stuttering-and-its-clinical-management---12-lectures_2025-02-04

Telehealth

Current early childhood stuttering interventions were developed for the traditional format of weekly

clinic visits. The term telehealth refers to treating clients when they are not in the clinic. There are

reviews available of telehealth in speech-language pathology with specific reference to stuttering

treatment.

1,2 Professional speech-language

pathology associations have also reviewed

telehealth service provision and associated

professional issues with it.3,4,5

During the Covid pandemic, 106 United

States and Canadian speech-language

pathologists6 were surveyed about delivering

the Lidcombe Program (a treatment to be

discussed shortly) with telehealth. A majority

of 94% indicated that they would include

telehealth in future Lidcombe Program

delivery. They reported the treatment to be

easily adaptable to telehealth, with benefits including “time efficiency, flexibility of scheduling, and

improved clinical processes” (p. 1). Reported challenges involved technology, establishing a clinical

relationship, and identifying mild stuttering.

Telehealth seems viable for presenting the Lidcombe Program in a school setting. According to

interviews of five school-based Australian clinicians,7 the key issues were (1) understanding and

managing the required technology, (2) logistics of the procedure in a school setting, (3) support from

colleagues and the school, and (4) establishing family engagement with the telehealth model.

Video telehealth is currently accessible using laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The number of

households with internet connections is increasing rapidly, and internet transmission rates are