Speak Out Feb 2017

In practice

On any given day speech pathologist Sue Cameron uses telepractice to connect and treat clients internationally and across Australia.

to–face therapy – lots of card and barrier type games that can be emailed and printed ready for a session. The support person may be asked to gather books and toys that motivate the child and we sometimes recommend that the family purchase therapy games and activities using their resources funding. “We use a videoconferencing platform that can be accessed by a link sent by email and doesn’t require the client to set up their own login. The program allows us to share the screen and the therapist can choose to keep control of the screen or give remote control to the child or supporter depending upon the goals of the activity. iPhone or iPad apps can also be shared on the screen.

“Growing up in the 1960s and 70s we watched the cartoon character George Jetson talk to his boss, Mr Spacely, on a phone with a television screen. It was beyond comprehension that technology would develop to the point where videoconferencing would become an everyday reality. But it has! Online speech pathology is not only possible, but it works and families who need it keep coming back. “I first used telepractice in a rural hospital in Victoria as an option for clients to save the time and expense of travelling to appointments. When individualised funding became available for children with disabilities, it was immediately apparent that there was a lack of services for families in rural and remote Australia. Just because people had funding didn’t mean there were any services available to purchase. I started a private online speech pathology practice aiming to meet the needs of some of these rural families, and met my colleague Simone Dudley who is an occupational therapist from the Riverina in NSW and we joined forces to form an online business, Therapy Connect. “We have had the opportunity to develop close relationships with families all around Australia and in Asian countries which are in a similar time zone. Recently, I worked with children and families in Coleraine, Port Hedland, Warragul, Kobe (Japan) and Alice Springs – all in the same day! “Access to the internet is not quite as big a barrier as one would imagine although trying to close the great “data divide” between rural and metropolitan internet users is a work in progress. Rural users have poor internet speeds, extremely expensive data and satellite data is limited to 75GB per month. Despite this inequity, we have been able to help families find functional internet in most cases. “We take a coaching approach to online therapy by identifying a key supporter to attend sessions. This is usually a parent but may be a learning support assistant working with a child in child care, kinder or school. We teach the support person to use therapy strategies during the sessions and to implement the same strategies on a daily basis within the child’s natural environment. “Many of the therapy activities are low- tech and the same as those used in face–

Recently, I worked with children

and families in Coleraine, Port

Hedland, Warragul, Kobe (Japan) and Alice Springs – all in the same day!

“The potential of teletherapy to fill service gaps in rural and remote Australia is enormous. The body of evidence supporting telepractice as an effective and acceptable alternative to traditional therapy is growing. Therapy Connect is hoping to add to the evidence by partnering with University of Sydney researchers in a study titled Connecting Rural Children to Therapy Supports: A Trial of Telepractice for Allied Health Service Provision which was funded by a outcomes are possible with teletherapy, and how therapists can deliver telehealth services so that they best suit the needs of children and families, we hope to establish telehealth as a viable option for providing families with therapy services that might otherwise not be available locally.” grant from the auDA Foundation. “By uncovering more about what

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February 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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