As teletherapy becomes more prominent across different settings, the therapist-facilitator relationship is more important and varied than ever.
Facilitators are incredibly important when it comes to the success of the client and they play a vital role in teletherapy. The facilitator can be anyone from the client’s parent, caregiver, teacher aid, student support specialist and so on.
Telepractice or teletherapy has burst into prominence due to many therapists being forced to work remotely due to concerns of COVID-19, and many therapists are realizing the benefits both for their patients and for themselves as a therapist. Even many therapists that were not considering incorporating telepractice before are now being forced to integrate it in order to effectively serve their current clients and attract new ones.
Now that many speech-language pathologist clients have been forced to transition to teletherapy (or telepractice) many clients are finding they want to keep doing teletherapy in tandem with in-person services due to how it makes their lives so much easier. There are a lot of benefits for speech-language pathologists as well.
Many people who need a wide variety of medical and therapeutic services and have been restricted by stay at home orders or other restrictions to protect their own health or that of others. While teletherapy is not going to be the best choice for every client, moving forward it is important for speech-language pathologists to consider how telepractice fits into their plan for the future. Many clients will want a combination of in-person services and teletherapy or might at times have teletherapy be their only option.
