What is online therapy?
Sydney Speech Clinic has been providing online therapy services for several years to children and families who live long distances from Sydney. While we love seeing our families at the clinic, in their home, or at their school/daycare, the use of online therapy allows us to extend our services to reach families who may otherwise be unable to access therapy to get the support they need. During this time of social distancing, we are so pleased to be able to continue to work towards your therapy goals from the safety of your own homes!
Online services are fun and flexible and take on many different forms depending on the kind of therapy that is required. Our online service can be used for assessments, therapy sessions, parent education, teacher education, home program monitoring, small groups, case conferences and any number of support meetings.
An online service can consist of videoconferencing, phone calls, emails, document sharing and other direct messages. Our online service can be used for assessment, therapy sessions, parent education and coaching, teacher education and support, monitoring of home programs, case conferences and meetings.
Families can access online therapy from a laptop, tablet, and most smartphones, as well as over email or text messaging. For video conferencing, a larger screen is better for your therapist to see and hear you, but we will endeavor to work with any device you have that is compatible.
So... what does an online therapy session look like?
A parent can choose to use an online session in many ways depending on their child's goals and the environment in which the therapy will be taking place. The therapist may, for example, share screens, apps and pictures with children working on their goals, work together with a child to edit their written work, observe a child playing with their own toys, analyse their conversation with siblings, assess gross motor skills by watching them complete a homemade obstacle course or joining them virtually over lunch for a mealtime observation. Online therapy is our favourite tool for assessing a child in their “natural” environment!
We have received a great deal of positive feedback from clients regarding online therapy over the recent months, and have found amongst the team that we are reaching significant positive outcomes across a wide range of populations.
What areas of development are suitable for online therapy support?
Online therapy is suitable for a wide range of needs and can be a great way to support your child whilst home-schooling:
- Literacy support - our preferred phonics program, Sounds-Write, can be effectively taught online with support materials for home practice (it can be fun too!)
- Intensive speech and language therapy - we know that regular practice is essential for improvements in speech and language skills
- Parent education - teaching parents of toddlers how to accelerate their language development is easily implemented via online sessions
- Stuttering therapy - strong evidence exists for stuttering therapy via an online modality
- Handwriting and fine motor skills - our Occupational Therapist can effectively treat handwriting skills using online coaching
- Activities of Daily Living - our Occupational Therapist can observe and support a child carrying out their daily living tasks at home
- Feeding and Mealtime management - both Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists can offer online support during feeding and mealtimes for both children and adults
How do I book online therapy sessions for my child?
Easy! Just give us a call and we will do the rest. You will receive a link via email to enable you to join the Zoom meetings at the agreed times with your therapist. We ask you to sign in a few minutes before the scheduled appointment and just wait in the ‘virtual waiting room’ until your therapist admits you to the session.
I have other questions…
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss these with our front desk team or with your child’s therapist. Give us a call on (02) 8404 0715 if you would like to find out more.
We look forward to catching up “virtually” with our existing clients and families as well as welcoming new clients to this dynamic approach to assessment and therapy for Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy.