Benefits of Telepractice in Early Intervention

Telepractice creates opportunities for providers to:

• Use quality coaching practices that emphasize continuous family-centered support, rather than just during scheduled visits.
• Observe how the child participates in real time family activities and settings.
• Identify natural learning opportunities as they happen organically in the child's environment.
• Provide real time guidance while the family interacts with their child.

Telepractice can help families to:

• Participate actively throughout each visit.
• Share real-time examples of what is and is not working.
• Confidently identify and embed sustainable strategies in their everyday routines.

Telepractice makes it easier for providers to:

• Include specialists, such as SLPs, OTs, PTs, educators in part or all of a visit, allowing for true multidisciplinary teamwork.
• Involve community partners such as referral sources and specialists from other agencies in visits (for example, to support transition activities).
• Connect families to specialists not available locally, especially in rural, remote, and frontier areas.

Telepractice makes it easier for families to:

• Include other family members and caregivers who live elsewhere.
• Involve family members who are at work or can't attend in person.

Telepractice allows providers to:

• Offer more scheduling options, including increased opportunities for make-up sessions.
• Support the family during everyday routines such as meals, nap time, and other times when they may need more help.

Telepractice allows families to:

• Schedule visits at times that work best for them.
• Coordinate visits with fewer people entering their home, which can reduce exposure to germs.
• Receive high-quality services with reduced wait time when in-person visits are not feasible.

Telepractice allows providers to:

• Deliver services when they might otherwise be canceled due to circumstances such as illness, weather, or family travel.

Telepractice allows families to:

• Receive consistent services when in-person visits would not have been feasible.
• Receive services without risk of exposure to illness from visitors, especially when children or family members have medical conditions.

Telepractice can:

• Reduce provider travel costs and time making it possible to provide more services with available providers.
• Allow programs to serve more families across regions/islands to cover vacancies without long travel.
• Allow providers the opportunity to work from home, increasing the pool of qualified providers.