The unexpected advantages of Teletherapy

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the Health Professions Council updated their guidelines and regulations regarding telehealth services to include: "Telemedicine which involves remote consultation with patients using the telephone or virtual platforms".

This created a window of opportunity for clients and therapists that were willing to adapt, by embracing technology.

Don't get me wrong ....... it was incredibly daunting. Daunting for parents who needed to find the time and energy to become active participants in their child's therapy sessions, and for the Occupational Therapist who was used to working in a therapy room full of toys, educational materials and specialised equipment and who was experienced in "hands-on" therapy.

The ones that we were most concerned about, the kids, surprised us all by being the most resilient and quickly adapting to online therapy methods. From their point of view: what is there not to like about having two adults' undivided attention for 30 minutes whilst having fun?

Children are motivated by newly designed audio and visual onscreen input that make these virtual sessions even more interactive and rewarding. Not to mention that they were missing their regular OT sessions and in this way, they at least got to "see" and interact with "their" OT.

We quickly discovered that the typical, pre-covid therapy session of 45 minutes, was too long and "hectic" for an online session and reduced our sessions to 30 minutes which works for the children, the parents and the therapist.

In addition to the benefits of lower therapy costs (shorter sessions), less travel time, reduced travel costs and no risk of infection, most parents have also reported that they feel more "empowered" as they have learned and developed skills to play, grow and interact with their child while making use of their home resources.

Many parents have opted to share video recordings of online OT sessions with their partners, family members and nannies which has led to greater involvement of the child's caregiver network in the child's therapy. 

Parents have also reported an improved understanding of OT jargon and better carry-over of OT goals into their home setting.

As almost all sessions take place in the comfort of the home, the therapist has been able to develop a better understanding of family dynamics, resources and the home environment, to make child-specific recommendations about toys, equipment or structure in the household. This has not only benefited the children that are in therapy but also their siblings.

Even though we all look forward to returning back to hands-on, face-to-face therapy, Telemedicine has added a new and exciting dynamic to the Occupational Therapy process.

Based on these positive outcomes and if the Health Professions Council allows, I hope to include teletherapy as one of my "new normal treatment options, even after Covid-19.

Learning with Lego

Assuming that most families will have a version of Lego, Duplo or blocks at home, I'm going to share some "out of the box" Lego learning activities with you in order to help alleviate the stress, boredom, frustration and guilt that you may be feeling during your family's lockdown or quarantine period. I will also be sharing some wonderful and inspirational websites that you can visit for more daily activity ideas.

1. LEGO MAZE or MARBLE RUN

@play.and.learn.activities on Instagram, Hannah demonstrates how you can use the Lego building board to design a maze that your child tips from side to side in order to roll the marble or ping-pong ball through the maze. Make this task more challenging by getting the child to try and complete the maze whilst standing on their knees or balancing on one leg.

2. LEGO HOOP TOWERS

@preschool_mama on Instagram, Amanda shared an idea of how to expand on all kids' favourite activity: Tower building. Place the towers at a distance and use bracelets, pipe cleaners tied in a hoop, bent straws or cardboard ring cut-outs to throw at and hook around the towers. Allocate points to the towers and see who can get the highest score!

3. LEGO HIDE AND SEEK

@playroomstories on Instagram, Jana demonstrates how you can use simple colour fabrics or even just items of clothing from around the house to play a colour sorting game. Hide a set number of Lego pieces around the room and get your children to look for and then sort them onto the matching colour fabric. For toddlers simply place the Duplo blocks around the room but our for pre-schoolers Lego can be hidden out of direct sight. Add a fun listening component by using the term "hot" when they get close to the blocks and "cold" when they are far away. 

4. PLAY DOUGH LEGO ART

At artfulparent.com Jean Van't Hul shares some ideas and inspiration on how to enjoy art with your kids. One of my favourite activities is using Lego pieces as stamps in order to make a picture. The same concept can be applied when practising letter and number formations e.g. using dots to outline a large letter "b" in the playdough and encouarge your child to use the lego stamps to complete the dot to dot.

5. LEGO PAINTING

Search online for domesticmommyhood.com where mother of two Bekki, shares her love for cooking and crafts. Add a messy play component by dipping the blocks in the paint before stamping them onto a blank page. This activity can also be used to teach colour concepts, size differentiation or counting e.g divide the page in half and write the number 4 on one side and 7 on the other, indicating the amount of stamps the child has to make in on each side. Encourage pre-schoolers to stamp out their spelling words using the blocks and paint.

6. LEGO MATHS AND LITERACY

There are multiple printables and picture inspiration available on Pinterest so please make of use of this when finding Lego maths and spelling inspiration.

Use the blocks as "counters" during maths activities or incorporating a dice into your tower building activity and only adding the amount indicated on the dice to your tower.

Write letters on the side of the lego and use them to build words. This can be completed in a tower format or a wall. For a bigger challenge, write words on the side of the blocks and try to gather as many rhyming words as possible.

7. LEGO SECRET CODE

@sarahfrugalfunforboys online and on Instagram - Sarah specialises in Lego building ideas and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Match) play activities for active kids. She shares wonderful ideas for children of all ages but one that really caught my eye was the coding activity which is mostly for kids ages 8 and up. By allocating a letter of the alphabet to different blocks you children can write and decode secret messages made with the block sequence they are given or created.