The COVID-19 pandemic quickly taught many ASHA members some important lessons about the benefit—and challenges—of telepractice. Although many people may simply appreciate the conveniences of telepractice even with physical distancing restrictions lifted, others are focusing on the potential for telepractice to bridge physical and social borders.
The latest forum from Special Interest Group 18, Telepractice, looks at telepractice programs from multiple perspectives—parents, practitioners, and graduate students. This forum is a supplemental resource for those who are looking to pursue international partnerships or who are just interested in reading more about the potential of telepractice!
International Telepractice
The forum opens with an article by Pollard and Hogan focusing on early intervention delivered via telepractice for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Of the parents and practitioners surveyed, most reported being satisfied with the use of telepractice and opted to either continue telepractice or move to a hybrid approach.
Next, Walker and colleagues explored using telepractice to support international partnerships in the United States and Fiji. In this article, they look at a program where graduate student clinicians offer speech-language pathology service to students in Fiji via telepractice. They also describe how cultural backgrounds intersect with service.
The final article by Rule and Ramrattan outlines some principles of international telepractice. The authors focus on using telepractice to provide access to care while ensuring bidirectional, sustainable, and ethical practices. However, they also caution that speech-language pathologists should always ask questions before embarking on a global partnership in order to ensure that they can, indeed, offer culturally responsive care.
More Telepractice Resources
As many clinicians and educators have already discovered, telepractice is here to stay. For those interested in learning more about telepractice, check out our recently updated special collection, Resources for Telepractice, containing articles from across the ASHA Journals Program. You can also find every article on telepractice that was published in the ASHA journals (dating back to 1988) as part of our Telepractice topic collection.
We’d like to thank SIG 18 editor Geralyn Schulz for her work putting together this forum for Perspectives. We hope that you enjoy this look at international collaboration through telepractice!
Explore the Forum
Pollard, R., & Hogan, S. (2021). Parental and practitioner views of telepractice for pediatric auditory verbal habilitation at a time of global pandemic. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(6), 1833–1857. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-21-00062
Rule, D., & Ramrattan, H. M. (2021). International telepractice: Encouraging equity, partnership, and sustainability. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(6), 1865–1871. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-21-00033
Walker, J. P., Richard, M., & Budway, E. (2021). Speech therapy telepractice services in Fiji: A multicultural experience for graduate student clinicians. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(6), 1858–1864. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-21-00046
