How are you feeling about Teletherapy?

Posted by Sharon Galitzer (Physical Therapist) on 2nd February 2021 Additional Needs, Advice & Support, Disabilities

By now, you’re probably very familiar with teletherapy; as interactions with therapists, doctors and schoolS have become virtual.

You’ve probably also developed an opinion about the efficacy and feasibility for this delivery model as another option for the future. I'm here to either reinforce or sway your opinion, depending on which camp you reside.

There’s no way to replace hands on intervention, but I have found great success in supporting families and caretakers through virtual visits.

We look, listen and reassess on a consistent basis.

We want to know what’s working and what’s not working.

Then we provide you with a slew of solutions.

Virtual visits, while seem very cordial and laid back from my dining room, are actually a real time analysis of your child’s movement and carefully chosen instruction and videos to help you help your child until the next time we meet.

Prior to, and following your child’s visit, I’m online researching, writing, collecting resources and connecting with other professionals on your child’s behalf.

Prior to a visit, I review the child’s online record and I make sure that I share evidence based strategies with you to get your child closer to that end goal.

I try to find YouTube videos that accurately relay information, websites that have factual information, and images of therapeutic exercises that will demonstrate how you can be my hands.

During every virtual visit, a therapist can help you solve day to day challenges in caring for a child with special needs and provide you solutions and resources in real time because we’ve done this so many times throughout our careers.

Even though virtual visits can never be a substitute for hands-on intervention; from a therapist’s perspective, seeing a child in their natural environment has often offered us an opportunity to incorporate toys and objects that you already use during play.

We’re also missing fewer appointments because there are fewer schedule conflicts.

I hope that your outings can be to the park or trail instead of to therapy. I hope that part of your down time at home can be filled with an activity that brings you joy and relaxation.

I wonder if simulating the use of everyday items during our sessions has increased the probability of you practicing a skill more often, in the same way, at a later time.

I also wonder if you have more time to spend with your other family members, feel less stressed about getting your child somewhere on someone else's timeline?

It’s important to let your therapists, teachers, congressmen and local health agencies know what has worked and what hasn’t worked so well from a first person perspective in order to have a voice in building a successful working model for the future.