An Inside Look at the Online Therapy Experience

Since services like occupational therapy and physical therapy can be very tactile, many clients ask how the physical needs can be attained through a screen. To achieve the best results, we’ll start by sending a checklist to learn what resources you have in your home. Activities are designed to be functional and easy to replicate at home, so the session will feel natural, not like we’re trying to recreate the clinic.

Our therapist will also have you or another caregiver prepare the physical environment before the session. We encourage caregivers to use items that are already at their home to keep the sessions realistic and sustainable. This also helps educate parents and family members about carryover of activities, which allows children to practice outside of sessions.

Ahead of the session, we’ll send a checklist with reminders for:

• Ensuring a stable internet connection
• Removing nearby distractions
• Turning on cameras and microphones on your device
• Setting up chairs
• Moving tables
• Building an obstacle course

A therapist can also create easy-to-understand visuals of the instructions for parents to follow and use a timer to help children transition between activities. Our pediatric therapy sessions also have a focus on parent coaching, explaining what should be done and why it matters, using non-medical or technical terms.

While the therapist can’t engage physically during a session, they can still observe closely, guide, and lead, while also building the caregiver’s skills and strengthening caregiver carryover.

The Long-Lasting Benefits of Home-Based Care

Teletherapy can help your child reach developmental milestones because care is provided right in your home. In some cases, sensory and developmental milestones can benefit more from work conducted in a child’s natural environment.

Everyday skills such as dressing, feeding, toileting, transitioning between activities, and using regulation strategies can be processed differently at home compared to a clinic. Similarly, sensor processing skills, such as tolerating textures, sounds, or crowded spaces, can often best be addressed in the real environments where challenges naturally occur.

With teletherapy, the therapist witnesses how the child participates in their daily activities at home. In most cases, children can perform better in their homes because they feel comfortable in the environment. Therapists can also identify triggers and barriers and develop strategies that can be embedded in the child’s daily routines.

Success Story: Using Teletherapy to Practice Real-Life Skills

Our pediatric teletherapy services have produced successful results for our clients. One story that highlights the importance of the skills we build during our sessions involves a child who was working on emotional regulation, frustration tolerance, and executive functioning skills.

During one session, the internet connection unexpectedly experienced issues, which typically would have easily triggered frustrations. However, the child was able to recognize their feelings and independently use the calming strategies that had been practiced in previous teletherapy sessions.

By the end of the session, the child had successfully regulated their emotions and continued participation. This instance was a breakthrough because it showed that the skills learned through virtual therapy were transferring to real-life challenges, highlighting the effectiveness of our relationship-based approach.