what is tele-practice?
Blue Skies Speech Therapy is happy to introduce a new way to facilitate therapy with our clients: tele-practice.
Tele-practice is the use of telecommunications technology to deliver speech therapy and audiology services to a client who is in a different physical location than the practitioner.
Use of tele-practice must be equivalent to the quality of services provided in person and consistent with adherence to the Code of Ethics (ASHA, 2016a), Scope of Practice in Audiology (ASHA, 2018), Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (ASHA, 2016b), state and federal laws (e.g., licensure, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.-c]), and American Speech-Language and Hearing Association policy.
Tele-practice venues include schools, medical centers, rehabilitation hospitals, community health centers, outpatient clinics, universities, clients’ homes, residential health care facilities, child care centers, and corporate settings. There are no inherent limits to where tele-practice can be implemented, as long as the services comply with national, state, institutional, and professional regulations and policies. See ASHA State-by-State for state tele-practice requirements.
how does tele-practice work?
Blue Skies Speech Therapy has created a Service Model Telehealth for non-clinic face to face critical services with a HIPPA compliant online source:
□ Clients seen for speech therapy, counseling will be seen via Doxy.me at a scheduled appointment time. https://doxy.me/blueskiesspeechtherapy
As there are several levels of tele-practice available, we will determine the suitability of each level for our clients in order to customize their experience and to provide the best level of therapy possible. Levels of client categorization for tele-practice include:
1. Independent – adult support not needed
2. Semi Support – adult login support and redirection (intermittent)
3. Full Support – adult onsite for login, redirection, and possibility for intervention in teaching and delivery of tangible rewards.
why tele-practice?
Many students thrive on computer interaction. But LIVE computer interaction is even better and can be customized to meet their needs.
While this is a new service delivery model in our field, it is being researched to a great extent, resulting in very promising findings. It has been stated that students receiving teletherapy have even “outperformed control groups and national benchmarks”, according to Towey, 2013 and Gorgan-Johnson, 2011, in the areas of expressive and receptive language, social pragmatics, as well as articulation skills. The research is building quickly and the evidence points directly at teletherapy being an excellent avenue for therapy providers, being both efficient and effective.