Taking the leap into teletherapy can be both daunting and exhilarating. Revitalizing your practice and being able to easily pivot in an ever-changing therapy climate is an excellent tool to add to your toolbelt. Pediatric teletherapy can come with its own set of challenges and rewards. Here at Ambiki, we want to help you with both.
Choosing a HIPAA-Compliant Platform with a BAA Agreement:
Whether you are treating adults or are in pediatrics, choosing a teletherapy platform that is HIPAA compliant and has signed a BAA (Business Associate Agreement) is crucial. Ambiki offers a teletherapy platform geared toward the needs of pediatric clients that is HIPAA compliant with a BAA. Interactive features such as the whiteboard, click beacon, and reactions are an added bonus!
Therapist Home Set Up
Find and clear your space: while it may seem obvious, finding a room or space free of clutter with a neutral background can be particularly helpful in minimizing distractions for your client. Ambiki’s teletherapy platform also has green screen options which can give your session an added sense of professionalism.
Quiet and Confidential: minimize distractions to the best of your ability by keeping pets and other people outside of the space where you are planning to conduct teletherapy.
Use of a comfortable chair: this may look different for different clinicians yet finding something that can provide you with comfort and the proprioceptive input you need is important for helping you as the therapist stay focused and tuned in to the session.
Table/Workspace: having a platform or table in front of your computer can allow you to have good ergonomic positioning yet this also allows you to demonstrate any fine motor skills you may be working on if you are an OT for example.
Space to move your full body: while an SLP may not need space to demonstrate full body movements, it can be helpful for OTs and PTs to have extra room to demonstrate exercises. It can also be useful for demonstrations of quick full body ‘brain breaks.’
Family Home Set Up
Inside or Outside Space: this may vary depending on the patient and clinician yet determining where therapy should be conducted can be useful. Knowing ahead of time is also nice as it can help you as the clinician visualize what environment and resources the family may have on their end for that session.
Chair/Wiggle Seat: ideally there would be a firm chair that provides postural support for the client; however, this may not be the case if your client needs more sensory stimulation and input during the session. If attention is often a challenge during a session, it may be worth recommending a portable wiggle seat (if available) to provide stability and allow for sensory seekers to maintain active participation. This may also be an option if conducting a teletherapy session to a pediatric client in a school system.
Firm surface and room to move: Ideally a client would have access to a table/firm surface as well as space for full body movements.
Adult Assistance/Helper Roles and Responsibilities
Communicate ahead of time: setting expectations that the parent, guardian, or adult helper will be present for the duration of the session will allow more effective treatment with better goal carryover.
Confirm the appointment: Emailing with a reminder 1-2 days prior to the session and following up by phone the day before will help minimize cancellations.
Help the helper, provide clear guidance: provide the helper with clear guidance on what it is you want from them. Are you trying to minimize verbal and tactile cues? Let them know what that looks like or help educate them prior to starting on what types of cues you would like them to provide. Often having a helper demonstrate gross motor movements or provide a demonstration to the child can be quite beneficial. Are there moments where you would like ‘hand over hand’ assistance, such as for an activity involving scissors etc? Let the caregiver know in advance to the best that you are able.
Treatment Sessions and Planning:
Use of an interactive platform: keeping clients engaged can be challenging yet using a platform that can provide virtual reactions as positive reinforcement can assist in keeping a session interesting and engaging. Also using a visual schedule to outline the session and allow the child to know what they can expect next can pique interest and sustain engagement.
Have materials ready to go: use materials that a family or school may have on hand, you even decide to create checklists of materials you use often and email them to the family or helper ahead of time to see what they have on hand that can be incorporated into the session. If you are using Ambiki, the Resource Library or Activity Lists can be easy complements to tangible manipulatives.
Bringing it all together:
Pediatrics involves more than just treating the child. Therapists must navigate caregiver dynamics, create sound and evidence-based treatment sessions, all while living within constraints of insurance companies, IEPs, productivity standards etc. As therapists ourselves, we know firsthand the fatigue this can entail. We hope that at the very least, we can make your teletherapy sessions smooth and enjoyable. Come try out Ambiki’s teletherapy platform for free at https://ambiki.com/teletherapy to start making your sessions more engaging and enjoyable.
