Teletherapy

Since we made the decision to close our clinic locations temporarily to keep our children, families, staff and community, safe during this pandemic, the biggest concern our team had was: how do we keep providing therapy services to support our children and their families? We wanted to be able to continue maintaining the rapport and progress our children and students have made, while also supporting families through a challenging time.

Our immediate thought was to expand our teletherapy practice and offer it to all clients.

More informally referred to as ‘online sessions’ by our team, teletherapy was something we were already practiced in delivering to our families who live abroad, or out of easy travelling distance to our clinics in London, to ensure we could provide support no matter the distance, and could confidently implement across the board now.

Scroll down to find out more about teletherapy.

What is Teletherapy?

You may be wondering what teletherapy entails, how it works, and whether or not it could work with infants and toddlers, and children with additional needs. Our therapists understand that teletherapy, just like face-to-face therapy, isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach!

We consider your child and family’s individual needs in tailoring our teletherapy plans, resources, and method of delivery. This helps ensure that every child gets a personalised plan that matches their interests, abilities, and therapy goals.

The Process

How does it work?

Enquire

New to the Practice? You can call us directly on 020 7427 9520, or contact our Teletherapy Director and Senior Speech and Language Therapist, Katie, on katie.pennycuick@londonchildrenspractice.com to have a chat about your child’s needs.

Existing client? Get in touch with us, as above, to reschedule sessions with your therapist!

Assess

If assessment is needed (usually recommended for first-time clients or clients without a relevant assessment report within the last year), we offer 1-hour consultation assessments with our Speech and Language Therapists and/or Occupational Therapists, which will comprise a detailed discussion with you around your child’s history, strengths, and concerns, followed by some informal or formal assessment tasks depending on your child’s abilities. We will then provide feedback and recommendations of further steps.

Therapy sessions and commence immediately after the assessment/consultation process.

Direct Therapy

We set up sessions for an agreed time and duration with you, and a video call is made via Zoom, Skype, or your preferred video call method. Session targets, printable/required resources, and the recommended physical set-up (e.g. on the table, on the carpet, etc.) are emailed to you beforehand. The session is then held with the therapist directly interacting with your child over video call, with your supervision if necessary.

This method can work very well even for very young children (with parent support) and works particularly well for school-aged children. We have found it so successful that some parents have requested multiple sessions each week to provide regularity, structure, and support while children are away from school.

Indirect Therapy

Video call sessions are set up as with direct therapy, and similar plans, resources, and physical set-up are recommended. Our therapist remains present throughout the session, and they coach parents/carers through the different tasks and activities, and parents/carers then carry them out with the child.

This method is suited to children who are unable to engage with screen-based content for long periods of time. It’s a great method for parent coaching and empowering our families by teaching them the different strategies and activities therapists use to develop specific skills. Therapists are able to provide direct feedback and also help parents learn through doing.

Weekly Home Program

Our therapists write out a detailed programme, outlining the therapy goals for your child, recommended activities to practice each goal, and provide the relevant resources that you can use over the course of a week. Specific strategies or tips relevant to the skill your child is practicing at home are also provided. Your therapist then follows up with a phone call or video call in the next week, to review the programme and update it with new goals and resources.

This method is suitable for children who may struggle with attention and may need short activities rather than longer ones. This way, families can practice skills in short bursts, on their own time, while having all the necessary resources and strategies at hand.

The Benefits

Convenient

You can access therapy support for your child from the comfort and familiarity of your own home, and all printable resources are provided – or we will recommended resources that you already have on hand at home. Setting up the video call is easy to do on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Empowering

Parents and carers are able to be fully involved in the therapy process via teletherapy. You can collaborate with your therapist to understand your child’s needs and targets, and our therapists employ parent training and modelling methods to help you work with your child and generalise their skills across their everyday environments. Therapists are also able to become familiar with your child’s home setting and tailor activities to suit toys, spaces, and resources that you already have access to at home!

Accessible

Being able to access therapy via video call ensures that even those who do not have easy access to our physical clinics, or are unable to travel, can receive quality support. Teletherapy also makes troubleshooting and seeking advice during the course of your child’s therapy block simple, as you are able to speak directly to our therapists before, during, and after sessions.

Our home programs also help ensure that children who are unable to access video-call based therapy can access therapy activities at their own pace, in short bursts.

Want to find out more?

Call us on 020 7467 9520, or email our Teletherapy Services Director, Katie, here.

To find out more about some general strategies and what you can do at home to support your child’s needs, visit our Support FAQs page.