Online Speech Therapists

As reported by The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “there is a considerable national shortage of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) projected over the next few years. An additional 28,800 SLPs will be needed to fill the demand between 2010 and 2020—a 23% increase in job openings.”

As a result of the worsening shortage, schools are increasingly unable to provide sorely needed SLPs for their students. Inflated costs press upon already over-strained budgets, and school personnel are forced to devote inordinate amounts of time and effort to hunt down scarce resources.

However, suppose for a moment that there was no SLP shortage. Let’s even imagine that there was a healthy surplus…

Would that make the problem disappear? The answer is no!

That’s because of an equally imposing hurdle: money, or not enough of it.

Aside from budget shortfalls, there are the higher recruitment fees charged by staffing agencies to find
“distant and elusive” SLPs, and then once the SLP is found, those SLPs must be reimbursed for their transportation expenses. The heartbreaking reality is this: there isn’t enough money available to provide the children with the therapy they need.

Further exacerbating the problem is that these shortages are unequally distributed geographically. The problem in rural areas is even worse than in the rest of the country. The bottom line is that many children in Rural America don’t receive adequate speech therapy, and some don’t receive it at all.

The growing speech-language pathologist shortage means higher caseloads for therapists in rural districts, which results in inferior therapy sessions for the children, leads to SLP burnout on an unprecedented scale, causes unexpected recruiting and turnover expenses, and students making slower—or no—progress against their IEP goals.

Recruiting and retaining staff serving students with language or speech problems is particularly severe in rural areas. Salaries are not competitive, and the rural regions are far from urban cultural centers and universities, which restrict therapists from participating in training and development programs that would enhance them professionally.

What’s more, attrition of speech therapists in rural districts can be two to three times the national average. Turnover is especially acute among professionals who travel long distances from site to site on an itinerant basis to serve students with disabilities. Many therapists reportedly resign because of the isolation of their social and cultural lives.

Moreover, even when an administrator finds a quality therapist, it is often difficult to hold onto that therapist throughout the school year, which hampers a student’s progress. Frustrated schools have no choice but to solicit traditional speech therapy staffing agencies to find therapists to fill the void.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Don’t think the problem ends with children not receiving adequate speech therapy. There are many potentially more dangerous consequences to this silent but tragic problem that continues to mushroom in Rural America.

LOW SELF ESTEEM

A speech impediment can erode a child’s self-confidence. Kids know when they talk differently than other children. When a child is young, a stutter or a lisp may be adorable, but as the child matures, it is no longer cute and will probably undermine the child’s confidence.

ACADEMIC STRUGGLES

Everyone agrees that reading is perhaps the most fundamental skill that children need to be successful in school. As the academic challenges increase throughout the years, reading deficits will guarantee more educational failures. Without a strong foundation in language skills, there is little chance that a child will become successful in reading.

Aside from reading, speech difficulties often impact other areas of the school experience as well. When a child senses that the teacher is struggling to understand him/her, it discourages that child from sharing ideas, making requests, and participate in class. This frustration will deter the student from engaging in activities necessary for healthy development.

SOCIAL ANXIETY

According to a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, children showing signs of social and communication problems early on may be at risk of developing social anxiety. By analyzing reports of social and communication difficulties and anxiety symptoms in 9,491 children, researchers found a direct correlation between social and communication challenges and heightened social anxiety.

LONELINESS AND ISOLATION

At the heart of a child’s success socially is the ability to understand and communicate effectively.

On a very practical level, if the language processing is complicated for the child, how can he/she hope to play and talk to friends? Often unclear children don’t respond appropriately in a social setting and are either considered stupid or “not with it.” Without adequate language processing, the child can be marginalized which may leave him/her lonely and vulnerable to bullying or other traumas.

Beyond this, there is another and perhaps more deleterious derivative of a communication disorder. As we all know, excellent communication skills are at the core of creating and developing healthy relationships. These skills are critical to both understanding concepts and emotions and are crucial to self-expression, as well as problem-solving.

Social discourse and interactions which are so crucial to a child’s healthy development and confidence are likely to become a nightmare. Children and teenagers with communication deficits are saddled with a burden that over time may become overwhelming and tragically result in loneliness and isolation.

COMPROMISED MENTAL HEALTH

Studies show that nearly 45% of children and teenagers that are recommended to receive mental health services suffer from unidentified communication problems. In other words, the underlying mental health issue for many of these children is not being addressed or adequately helped with mental health therapy alone.

But the problem of subpar communication skills becomes even more complicated for these children. If young people cannot adequately express the problem, then how can the therapist hope to find a solution? In other words, without the benefit of speech therapy, mental health intervention may not be very effective at all.

While the ostensible goal of speech therapy is to enable the child to improve communication, it is clear that the consequences of being denied adequate services are potentially devastating in other realms as well.

What will become of the growing numbers of children, predominantly in Rural America, who have no access to the speech therapy they so desperately need?

Enter online speech therapy! The distinct advantage of online speech therapy is that now any school anywhere can access top-quality therapists at competitive rates and ensure that their students will receive excellent uninterrupted services. Geography, mobility and time have ceased to be the barriers they once were.

It blends the most excellent quality in speech-language therapy with the many benefits that digital innovations afford. Aside from the many advantages to SLPs, it offers much for schools as well. Perhaps most important of all, over 40 published, peer-reviewed studies confirm that online speech therapy produces outcomes that are as good or better than standard face-to-face therapy.

By extending top-quality clinical services to remote, rural, and underserved populations, online speech therapy holds the promise of reducing the harmful consequences of the SLP shortage, alleviating severely strained school budgets, and helping the children who so much need the services.

Best of all it is highly engaging for today’s students. By utilizing fun and engaging digital technology, online speech therapy is exceptionally kid-friendly. Today’s children are comfortable with computers and love game-based activities such as video interactions and digital learning.

In this rapidly developing technological world of ours, the digital dimensions of online speech therapy have become very natural and almost expected. The technology is simple, affordable, practical and extremely engaging. And increased engagement means the kids spend more time on tasks, which translates into quicker progress.

AVAILABILITY: Districts no longer need to depend on local therapy agencies, worry about interruptions in therapy when SLPs are absent, are on vacation, or move away. Instead, they can enjoy “Anytime, Anywhere Access” to licensed, credentialed SLPs.

BUDGET: Online speech therapy maximizes the therapist’s time by eliminating traveling which translates into significant savings for the school. What’s more, there are fewer expenditures related to recruitment, screening, contracting, training, and the managing of SLPs.

CONVENIENCE: Online speech therapy redefines flexibility and convenience while improving staff efficiency. While traditional face-to-face therapists may lock the school into a rigid schedule, the online delivery model allows for therapy when it is convenient for the student, even outside of school hours.

DIVERSITY: Schools have better access to culturally and linguistically diverse therapists as well as clinicians with specialties. Better targeting produce more effective outcomes.

EXCELLENCE: Online speech therapy affords schools previously unprecedented access to top-notch therapists, as they are no longer limited to locally-based clinicians, but can draw from an extensive nationwide network of highly qualified, certified and licensed therapists.

Other key advantages include:

CONSISTENCY: since the attrition rate of therapists is often linked to travel time, eliminating travel results in a marked rise in the therapist’s consistency with the child

UNINTERRUPTED: the child is guaranteed sessions even when SLPs are sick, on vacation, or move away as the agency can draw upon a large pool of therapists

AUTOMATION: scheduling, tracking, reporting, auditing are digitized to bring clarity to the administrator’s fingertips and reduce compliance issues

RECORDING: all sessions are recorded for parents to monitor, therapists to review, and administrators to reference if necessary

INDEPENDENCE & PRODUCTIVITY: therapists enjoy flexible hours from the comfort of their home increasing productivity and allowing more time with the kids

MATERIALS: clinicians can access an ever-expanding array of creative, engaging and highly motivating materials available on websites and apps