Benefits of Speech Teletherapy for Children with Speech and Language Disorders

Did you know that 7.7% of American children between the ages of 3 and 17 have suffered from a language, speech, voice, or swallowing disorder within the last year (NIDCD)? Among this age group, 5% had a speech disorder that lasted between a week and 12 months.

Speech and language disorders are all too common. For the longest time, many children with these disorders have been unable to access affordable speech therapy sessions to treat their disorders, especially those living in rural or underprivileged communities (LibertySpeechAssociates).

Fortunately, the recent technological advances in speech therapy services now allow children to receive teletherapy services from any location with a high-speed internet connection.

Teletherapy is a special type of speech therapy for kids online. It allows children to connect with an online speech therapist via a webcam and computer to receive the same quality speech therapy lessons that they would in person.

However, there are additional benefits to teletherapy for speech disorders that are unavailable at traditional therapy sessions. Let’s explore what they are.

Below are the top 4 benefits of teletherapy speech evaluation and treatment (International Journalism of Telerehabilitation).

1) Time Flexibility

Online speech therapy services offer time flexibility for parents and children. Parents can schedule their children for speech therapy via video call whenever they are free from school and work. Children are likely to attend more speech therapy online sessions if they don’t need to get rides and travel somewhere to receive them. Their consistency in attending the speech therapy sessions online will lead to better and faster results.

2) Comfort

Children are often more comfortable attending speech therapy online because they are still in their safe home environment. They don’t feel the same anxiety and fear that they typically would in some strange office. This comfort allows children to be highly receptive to the telehealth speech therapy lessons and retain the knowledge and information learned.

3) Engagement

Studies show that child engagement is higher when using remote speech therapy services. Since modern children love going on the computer in general, they like to engage with live videos and virtual sessions in ways they wouldn’t do at in-person sessions. That makes the online therapy more effective.

4) Parent Involvement

Parents can be more active in their children’s online speech therapy sessions. They can observe the speech therapy techniques taught to their children and potentially reinforce those same lessons to their children on their own time. That will help keep those lessons fresh in the children’s minds after the sessions. 

Receive Speech Therapy Consultations Online

Do you have speech and language concerns for your child? Therapy Beyond Boundaries is a private virtual speech therapy provider for families. A qualified Speech-Language Pathologist will attend every online session with your child.

Contact us to discover how our personalized speech therapy services can support your child’s speech and language needs!

Bibliography

Caruso, Courtney. “7 Benefits of Teletherapy.” Liberty Speech Associates | Speech Therapy for All Ages, 11 Mar. 2018, libertyspeechassociates.com/speech-therapy/7-benefits-of-teletherapy/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.

Dilbaz Gürsoy, Merve, et al. “Telepractice with Preschool Children: Speech-Language Pathologists’ Perspectives in Turkey.” International Journal of Telerehabilitation, vol. 14, no. 2, 13 Dec. 2022, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10681051.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. “Quick Statistics about Voice, Speech, Language.” NIDCD, 4 Mar. 2024, www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-voice-speech-language.