Telehealth speech therapy means that children and families can access speech therapy, visits to their day care, kindy or school providing education and training, as well as some speech therapy assessments, no matter where they live thanks to videoconferencing technology. All you need is a working laptop, iPad or tablet and an internet connection.
Telehealth Speech Therapy for Kids
Hear and Say offers online speech therapy for children of all ages. Through telehealth or telepractice, you can do a speech therapy lesson or some assessments with a speech pathologist from the comfort of your own home. We offer speech therapy sessions via telehealth to children and families anywhere in Australia no matter where they live – city, rural or remote.
Qualified Speech Pathologists
Hear and Say are paediatric experts for both hearing and speech therapy needs. Book an appointment with our qualified speech pathologists for a speech and language assessment to get the complete picture of your child’s current developmental level and any difficulties they may be having with their communication.
What is Telehealth Speech Therapy?
How Does Online Speech Therapy Work?
Before your telehealth speech therapy appointment our speech pathologists work with the you to plan the lesson. They will advise you of any resources, for example books, toys or craft supplies, that may be needed during the appointment so you can prepare them ahead of time. Any play-based activity that can be carried out in an in-centre appointment can be undertaken via online speech therapy.
Your therapist will send you a Zoom link via email before the appointment with some instructions on how to get started. This involves downloading Zoom and clicking the meeting link that your therapist has emailed to you. Ensure that your video and microphone are both turned on and working. You should hear a bell and begin to see your therapist once they join the meeting.
Consider Your Child's Hearing First
About 300 babies are born with hearing loss each yet however by the time children reach school-age, this number doubles. Children’s hearing can change over time, even if they pass the newborn hearing screen at birth which can impact their speech and language development.
Hear and Say’s paediatric audiologists can help with a hearing test for your child.
Common Signs of Speech and Language Delays
Our Online Speech Therapy Services
At Hear and Say our speech therapists work with children who have been diagnosed with a hearing loss as well as children who may be experiencing speech or language difficulties, including:
- Late or not talking
- Middle ear issues or concerns
- A delay in their speech (which may be clarity or articulation of speech sounds)
Online Speech Therapy Session for Children
Before starting speech pathology with children, our qualified speech pathologist will undertake a speech and language assessment to give them an understanding of your child’s developmental level. They will be able to assess a child’s ability to communicate and interact with the people around them.
Online Speech Therapy Sessions for Kids with Hearing Loss
We're here to help
Book a speech and language assessment or online speech therapy appointment for your baby, toddler or child. We have online speech therapy appointments as well as a number of hearing clinics in Queensland.
Brisbane | Gold Coast | Sunshine Coast | Toowoomba | Townsville | Telehealth
Telehealth FAQs
Telehealth is the provision of speech therapy via videoconferencing technology such as Zoom or Microsoft teams using the internet. At Hear and Say, we are very experienced in providing telehealth services to children, adults and their families
Our speech pathologists will work with you ahead of the online speech therapy appointment to plan the lesson so you feel comfortable with the plan and activities that will be used to reach the child’s goals. They will also send you a link to join the video call via email ahead of the appointment.
You can use online speech therapy whenever suits you and your family to achieve your goals. You may wish to see your speech pathologist in-centre or via a combination of online and face-to-face sessions. Online speech therapy services are also a good option if someone in your family is unwell or you’re unable to travel to our centre.
Our research shows that there was no significant difference between children who had in-centre therapy compared to those who had telehealth speech therapy.
You will need a laptop or tablet, working internet connection and some toys or tools to use as part of the activities for the appointment.
Speech therapy online session times can vary. Typically, an online speech therapy session will run for 60 minutes which allows for 45 minutes therapy and 15 minutes for discussion of goals, parent training and discussion around ideas to implement activities in the home environment. Specific time frames can vary depending on the age of the child and current therapy goals.
Speech Therapy FAQs
To help the speech pathologist get an accurate picture of the current communication skills of your child, it is important to bring along any past reports, letters, diagnoses or other information that could help them interpret their results. Sometimes, it is helpful to bring a child’s toy or favourite book, or a snack and a water bottle as well, to help the child feel more comfortable in a clinic room or help build rapport with the Speech Pathologist.
The cost that you are paying for a comprehensive assessment includes three hours of the clinician’s time. Even though you may only see your clinician for an hour for the assessment, there have been two hours dedicated for them to score and interpret the assessments completed with your child, and to write a thorough report detailing your child’s communication skills. This time may also include their planning of therapy for their initial therapy session with your child, should it be decided that your child needs ongoing therapy.
Speech pathologists are governed by their practising body (Speech Pathology Australia), and ethically, as a private practice, we should not be offering to conduct assessments without providing a report. The report can be a screening report or a comprehensive report, and this will be determined by the Speech Pathologist. We routinely book all new clients in for a comprehensive report to ensure the Speech Pathologist is allocated the correct amount of time to provide high-quality services and feedback to you about your child’s communication.
In this case, it would be important for you to send the report to us before your assessment so that our Clinical Lead or treating speech pathologist can decide whether a comprehensive or screening assessment is appropriate for your child. This often depends on how recent the report was conducted (ideally within the past 6 months), as a child’s communication abilities may change, or improve a lot compared to what was reported a year ago. Please forward your report to mail@hearandsay.com.au before your appointment to help your speech pathologist plan for your child’s upcoming assessment accordingly.
Our speech pathologists often see multiple clients a day with their busy caseloads which means that we cannot guarantee to offer a super quick turnaround time for reports. For a screening report, please allow up to two weeks for your child’s report to come through. If your child has been booked for a comprehensive assessment, please allow up to four weeks for your report to come through. If however, you have a specific upcoming appointment with another health professional or NDIS case manager that you are requiring the report by, please let your Speech Pathologist know at the time of the appointment. Our speech pathologists will try to complete your report as soon as they can, but we do appreciate your patience with this. Your report will be sent to you electronically via email and a physical copy can also be given at your next session as requested.
Our schedule of fees is one of the important documents we attach to our welcome email. We always try to keep the cost down for families. For instance, we’ll help you access funding and link you to government-funded services to help reduce your out-of-pocket costs where possible.
Yes. Ideally for speech pathology sessions to be effective speech pathologists need to work together with the parents as a team. This often means being involved in sessions, watching and then modelling strategies used by the speech pathologist within the session so that you can continue to work on these at home. Sometimes home activities and home practice will also be set to ensure the child or client is working on their communication goals in between sessions.
Every session will be different, depending on the needs of the child or adult we are working with. Generally, we start with an assessment to understand their communication goals and then we’ll work together with you to continue working on specific areas that your child is having difficulties with to help improve their communication. We believe in working with our clients and their families to make therapy fun, so we often play games and do interactive activities as part of our sessions. Your speech pathologist will also likely set some home activities or homework for you and/or your child to complete in between therapy sessions.
The number and frequency of therapy sessions will depend on:
- your child’s current abilities
- the severity of their speech delays
- type of therapy being implemented
- their progress in response to this therapy
- the family’s familiarity and confidence with the home strategies and activities
Therapy sessions run for either 30, 45 or 60 minutes and take place weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. They may be scheduled in therapy blocks or on an ongoing basis. They also include additional administration time for the therapist to plan activities, document progress, and write reports.
Yes. If you have private health insurance with extras cover, it is always a good idea to contact your private health provider to see if speech pathology is one of the items that your current policy covers. If it is recommended that your child requires continued speech pathology appointments, it may be worth checking to see if increasing your premium to include speech pathology services is worth it for your and your family’s circumstances.
Your GP may prescribe a General Practitioner Management Plan (GPMP) or a Team Care Arrangement (TCA) to help your child access services from a variety of allied health professionals. Please note that this is up to your GP’s discretion. Normally they can provide a Medicare rebate for up to five services with any allied health professionals within a year.
No. Unfortunately, the Medicare rebate for GPMPs cannot be used for you or your child’s initial assessment appointment. However, the GPMP Medicare rebates can be used for ongoing speech pathology sessions. Normally your GP will receive a letter from your speech pathologist after the first session and after the number of prescribed sessions for speech pathology have been completed.
Government funding programs such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) may also assist families in accessing services. For more information about this, please visit our website: Registered NDIS Provider – Hear and Say
Your speech pathologist may also discuss this further with you and your family depending on your child’s communication needs.
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We acknowledge the traditional custodians of all the lands on which we meet, work and live and recognise that this land has always been and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
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