With the current COVID-19 crisis that has greatly affected so many lives, you may have heard the term “telehealth” for the first time or heard that term more frequently in recent weeks.
Telehealth is a unique way for families and clients to get support or continue to work towards their therapy goals during these unprecedented times. Maybe you or your child’s ABA or Speech-Language services have been disrupted; maybe new concerns have developed now that daily routines have changed; maybe you want to work towards a new goal for your child or family now that everyone is home. In this post, we describe what telehealth can look like and how it can be a beneficial resource for you or your family.
Telehealth refers to therapy services that are provided remotely, often via video conference methods. A lot of the services will be the same as in-person services, just delivered in a different modality. For example, your provider will continue to work with you to determine what goals you’d like to achieve in your time together, ensure that an effective treatment plan is created to monitor progress towards those goals, and ultimately achieve those goals. Below are some potential formats for telehealth services. Services continue to be personalized for individual clients, and you will work with your provider to customize your telehealth services to fit the needs of you or your family.
Consultation
During consultation sessions, you will chat with a BCBA or SLP and work together to develop therapy goals. Depending on those goals, further services will be discussed and scheduled. These consultation sessions often take place at the start of new services or throughout treatment if a new goal area has developed.
Family Education
Family education sessions are a great way to learn more about ABA or Speech-Language topics and techniques that you’re interested in applying to you or your child’s everyday life. Topics vary greatly and are individualized to your needs, but some of our favorite examples include:
Incorporating visual supports into your daily activities;
Promoting language development in your child;
Techniques to teach your child a new skill; and
Behavioral strategies to support successful participation with daily tasks or interactions with siblings.
Parent-Led Therapy
Once treatment goals are developed, parent-led therapy sessions allow parents to work on goals with their child with live support and guidance of a therapist. Research has shown that when parents are involved in the implementation of treatment goals, skills learned by the child are maintained longer and often generalized to other aspects of the child’s life. This is a unique and fun way to engage with your child, participate in the delivery of their treatment, and continue to support their progress towards their goals.
Direct Therapy
When appropriate, clients themselves can even participate in telehealth therapy! Clients work directly with the therapist over video to practice their treatment goals. This is a fun way that clients can work on language development or social skills goals. Parent support is often needed in these sessions to encourage participation from clients and offer assistance with technology.