Unison Speech-Language Pathology

Having parents involved and engaged in a child's speech-language services has so many benefits! When a parent attends sessions with their child, they see what the SLP is doing (how do we work on this? what cues can I use? how do we encourage and reinforce?), and they have a chance to fully observe and understand what they may be asked to practice at home. I have found that kids make the fastest progress when a parent can integrate the strategies and approaches from sessions into their daily life.

Having a parent present also gives them the chance to explain what they're seeing at home, and ask any questions or make adjustments to the treatment plan. Speech-language treatment is very collaborative, and the parent is an important part of the team!

What does this look like in real life? For me, sometimes it looks just like that—a parent is present and participates in every session. Sometimes it means a parent is 'listening in' on the teletherapy call, and they check in at the beginning and/or end. Sometimes the parent is not present in sessions for any number of perfectly good real life reasons: their child is less distracted without them there, there are siblings to attend to, supper to be made, work demands... We are all balancing our children's and families needs the best we can, and so parent involvement will look different for every family, and that is OK!

Photo by Suzi Kim on Unsplash

What is telepractice?

Telepractice (aka telehealth) refers to any services that happen online/virtually, these days by video call.

At UnisonSLP, online sessions are always available if that is your preference. I have some families who switched to online sessions during the pandemic, and never went back to in-person! It's hard to beat the comfort and convenience of sessions from your home. 🏡 And you always have the option of switching to an online session if your child is sick, if the roads or weather are bad, or if it makes scheduling easier! In the past two weeks, I've had all of these come up, including a family that did their speech session in the car on the way to a hockey tournament. 😀 🇨🇦

Telepractice is supported by Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC) "as a means of facilitating access to speech-language pathology and audiology services", and there is research that supports its efficacy. We use a telepractice platform that complies with relevant privacy legislation and practice standards.

When I think about silver linings to come out of the pandemic, this is definitely one of them. Without the necessity of figuring out a way to deliver services virtually, I probably would never have known what a useful tool telepractice can be! Virtual services are making SLP services more accessible to more families, which is a great thing. 🥳