Speak Out June 2020

many webinars including the LSVT Loud- telehealth webinar, SPA’s online workshop on telepractice as well as completing the dysphagia training provided by Clare Burns and QLD Health. Our team created handouts for our clients and their support team, on how to use telehealth. “The collaborative approach that is essential in telehealth, with a facilitator present on the client’s side, has been a huge triumph. Having one of the key teammembers working at the Residential Aged Care Facilities, including Assistants in Nursing (AINs) and Registered Nurses, present during the swallowing assessments became a wonderful teaching tool, allowing more opportunities to support and provide education on best-practice for dysphagia practice. Particularly, having the AINs, whom are often the staff providing feeding assistance, present allowed me to support them with best practice on how to safely feed the person with dysphagia. “The greatest challenge has been the sudden increase in my screen time and sitting down for long periods of the day. I also initially thought it would be a challenge being able to connect and build rapport with clients with the computer screen acting as a barrier. However, I’ve found my clients and I are still connecting and enjoying some laughs and fun in our sessions. “Like anything new and different, I’ve had to quickly learn and pick up new skills, particularly with technology use and troubleshooting with clients when things go awry. The pandemic has allowed me to try something new and add another method for providing therapy services, which I hope to continue offering as things start to calm down, especially to help improve access to rural and remote. Many of my clients have stayed on board and I have gained some new clients. I have found some clients have adapted well and actually seemmore motivated and have shown improvements using the virtual format. “I think a key takeaway is giving every client the option and opportunity to try it out because you never know which clients it will work for." Lucy Sutherland Therapy Team Coordinator, Melbourne “Lucy manages a team of therapists in a special developmental school. The students have moderate to profound Intellectual Disabilities and may have ASD, Down Syndrome or other disabilities as well. Usually the speech pathologists work alongside teachers in classrooms sessions to integrate interventions within everyday routines and daily programs. “The change to remote learning created a variety of different opportunities for us to integrate therapy into programs. For example, a teacher would discuss one of their programs and the SP might make an ALD to go alongside that activity and then discuss with the teacher

how to incorporate more Key Word Sign in their video of that activity. Remote learning encouraged collaboration among staff to create integrated programs supporting communication and teaching and learning needs of students. It also allowed us an opportunity to spend time creating workshops and PDs for both teachers and parents. “The use of ICT and learning these systems was a significant challenge especially early on. We put up a lot of how to guides and video guides to help staff learn these new skills. With SPs also working predominantly working from home, we had to ensure they were able to collaborate with the teachers and access common documents as well. Not being able to have direct feedback online while working with students has been a challenge, as we are relying on parents to give us feedback on effectiveness of strategies to change/adapt as needed. “I found the move to remote learning challenging but also inspiring. I have been impressed by the way staff have taken on this new challenge, placing the student needs at the forefront of their mind. The creativity of staff to meed these changing needs as also been inspiring to be a part of. I learned many things about my own work style as well as my teams, including how much I value and appreciate the collaborative approach that we take to supporting students’ communication needs. “As we move back into face-to-face teaching we are continuing to review what strategies we can take forward with us into post- COVID land. The power of collaborative practices has certainly been highlighted again during this time and something we will carry forward. Our aim is always to focus on what will support students the most and we are very likely to take forward a number of things we learnt during this time. For example, we have created a parent lounge on our website with training and information specific to the parents of the students at our school and this will continue post-COVID." The new normal and the way forward As the world considers the logistics of a “new normal” it is clear that telepractice will form a big part of ongoing speech pathology practice and the ingrained networks and collegiality of speech pathologists will remain. “The incredible banding together of clinicians we have seen in the past few months – sharing of ideas, resources, lovely, supportive messages from everyone – has definitely taken the edge off what could have been a very difficult situation. It has been truly remarkable and has made me so proud to be a speech pathologist,” said Kristin Bayley. “COVID has been devastating in so many ways, but if there is a silver lining it’s that it has brought together a global community of practitioners all going through the same thing at the same time. Within Australia, I feel so much more connected to other practitioners and feel so fortunate to have had strong formal and informal support networks.” For Amelia Bayliss the situation has revitalised her passion and love for the profession. “It has shown me how important the work we do is in empowering people to communicate and voice their needs and wants, as well as vital functions like eating and drinking safely. I’ve discovered that I can adapt and be flexible when faced with adversity.”

Paige Volkov, a therapist at a special development school helped to create a range of video guides to help staff learn new skills.

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June 2020 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out