Video Therapy

Online TherapEase Service

Online Speech Therapy Service in Mansfield, Mackay and Townsville

In light of the current situation with Coronavirus (Covid-19), the health and wellbeing of our clients, their families and our team is our highest priority. This means we are taking all steps possible to ensure we are following the government recommendations of ‘physical distancing’ and preparing ourselves to support you to achieve your therapy goals using methods outside of face-to-face sessions. These options are outlined below.

Please note, all services provided by your therapist (including those outlined below) are provided at the same price as a face-to-face session and are able to be covered using NDIS funding. If available, Medicare and Private Health Funds rebates will be applied to any services that are not provided face-to-face.

Telehealth/Online Speech Therapy

Telehealth is the provision of therapy services via videoconferencing software over the internet. There is evidence supporting the use of online sessions for speech therapy indicating that these services are usually at least as effective as standard therapy, if not more. As with sessions occurring in the clinic, the session should involve the client and any other available parties involved in supporting the client to achieve their goals. In some instances, sessions may be largely geared towards education.

The only difference between sessions happening face-to-face compared to over video, is that in most cases, the session requires more planning to ensure the success of the session and for notes to be done outside of the appointment to maintain engagement over the screen. This means our telehealth sessions will be booked and charged for as 75-minute appointments whereby there will 15 minutes allocated to preparing for the appointment before it starts, 45 minutes of time over telehealth with you and 15 minutes for appointment specific follow up after the appointment (including notes and sending homework resources).

At SpeechEase, we use an online service called ‘Zoom’ for all videoconferencing sessions. Zoom is an end-to-end encrypted program which means that no-one is able to access the content of the call except those in attendance. As with all our sessions, any information provided within the session will be kept in strict confidence and comply with State and Federal privacy policies. If recording of any part of the session is required, we will ask for your consent in advance and store these recordings securely.

For telehealth to be successful, all parties involved need to have access to a computer/laptop/smart device, webcam, microphone and speakers and a reliable internet connection. Please note, many laptops come with inbuilt webcam, microphone and speakers. When your session is booked to start, you will receive a link to click on at the start the session (which is referred to as a “meeting” in Zoom).

Phone Consultation

For those without access to a platform for online speech therapy to work, we can offer phone consultations whereby your therapist will give you a call and discuss how things have been going with implementing therapy plans, brainstorm ways to overcome any roadblocks you’ve, provide information/education on other ways to target goals and discuss the plan for the next specified time frame.

Video Recording Analysis

Online speech therapy provides your therapist with a window into your world and way to provide education, coaching and consultation at the time of the appointment. Sometimes, this may not be suitable for clients. Instead, what may be more suitable, is for you to record certain parts of your day and send this to your therapist to review and analyse and then discuss either over telehealth or on the phone – whatever suits you best.

Therapy Plan/Goal Review

This can occur over telehealth (as outlined above) or over the phone with your therapist. This is a chance to touch base and get clarity on your goals and therapy plan. This may include discussions about:

  • How therapy has been going towards achieving your goals,
  • The plan moving forward to achieve your goals,
  • Resources / supports you need that will help you to achieve your goals
  • Changes to goals based on changing circumstances and a plan to achieve them

Home/Community Program

In some instances, and for a variety of reasons, telehealth may not be suitable as an alternative method for faceto-face sessions. If this is the case, we still want to support you to achieve your goals whilst following guidelines of social distancing. The best way to do this, is to develop home/community programs that:

  • Outline specific therapeutic strategies to achieve specific task goals – these task goals are linked to your overall goals,
  • Therapy task activity ideas,
  • Ways to scaffold these tasks (make easier or harder) depending on the person’s ability to achieve the desired outcome,
  • How to record outcomes,
  • Information on what to look out for and when to move to the next task.

These programs are developed based on individual clients and what they need to achieve their goals.

Resource Development

There are many resources that we use in sessions that can be used at home and in the community that support you to achieve your goals. We can individualise these for you and send them via email so you can start using them at home and in the community. There might be other resources that you think would come in handy which we would be able to develop and send as well.

Assessment and/or Treatment Report

Reports are useful for providing stakeholders (i.e. family members, teachers, support workers, other health professionals, etc) with all the information related current therapy supports. This includes information on assessment results, therapy goals, current outcome measures in regard to achieving these goals and recommendations that will support the person to achieve their goals. Reports can be particularly useful for accessing funding as they outline the person’s current needs and what supports are required to assist them to achieve their goals.

What to do next

If you are interested in exploring any of these services further, please let us know and we will organise a time for one of our therapists to get in touch and discuss these with you.

Register for Our Online Speech Therapy Service

Are you interested in receiving ongoing Speech Therapy support or an assessment for yourself or a loved one? Let us know by clicking the pink button below and filling out our Registration Form.