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As part of the department’s Country Education Strategy and One in Four Reforms, telepractice is being piloted to deliver speech pathology and psychology services in selected schools across South Australia.
Watch the video to learn more about what telepractice is and the advantages for children with Lisa Hannaford, a Psychologist in our department.
Telepractice for Allied Health service delivery to students video
Telepractice for Allied Health service delivery to students - transcript
Tele-practice is a way of engaging with students through video conferencing. Tele-practice might include observation of a student in a class. It might include meetings with caregivers, site staff, support officers involved with the child's programming, and it could also include intervention and assessment work, and that might be one-on-one, or in a small group capacity.
A typical tele-practice session will involve two steps; they’ll have the student at the site with an e-helper who's been trained to support the student to access that session online; and it will also have a Speech Pathologist or Psychologist connecting to the session remotely. South Australia is a vast state and it’s almost 1 million square kilometres. That's a lot of distance to travel to access a Speech Pathologist or Psychologist service. And we can do that really quickly and efficiently using the video conferencing platform.
Ceduna is 800 kilometres West of Adelaide, so it takes a good day to drive from Adelaide. Via tele-practice, we know that the service will be delivered on the day that it's promised to be delivered. and distance isn’t a factor when we're using tele-practices. Our parents have found it really beneficial, because they are able to connect straight away with the practitioner that's working with their child. And I think it's more personalised because they actually get to see that person face-to-face. Have those conversations, have follow up conversations as required.
The feedback I've got from the parent of the son that I work with, she was happy that we were able to provide her son with the services in Ceduna. Being able to do the link up meant that she didn't have to travel to see the specialist.
Tele-practice is an exciting opportunity for us because we get to reduce wait times for students who can engage with a Speech Pathologist and Psychologist really quickly and easily through the video conferencing platform. A speech pathologist or a psychologist would engage tele-practice services in consultation with site staff and parents or carers. We would make sure that the tele-practice service delivery was right for the child and also that the site had the services and facilities that we need to engage in that platform.
Tele-practice isn't going to be a replacement for a face-to-face, but it's part of what we call a hybrid mode of service delivery, where parts of the service are going to be face-to-face potentially. Parts of the service will be suitable for tele-practice and we'll decide that in partnership with carers, families and schools. There's a lot of evidence to show that tele-practice is equally effective compared to face-to-face service delivery method. Site staff can access tele-practice by contacting their local Education Office and connecting with staff to determine if their site’s suitable for tele-practice.
The Department for Education is really excited to provide opportunities for accessing services via tele-practice because it hopefully reduces wait times for service access. And it means that students and families can access services really quickly should the need arise.
End of transcript.
Telepractice statewide roll out in 2023
Telepractice 'hubs' have been set up in selected schools and Local Education Offices. These hubs have the required ICT infrastructure and can be accessed by neighbouring schools and preschools.
In addition to the hubs, travelling TeleKits will be available for schools across the state.
Each TeleKit is a carry-on sized suitcase that contains all the special equipment and instructions for schools to set up their own temporary telepractice space. They will be sent to schools when there's a student who is going to receive a service through telepractice.
Following a pilot in 2022, we've refined the technology for telepractice and how schools set up for telepractice sessions. In 2023, we'll be focusing our learning on which students and sessions can benefit the most from telepractice service delivery.
Using telepractice to provide specialist services
Telepractice uses video conferencing to deliver specialist services at a distance. Using video conferencing, a clinician can remotely connect to a child or young person, their carer or any person responsible for delivering services to a client.
This allows service providers to respond to the education and wellbeing needs of children and young people, particularly those in remote and regional areas who have limited access to face-to-face services.
Telepractice services can include:
- assessment
- intervention
- consultation.
When telepractice may be used
Telepractice can be used to deliver a range of specialist services, such as speech pathology and psychology.
It may be used for:
- individual sessions
- group sessions
- specialist educational assessments.
Your school or preschool can advise the best way for your child to access services, which may or may not include telepractice.
Telepractice software
Telepractice is delivered through COVIU, a specialised allied health video conferencing platform. COVIU makes sure that allied health and departmental compliance is guaranteed, including privacy requirements and data storage.
To support your child, service providers may also use Teams, Webex or phone for meetings.
Preparing for a telepractice session
Your child’s school or preschool will work with you and your child to prepare for a telepractice session.
You may be asked to:
- provide consent for your child to engage in the agreed service by telepractice
- transport your child to a telepractice hub (if relevant)
- attend and participate in telepractice sessions (for example for intervention sessions).
Your school or preschool will:
- arrange the telepractice session
- make sure the technology is available, including hardware, software and connectivity
- set up the room so the telepractice session can run smoothly
- explain how the session will work
- provide an e-helper (site-based educator, preschool or school support worker or allied health professional) to coordinate the session and provide tech support
- make sure appropriate confidentiality and security are in place.
During a telepractice session
During a telepractice session, your child will be connected to the service provider using a laptop or device.
Students accessing services by telepractice may require different levels of support to engage with the technology. An e-helper will help your child engage in all aspects of the telepractice session.
A telepractice session may involve some or all of the following:
- meet with you, or the preschool or school staff, to get and share information about your child
- assess your child’s needs
- provide recommendations on how to support your child at school or preschool
- work directly with your child to monitor and follow up their progress
- provide support for yourself, or the school or preschool staff working with your child to implement programs.
