Pilot Program Helps Rural Schools Deliver Speech-Language Therapy

By Dan Nonte, University Relations

Contact: (336) 334-4314

Posted 11-4-09

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A fifth-grader listens intently as his speech-language pathologist reads from a nonfiction book the boy has chosen. The boy answers questions posed by the therapist and soon will have to summarize the story in detail.

What makes this therapy session unique is that the boy and his therapist are hundreds of miles apart. They are part of a TeleSpeech Therapy pilot program that allows speech-language pathologists at UNCG to help children in eastern North Carolina via videoconferencing.

The program has been supported in part by a $67,000 Congressionally-directed grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

In some parts of North Carolina, particularly rural areas, school districts are struggling to hire qualified speech-language pathologists. TeleSpeech Therapy has shown promise as an effective way to deliver services in such places.

“TeleSpeech has provided on-target services for our students,” a school administrator wrote in a program evaluation. “Through videoconferencing, rural school districts are able to service students with limited personnel resources.”

Therapists at UNCG’s Speech and Hearing Program at Gateway University Research Park sit in front of a high-definition camera with an array of materials and peripheral devices. The students face similar cameras and a 38-inch television monitor that allows the students to see the speech-language pathologists.

The pilot program is working with rural school districts in Perquimans and Northampton counties, and delivering treatment that differs very little from face-to-face sessions. A paraprofessional escorts the children to and from therapy and helps manage the on-site materials, student behavior and equipment.

TeleSpeech Therapy could help deal with a rising demand for services. The U.S. Department of Labor has predicted an 11 percent increase between 2006 and 2016 in the number of jobs for speech-language pathologists, who diagnose and treat communication disorders.

Public schools were already having a hard time filling vacancies in 2006, according to a survey conducted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which has endorsed the use of TeleSpeech Therapy when distance, impaired mobility or a lack of specialists creates a barrier to services.

The response to the pilot program, now in its second year, has been positive. Parents, teachers and school administrators indicated a high level of satisfaction in a survey administered last year.

Students have been even more encouraging. A first-grader asked the paraprofessional if she could watch “TeleSpeech Therapy” on her TV at home. Another student asked if his treatment sessions could be increased from twice per week to every day.

For more information about TeleSpeech Therapy, contact Michael Campbell, director of the UNCG Speech and Hearing Program at Gateway University Research Park. He can be reached at (336) 217-5120 or m_campbe@uncg.edu.

Campbell serves on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Ad Hoc Committee for Telepractice and is a member of the American Telemedicine Association Telerehabilitation Standards and Ethics Committee.