., Comparing Traditional Service Delivery and Telepractice for Speech Sound Production Using a Functional Outcome Measure, American Journal of Speech Language Pathology Feb., 2018)

There is also research showing that telepractice works well for young children with a parent coaching model.  The parent-child interaction is more naturalistic with no one else present in the room.  (Stedler-Brown, A. “The State of Telepractice for delivering Early Intervention Services” ASHA Professional Development course, 2019)