The plethora benefits of teletherapy are becoming known to more people all the time. Control, cost, and convenience are just the ones that are the most widely known. However many of those same folks are somewhat less versed in understanding the broad array of speech and language-related problems that telepractice addresses. The rule of thumb is that if an onsite therapist can help, telepractice can as well, and sometimes even better.
1. Did you know that telepractice can help swallowing/feeding issues?
While it may be difficult to believe, telepractice clinicians are often trained in helping children with swallowing and feeding issues in conjunction with their speech and language training. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. SLP education and training includes gaining a comprehensive knowledge of both physiology and function of the oral cavity.
2. Social/Pragmatic Language
Social/Pragmatic language is commonly understood to mean the manner that individuals utilize to communicate with one another. This breaks down to three areas of communication:
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Communicating orally in different ways (greeting other people, requesting something, agreeing or protesting with what has been said, or making inquiries)
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Modifying the way we speak to different people appropriately (for example talking differently to an adult than to a child, or adjusting volume between outside and inside)
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Adhering to proper conversation etiquette (comprehending and utilizing both nonverbal and verbal cues, remaining on topic, not interrupting while another is speaking)
Trained telepractice therapists can teach your child how to engage in conversation appropriately which can have a significant impact on your child’s social comfort and self-confidence.
3. Skills Related to Cognitive-Communication
When there is an impairment in those processes in cognition related to conceptual reasoning, awareness or memory, or even executive functioning this could indicate what is known as a cognitive-communication disorder. These can be as a result of head-related injury or disease, or can be congenital in origin–the child was born like this. Both teletherapy and SLPs can help build the requisite skills and teach the child how to compensate for the deficit.
4. Empowering parents how to help their children
It goes without saying that the most critical function that a SLP can serve is to educate the parent as to how to most effectively empower the child. Let’s face it, while the online speech-language pathologist will typically spend no more than an hour per week with the child, the parent, on the other hand, will spend hours and hours interacting with the kid.
From the time the child awakens in the morning until he/she is put to bed to go to sleep, the parent is continuously interacting. Getting dressed, eating breakfast, waiting for carpool before going to school. And when the child comes home, there are different interactions such as talking about the day, reading to him/her, supper, bathing, and putting the child down to sleep for the night.
These daily routines provide a myriad of opportunities to communicate. When the parent is empowered with the knowledge, skills, and confidence, the PARENT becomes the best speech therapist the child could ever want. Be sure to look at that telepractice SLP as more than just your child’s therapist. She is your teacher as well. Together you can transform your child’s life.
