Telehealth for stuttering

Currently I am working solely via telehealth. The treatment is nearly the same as in-person treatment, so it’s not surprising that research has demonstrated its effectiveness. Although we aren’t in the same room, we do the same things (talk, mostly) in front of the webcam. Most clients already have access to the technology needed: a computer with a camera and video-quality internet or a smart phone with good reception.

When I’m working with children I’ll observe you and your child talking and playing. As your child becomes more familiar with me, we’ll talk too. This is similar to how I work in person. Some clients video record specific situations they want to share with me. Parent training is central to paediatric treatment for stuttering. Being in your own environment allows you to set up your child with a quiet activity while we do this.

School-age children, adolescents and adults tend to prefer telehealth treatment to in-person treatment, perhaps because it’s more convenient than travelling to a clinic for the same service. Other benefits include increased continuity of therapy (fewer appointment cancellations owing to sickness) and being able to access my services from a distance. I enjoy working with clients all over Australia.

I started using telehealth to treat stuttering in 2015 when my family moved back to Sydney. I used a webcam (Skype) to complete treatment with my clients and found it highly effective. Some of these clients had been about to commence treatment with me prior to the move and so I did both assessment and treatment entirely via telehealth. Although I worked from rooms in Edgecliff for several years after this, I continued to use telehealth to work with clients who lived a distance from the clinic (or who lived nearby but wanted to give children naps at home at the same time). 

I first became aware of telehealth delivery of the Lidcombe Program 25 years ago. My boss at the time, Elisabeth Harrison, a highly skilled and practical clinician, told me she’d recently treated a child in the UK. This was before webcam technology, or even cheap international Skype telephone calls. This was done over a landline with video recordings sent on a tape via the post. It was special, not only for the family involved (the Lidcombe Program was not available overseas at the time) but to clinicians and researchers, for our understanding of stuttering treatment and how it could be made more accessible. Fast forward over several speech pathologists’ PhD’s and technological advances (thank you Drs Wilson, Carey and Bridgman) and into the pandemic era, and it is now routine for a clinician who is experienced in stuttering to treat via telehealth.