Telepractice for speech-language services with school-aged children: An efficacy study

Presented to the 12th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Heskett Center, Wichita State University, April 29, 2016.Research completed at Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health ProfessionsTelepractice has the potential to extend speech-language pathology services to remote and underserved populations; however, current evidence on the efficacy of telepractice for speech-language services is limited. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the efficacy of speech-language telepractice service delivery compared to traditional, face-to-face intervention. A retrospective analysis compared reported standardized scores for children 6-9 years of age, served via telepractice with those served in face-to-face school settings. Each child received 4-9 months of intervention for disordered “speech sound production”. Analysis revealed no significant difference in improvement scores between the face-to-face group (4% improvement, p=.739, 95% CI[.82-1.33]) and the telepractice group after adjusting for age, length of service, and initial score. Each additional month of service was associated with approximately a 4%, p<.016, 95% CI[1.01-1.07]improvement. For school-aged children presenting with disorders of speech sound production, telepractice is a viable mode of service delivery.Graduate School, Academic Affairs, University Libraries, Regional Institute on Agin