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Summer Services: What Telepractice can do for you

Published in the June 2024 issue of the ISHA Voice

By: Kim Pritikin, member of the Telepractice committee, and Jennine Harvey Northrop, chair of the Telepractice committee

It’s summer!  Time to recharge our batteries (both literally and figuratively), enjoy beautiful sunny days and support our patients and clients.  While some patients may benefit from a break over the summer, some prefer to attend therapy sessions.  Telepractice is an effective way to provide our patients and clients with continued support that is efficient and engaging during the summer.  Even a small amount of therapy over the summer can help prevent regression of skills.

Here are some quick, fun and engaging summer telepractice ideas:

  • Go on a virtual field trip.  Most museums and zoos offer virtual field trips or offer live webcams of exhibits.  Visit some that are not in your area.  The SanDiego Zoo and Atlanta Zoo offer live animal cams.  The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History offers an interactive tour and NASA has an app that shows a mobile tour and exhibits (available on the App Store and Google Play).
  • Cook in the kitchen!  Give your patient a simple recipe that you will be making in advance so they can gather the necessary ingredients if they wish to cook with you.  This gives them the chance to participate actively if they prefer. 
  • Take your laptop outside and go on a scavenger hunt or play I-Spy. The change of scenery will promote language by offering new experiences.
  • Get on the floor with your laptop and read.  Books are a great way to engage patients. Make a cozy reading nook, bring your favorite blanket and your laptop. 

These ideas work great in therapy, but they are also great ideas to share with families as a resource.

Summer Travel Reminder: Telepractice Across State Lines  

As previously introduced and updated in the ISHA Voice (Harvey & Bowman, 2021, 2023), both speech-language pathologists and clients must be physically located within the state of Illinois or the clinicians are required to hold licenses in both their state and the state of the client's geographic location (ASHA Practice Act, ASHA, 2021). However, if a clinician works for a federal agency (e.g., Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] and Department of Defense), licensing requirements may differ (Grillo, 2019).  It is recommended that clinicians confirm telepractice requirements with their employer before proceeding.

Additional Resources:

https://www.ishail.org/telepractice-resources

References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Telepractice.  Retrieved March 01, 2021,

from https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/telepractice/#collapse_1

Grillo, E.U. (2019).  Building a successful voice telepractice program.  Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups (SIG 3),4(1),100-110.https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-SIG3-2018-0014

Harvey, J., and Bowman, J. (2023, April) The End of the Public Health Emergency policy: What this means to practice in IL.  ISHA Voice.  

Harvey, J., and Bowman, J. (2021, April) Telepractice across State Lines and Countries & Telepractice Updates.  ISHA Voice.  

Jennine Harvey is an Associate Professor at Illinois State University in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. She conducts research in cognitive aging, cognitive and language interventions, dual-task, speech in noise, virtual reality for rehabilitation, interprofessional practice, and scholarship of teaching and learning.  Kim Pritikin is a member of the Telepractice committee and currently works for California Online Public Schools.