If you have recently had an appointment with your doctor, you likely did so over the phone. Telehealth is now becoming a popular choice among health professionals as the primary method of seeing clients due to social distancing measures. However, Telehealth dates back many years before COVID-19 as an effective method of service delivery across Canada.
What is Remote Therapy?
Remote therapy is a therapy session where the child and parents meet with the therapist over a video-conferencing platform for assessment, screening, consultation and treatment. Remote Therapy has many names. It is referred to as Telehealth, Teletherapy, TelePractice, Online Therapy or Virtual Therapy. But these all refer to the same thing, therapy that is done remotely.
Therapists may use additional software or tools to engage the child. They may also send the parents exercise videos for the child to do prior to or after each session.
Benefits & Challenges of Remote Therapy
Most therapy sessions require the therapist to observe the child while performing a certain task, to ask the child to do a certain task, to engage the child in an activity, to consult with the parent, to train the parent etc. Many of these activities can be done over a video-conferencing platform. However, therapies that involve physical handling, support, hand-on-hand etc, require the therapist to engage with the child and parent in creative ways and guide the parent to facilitate these movements for the child. For therapies that require physical manipulation, the therapist may suggest to hold off until an in person session is possible, but may advise of some techniques, exercises or strategies.
Remote Therapy can therefore require additional parental involvement especially for children who are younger and more dependent; however, this involvement directly translates into parental training. Parents become better equipped as they participate in the therapy session with their child. Below is a list of some of the benefits of Remote Therapy:
- Allows for a continuation of services, which limits regression.
- Allows for more flexible scheduling options.
- Allows the child to be treated in their natural environment
- Removes the travel time for parents
- Parents are more involved in the therapy session and as a result learn therapeutic techniques
- Allows access to therapy for anyone in Ontario
Please note that each child’s needs and goals are unique and therefore it is important to discuss with your therapist the benefits and limitations of remote therapy for your child. The therapist will work with each family to determine the appropriate method, duration and frequency for each session.
Remote Therapy Services
Developing Hands Pediatric Therapy currently offers the following therapies remotely:
- Remote Occupational Therapy for Children
- Remote Speech Therapy for Children
- Remote Feeding Assessment & Strategies for Children
- Remote Physiotherapy for Children
- Remote Psychology Services for Children
- Remote Counselling for Children
- Remote Osteopathy Consultation for Children and Mothers
Want to Try it out for Free?
For those of you who are uncertain about how Remote Therapy can work for your child, our therapists would be happy to provide you with a Free 10-15 minute Connect Session to test out the platform and see how your child responds. This is applicable to Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy & Physiotherapy.
Remote Therapy Across Ontario
These services are offered to anyone in Ontario, including Barrie, Belleville, Brampton, Brant, Brantford, Brockville, Burlington, Cambridge, Clarence-Rockland, Cornwall, Dryden, Elliot Lake, Greater Sudbury, Guelph, Haldimand County, Hamilton, Kawartha Lakes, Kenora, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Markham, Mississauga, Niagara Falls, Norfolk County, North Bay, Orillia, Oshawa, Ottawa, Owen Sound, Pembroke, Peterborough, Pickering, Port Colborne, Prince Edward County, Quinte West, Richmond Hill, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Catharines, St. Thomas, Stratford, Temiskaming Shores, Thorold, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Toronto, Vaughan, Waterloo, Welland, Windsor and Woodstock, Ontario.
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