Most Speech Pathology services are conducted in a clinical setting, be it consulting rooms, school, hospital or rehabilitation centre.
At times however, it may be necessary to provide professional services in the client’s home environment. This may be requested by the family of a child with special needs or a disabled adult that is unable to travel.
When providing professional services at home there are certain considerations that need to be made, before this commitment is undertaken.
These are:
- The client and family should be made aware that there may be an extra cost, due to the travelling and setup times involved.
- Your own commitment to providing such a service on an ongoing basis.
- Service regularity and provisions for their and your public and private holiday requirements.
- Privacy considerations.
- Extra documentation that may be necessary.
Providing professional services in the home tends to promote stronger emotional bonds between the clinician, client and or family. For this reason it is very important to maintain professional distance. Although the service is being conducted in their home, all conduct needs to be absolutely professional with firm boundaries put in place. This is always reaffirming for both the client, family and clinician.
Home based therapy programs are valuable in many ways.
As a clinician you can observe,
- The child interacting within their home environment.
- The parent interacting with their child in both functional and play activity.
- The types of stimulus and developmental nature of their toys and activities.
- The style of behavioural management the parents are using.
- The level of pragmatic language and behaviour the child is capable of.
- Their natural style of play.
- Their functional interactions with siblings, pets, friends, etc.
- The physical nature and structure of their play environment.
- The computer and learning software programs currently being used.
- Adult swallowing impaired clients may include the food/ fluid preparations they are attempting to cope with from their own kitchen.
- Their normal seating, posturing and positioning they use whilst eating and drinking.
Providing home based therapy services can be a valuable experience for the client, their family and the clinician. Please remember that if you are concerned about a loved one’s communication or swallowing ability, please seek the opinion of an experienced Speech Pathologist.
Mr Craig Gorman
Speech Pathologist.