Telepractice in NY Needs Your Support In Two Ways

 In one of my recent blog posts,   I shared the scientific evidence that shows speech therapy via telepractice works. Despite the fact that speech therapy via telepractice is effective, New York did not have telepractice as a service modality option for students in New York state schools nor babies and infants within the Early Intervention Program in New York until the pandemic shifted schools from in person learning to remote learning and put a hold on early intervention providers from going into peoples’ homes. It is a shame that it took a pandemic for New York to allow speech therapy to be provided via telepractice to students and early intervention recipients because in addition to it being an effective service modality, it makes speech therapy accessible to more families. An underserved school district or town can have an easier time finding a speech therapist, occupational therapist or physical therapist because then any provider licensed and credentialed to practice in New York can serve the child without having to relocate or drive long distances to get to the child and the families do not need to commute anywhere for services either. Speech therapy via telepractice also allows families to observe and assist during sessions that usually occur when the child is at school, which provides them a valuable opportunity to learn the strategies and techniques used to help their child succeed and allows their child’s skills to generalize from school into the home. Speech-language pathologists have shared that they have seen positive gains when their session is provided via telepractice because they are better able to use a family coaching model and empower families to use certain techniques and strategies to help improve their child’s speech, language, communication and swallowing skills themselves instead of being able to leave the room and not take an active role during the session, which unfortunately happens sometimes during in person therapy sessions.When families take an active role in a child’s therapy, the child progresses faster and their skills generalize from the therapy session to everyday life at home and in the community. Other states such as Virginia, California and Florida, have embraced telepractice long before the pandemic. It is my wish that New York will continue to allow speech therapy and other therapies via telepractice to students in New York schools and children in the New York Early Intervention Program after COVID-19 becomes a memory. 

The First Way to Help

     I urge you to contact them and to also sign this petition in order to advocate for telepractice to remain a service modality for children who need speech therapy, occupational therapy and/or physical therapy within the New York state school system and Early Intervention Program.  Below is what I emailed to Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand:

Dear Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand,

     Before the pandemic, speech therapy via telepractice was not a service modality option for schools and early intervention programs in New York state. Last school year, I started a new job in April and I was the first speech-language pathologist (SLP) to provide speech therapy to a bunch of students on my caseload in NYC. If it were not for telepractice, these students would have gone all school year without speech therapy! It was a pleasure to serve the students in the city where I earned my degrees, did my clinical fellowship and started my career. The situation made me upset about how many students would have continued to go without speech therapy in NYC if it were not for telepractice! Then I thought about how many SLPs are in NYC and if NYC is having trouble providing speech therapy to all of its students in need then imagine how hard of a time schools in rural NY will have providing speech therapy to their students! Speech therapy via telepractice is effective and evidence based practice, please read my blog post for scientific evidence backing up the efficacy of speech therapy via telepractice https://www.accessiblespeechlanguagepathology.com/blog/is-speech-therapy-via-telepractice-effective. Telepractice is a way to provide healthcare and legally mandated therapy services to children and families in need and to keep speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and physical therapists working. It shocks me that schools would rather leave students without their legally mandated services and open the school district up for a due process lawsuit over the violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act at the expense of tax payers than employ speech-language pathologists to provide these legally mandated services via telepractice. Please advocate for my profession, my colleagues and the people we serve by keeping telepractice as a service modality in the schools and early intervention program after the pandemic.

Sincerely,

Loren Alexander MS CCC-SLP TSSLD

The Second Way to Help

New York State Senate Bill S8785 is currently in committee and needs our support. Bill S8785 is a motion for healthcare providers in New York to be paid the same for telepractice visits as they are for in person visits. This bill will help all healthcare providers who provide services in New York. Of course, the more states who have telehealth pay parity laws, the easier it is for the remaining states to get on board. Please show your support for healthcare providers by going to this website clicking “aye”, writing in your contact information and some optional words expressing why you support the bill and then sharing this link with others. For good measure, I also wrote to Governor Cuomo here to tell him why I support this bill and to ask him to support it as well.

Thank you in advance for signing these two petitions and contacting our senators about keeping telepractice as a service modality in New York and passing a pay parity law for healthcare providers. The telepractice modality brings us another step closer to making speech therapy accessible to all.