Pediatric Therapy via Telehealth:
A story from Caitlyn Berry, Occupational Therapist at SOAR365, about how we’ve changed things so we can continue to serve clients.
Back in late March, SOAR365 made an announcement like many businesses in the Richmond area, requiring all employees who could to work from home as the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality in our country. The Speech, Developmental, Physical, and Occupational Therapists of SOAR365’s Pediatric Therapy program immediately began problem solving how to transition away from visiting families’ homes for Early Intervention therapies to offering virtual “telehealth” therapy sessions.
Understandably, transitioning to telehealth for therapy was met with apprehension on the side of the therapists and the parents. But now four months in, everyone is seeing the benefit of providing services this way. Therapists report that they have really sharpened their parent coaching skills to teach parents how to do the therapeutic strategies they would typically be using. And parents are stepping up to the challenge and learning new strategies and techniques to help their child meet their therapy goals. This new form of collaboration has had many positive impacts and children receiving therapy are continuing to progress and meet their goals.
Occupational Therapist, Caitlyn Berry writes: “One silver lining is I think many of us will be better at parent coaching and significantly better therapists as a result of this.”