Jacksonville Company Launches Teletherapy Training

Jacksonville Company Launches Teletherapy for children with autism and other special needs

The pandemic has caused many children to finish their studies at home, limiting or changing the support and services they receive on a daily basis. Because of this, a company in Jacksonville, Florida is helping train and certify therapists across the country for teletherapy in effort to maintain consistent support. 

The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES) opened a teletherapy training and certification program for speech and occupational therapists. Jacksonville Speech and Hearing is the first center in Florida that went through the training program. Now, they have all the speech-language pathologists trained in teletherapy.

“We have thought about teletherapy but now because of COVID, the idea of telepractice allowed us to keep helping our Duval County public school students and giving the patients at the clinic the speech-language therapy they needed”, said Michael Howland, CEO of Jacksonville Speech and Hearing Center to Heather Crawford from First Coast News.

Myron Pincomb, CEO of IBCCES, explained that it has been a long process to finalize the training. “The project consisted of 34 physicians and therapists. We tried to form a procedure to see how to provide the services virtually,” says Pincomb to First Coast News. 

McKenzie Miller is a 6-year-old and has been going to speech therapy for 3 years. Her mother, Elexis Stevens, says to First Coast News, that teletherapy has been very efficient because it lets her daughter have weekly sessions with her therapists without leaving her home.

“This program is very useful and effective since you don’t have to leave your house, you just log into your computer and it’s done. It also helps the children stay on track and keep a routine” says Stevens to First Coast News.

If you want to learn more about the training, visit IBCCES’s website.