Tag: Parent Coaching

Teletherapy’s Success Story
Before COVID-19, most people were not familiar with online therapy, or ‘teletherapy,’ and it was almost unheard of as a way to support children with feeding or communication needs. In March 2020 I, like many people, had to change my way of working (and living) overnight. At the time I was working as a member of a complex needs team seeing children on hospital wards as well as in their homes and in a community clinic. All face-to-face work outside of the hospital stopped overnight and I found myself very quickly becoming familiar with teletherapy. Initially I struggled to imagine how teletherapy would work for the children and families I was supporting; however now that we are five years on, I am pleased to say, it worked (and continues to work) well!

Despite COVID-19 restrictions being lifted and health care and education services returning to pre-COVID-19 normality, many families and professionals, myself included, continue to view teletherapy as a powerful tool in supporting children’s development. In both my NHS and independent work, I offer teletherapy; and I see positive changes in children’s skills as a result of our video sessions. So I started to wonder, ‘does the research support my anecdotal evidence?,’ and the answer is ‘yes!’

What is Teletherapy?

“(Teletherapy) is the delivery of services using telecommunication and internet technology to remotely connect therapists and clients… for screening, assessment, intervention, consultation, and/or education. (Teletherapy) is an appropriate model of service delivery for… speech-language pathologists.”¹

Teletherapy sessions with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy occur through secure video connection and allow you and your child to receive feeding and/or communication therapy without the limitations of distance or situation.

Does Teletherapy Work? Yes!

When I talk with parents about teletherapy, by far the most common question they have is whether or not teletherapy is effective. I was pleased to find that in several studies, “researchers and clinicians have found that tele-speech therapy is an effective tool for improving access to high-quality services and a viable mechanism for delivering speech and language interventions.”² Studies that looked specifically at using teletherapy with children with Autism and their families, found favourable outcomes and a positive impact³ with one study finding that “…services delivered via (teletherapy) were equivalent to services delivered face-to-face, and superior to comparison groups without (teletherapy) sessions.”⁴

The success story of teletherapy is replicated for a variety of patient groups; the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) looked at 40 peer-reviewed studies that confirmed that teletherapy produces outcomes that are as good as direct contact.⁵ Patient groups that ASHA found had a positive response to teletherapy include (but are not limited to) people with:⁶
- Feeding and Swallowing Difficulties
- Speech and Language Delays
- Articulation Difficulties
- Dysfluency (Stuttering)
- Autism
- Cerebral Palsy
- Cognitive-Communication Deficits
- Acquired and Tramautic Brain Injury
What Can I Expect from Teletherapy with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy?

Teletherapy with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy includes all of the same principles of face-to-face therapy and is conducted in essentially the same format as an in-person session. Depending on the needs of your child, a teletherapy session with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy may include hands-on activities, interactive games, or mealtime observations and therapeutic food play. As with our face-to-face sessions, parent coaching is a key component of what we do, so you should expect to be an active part of your child’s teletherapy sessions including hands-on practice with therapeutic techniques and strategies to support your child’s development. During our session, we will ensure you feel confident using appropriate therapeutic techniques and strategies with your child so you can continue to use these techniques and strategies between sessions.

For more information about teletherapy and feeding and/or communication therapy for your child with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy, please get in touch. We look forward to meeting you in person or on a screen!
1. ASHA – Telepractice ↩︎
2. Farmani E, Fekar Gharamaleki F, Nazari MA. Challenges and opportunities of tele-speech therapy: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Public Health Res. 2024 Feb 7;13(1):22799036231222115. doi: 10.1177/22799036231222115. PMID: 38333616; PMCID: PMC10851737. ↩︎
3. Johnsson G, Bulkeley K. Practitioner and Service User Perspectives on the Rapid Shift to Teletherapy for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum as a Result of COVID-19. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Nov 11;18(22):11812. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182211812. PMID: 34831567; PMCID: PMC8620428. ↩︎
4. Sutherland R, Trembath D, Roberts J. Telehealth and autism: A systematic search and review of the literature. Int J Speech Lang Pathol. 2018 Jun;20(3):324-336. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2018.1465123. Epub 2018 Apr 30. PMID: 29709201 ↩︎
5. ASLTIP – Teletherapy: A Proven Way to Provide Speech and Langaueg Therapy… ↩︎
6. ASHA – The Value of Telepractice in Speech-Language Pathology ↩︎
5 September 2025
The Importance of Parent Coaching
After over twenty-five years in the field of speech, language and feeding therapy, a lot has changed! My hair style and clothing, not to mention my taste in music; but what hasn’t changed is the importance of parents in their child’s speech, language and feeding therapy success.

When parents initially seek out speech, language or feeding therapy, they rarely are thinking about how services will be delivered; but, as your therapist, I regularly am thinking about how I can deliver the best and most effective services possible. For young children this almost always means a parent coaching model. Why? Because as a parent, you are your child’s superpower!

What is Parent Coaching?

Parent coaching is a collaborative, family-centered way of delivering therapy where the speech and language therapist coaches parents and caregivers in specific techniques and strategies to support their child’s communication and feeding development during everyday activities.

As a speech, language, and feeding therapist, I want to maximize a child’s opportunities to practice their new communication and feeding skills across their day. The best way to do this is to teach parents and caregivers how to create opportunities and interactions throughout the day that support their child’s communication and feeding learning; voilà, ‘parent coaching!’

Does it Work? Yes!

Children spend significantly more time with parents and caregivers compared to the time they spend with their speech and language therapist; so it makes sense that in order for a child to make the most progress, a child’s parents and caregivers need to understand how to use therapeutic strategies with them during everyday activities. A meta-analysis in 2019 found “… a positive association between parent training and child (development)… suggesting that parent training should play a primary role in intervention… (in order to maximize) outcomes for children….¹ Notably, the meta-analysis found that children whose parents and caregivers were coached to use specific strategies made more progress than children whose parents and caregivers were not taught these strategies.

Findings supporting a parent coaching model for young children are repeatedly duplicated in the research and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) recommends a family-centered model of service delivery, such as parent coaching, when working with children.² ³ Not surprisingly, parent (and caregiver) coaching has been shown to be effective across settings (home, community, education) and with a variety of individuals (parents, grandparents, teachers, nursery staff, etc.).⁴

What Can I Expect from Parent Coaching with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy?

Parent coaching with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy can take place in your home or in the community and can be in-person or via teletherapy. In-person sessions involve us playing together with your child during which time I will model and teach you specific therapy strategies and help you use these strategies with your child to support their communication skills. If we meet over video, I will rely on you to tell and show me how you and your child play together, and we will talk about specific strategies to support your child ‘s communication during play and every day activities.

If we are working on feeding, South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy parent coaching sessions usually occur during a mealtime. Either in-person or via teletherapy, I will sit with you and your child and observe a milk feed or mealtime while trialing specific feeding techniques and strategies. We will practice new feeding techniques and strategies together so you are confident using these to support mealtimes with your child.

If I see your child at school, whenever possible your child’s teacher, teaching assistant, or one-on-one will be involved in the session and directly coached in strategies to support your child’s needs. Following the session, I will leave a detailed note for you and the school describing what was covered during the session and ways to practice and carry-over skills in the classroom and at home.

For more information about parent coaching and communication and/or feeding therapy for your child with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy, please get in touch, and sign up to our newsletter if you would like new posts sent directly to your inbox.
1. Roberts MY, Curtis PR, Sone BJ, Hampton LH. Association of Parent Training With Child Language Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2019 Jul 1;173(7):671-680. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.1197. PMID: 31107508; PMCID: PMC6537769.ggjll ↩︎
2. RCSLT SLCN Resource Manual ↩︎
3. RCSLT – Placing Children and Young People at the Heart of Delivering Quality SLT ↩︎
4. Rush, D.D., and Shelden M.L. (2020).‘
  The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook’,
  2nd ed. Paul H Brookes Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD. ↩︎
4 September 2025