Expanding Access: Enhancing School-Based Clinical Staffing with Teletherapy Solutions
The Role of School-Based Teletherapy Teletherapy is seen as a promising way to deliver services to traditionally underserved areas and is becoming an increasingly important method by which access to school related and social services can be expanded. Teletherapy is now used in schools to provide speech therapy, occupational therapy, full evaluations (speech-language, psychoeducational, and occupational therapy) and mental health services (school psychologists and social workers) in a wide variety of locations – urban, suburban and rural – that lack sufficient access to clinicians. Teletherapy became viable in schools in the early 2010s due to advances in technology and the increased demand for flexible, accessible evaluation and direct therapy options. Since Covid-19, the demand for teletherapy has surged as remote learning created an urgent need for virtual solutions to support student services. A Range of Benefits Schools can realize a variety of benefits by implementing teletherapy programs. Teletherapy expands access to high-quality evaluation and therapy services, ensuring students receive equitable care. It helps meet educational requirements by providing appropriate evaluations to identify students who qualify for academic accommodations, modifications, and interventions, and by delivering mandated intervention services on-time and within compliance requirements. Additionally, teletherapy reduces onsite clinicians’ caseloads by filling staffing gaps with licensed and experienced virtual clinicians. Because many clinicians prefer to work remotely, the teletherapy option may significantly increase the ability of schools to successfully fill open positions. As teletherapy options become more pervasive, schools that do not develop teletherapy programs are likely to be less competitive in a challenging labor market. Improved Platforms Are Schools-Specific Teletherapy platforms that meet or exceed Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements and that are designed specifically to deliver appropriate and effective evaluation and therapy services in accordance with clinical best practices are no longer the exception. School leaders should expect and ask for services that are provided not only by highly qualified clinicians, but that are also delivered via teletherapy platforms that are not simply business platforms with a few extras but are platforms that leverage all available technology to maximize student engagement and clinical applications. Specific features reflecting clinical best practices in remote service delivery include a collaborative whiteboard, YouTube integration, built-in digital assessments, Individual Education Program (IEP) goal integration and progress tracking, co-browsing capability to support use of all web-based clinical tools and materials, and second-camera integration for evaluations and specific therapy needs.
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