{"id":7742,"date":"2020-06-16T21:07:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T01:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grafton.local\/?p=7742"},"modified":"2020-06-16T21:07:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T01:07:26","slug":"early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The therapists working at Grafton\u2019s Infant and Toddler Connection of the Shenandoah Valley (ITC-SV) typically work face-to-face with clients during home visits. The program, which offers services for children ages birth to three who are not developing as expected, uses a parent-coaching model to help families develop their children\u2019s skills and assess progress. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Virginia in March, the team at ITC-SV has had to find new ways to perform their job remotely.<\/p>\n

We spoke with occupational therapist Jennifer Mantz and speech language pathologist Susan Anderson to see how their work has changed due to social distancing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What were your jobs like before the pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan:<\/strong><\/em> Our jobs consisted almost entirely of home visits. Depending on the client, we typically visited a child anywhere from once per week to once per month, with each visit lasting about an hour.<\/p>\n

Jennifer:<\/strong><\/em> During these visits, we start by asking how things have been going since the last session and address specific concerns. As an occupational therapist, a lot of my time is spent coaching parents by modeling behaviors and doing hands-on demonstrations with the children. For example, I may be working with a toddler on developing fine motor skills, sensory processing, or showing a parent how to transition their baby from a gastrointestinal feeding tube to oral feeding.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How have you adapted to provide services remotely?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan:<\/em><\/strong> We\u2019ve started providing our services exclusively through video conferencing. The ITC-SV has always used a parent-coaching model, but switching to telehealth has forced us to focus even more on the parents. Now that we can\u2019t be there, they are our hands. We\u2019re talking them through it, and for the most part it goes really well. It\u2019s just a little more challenging.<\/p>\n

Jennifer:<\/strong><\/em> I\u2019ve started asking the families to show me daily activities, like washing their hands or taking a walk. I can observe through the webcam, and then we can work with what I saw. I\u2019ve been using that strategy a lot and it\u2019s been very helpful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Were parents initially resistant to the switch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jennifer:<\/strong><\/em> A lot of them didn\u2019t understand how telehealth would work and couldn\u2019t see it being effective. In the beginning, about half of my clients said they didn\u2019t want to participate, but as the stay-at-home order kept getting extended participation has increased to 80%. Now I\u2019m seeing about 32 kids through telehealth, and most families tell me it\u2019s going better than they anticipated.<\/p>\n

Susan:<\/strong> <\/em>Convincing the parents was a pretty big challenge. They would say, \u201cWe try to FaceTime with grandma and grandpa and it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d I had six or seven families that said no, but we kept connecting with them to ask if they would give it a try. At some level, we also had to convince ourselves that this would work. We had never done telehealth like this before, and we were all thrown in the same boat. The truth is, it has really been working better than I thought it could.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you experienced any other challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jennifer:<\/strong><\/em> The technology has been a challenge for some clients, especially for those with a poor internet connection. One of my clients is a grandmother who doesn\u2019t feel comfortable with video conferencing. In those cases, we invite families to send video clips and photos, so we can work with them over the phone.<\/p>\n

Susan:<\/strong><\/em> If a client can\u2019t connect with me online, I still check in by phone and send activities and information to help their child with speech and language skills. Even if they\u2019re not participating in telehealth, we want them to know we\u2019re thinking of them and still there to support them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have there been any unexpected benefits of switching to telehealth?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan:<\/em><\/strong> We used to spend at least 10 hours per week in the car, driving from client to client. Since we started working remotely, I\u2019ve had more time to follow up with families about their treatment plans and provide additional resources. I feel more organized and prepared now that I\u2019m not driving 120 miles per day.<\/p>\n

Jennifer:<\/strong> <\/em>Parents also seem more empowered than before, because they are forced to take the lead since we\u2019re not physically there to show them. Some of the clients are even coming up with creative ideas on their own.<\/p>\n

Susan:<\/strong> <\/em>I agree. They are taking what we\u2019re suggesting and really running with it. Most importantly, we haven\u2019t seen any regression in the children\u2019s skills. At the end of the day, I think the parents are happy to connect with us and still have our support. We\u2019re so happy this is working and children are still able to get the services they need during this difficult time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The therapists working at Grafton\u2019s Infant and Toddler Connection of the Shenandoah Valley (ITC-SV) typically work face-to-face with clients during home visits. The program, which offers services for children ages birth to three who are not developing as expected, uses a parent-coaching model to help families develop their children\u2019s skills and assess progress. Since the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7099,"featured_media":7743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[76,340,341],"class_list":["post-7742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-early-intervention","tag-infants","tag-toddlers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEarly Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The therapists working at Grafton\u2019s Infant and Toddler Connection of the Shenandoah Valley (ITC-SV) typically work face-to-face with clients during home visits. The program, which offers services for children ages birth to three who are not developing as expected, uses a parent-coaching model to help families develop their children\u2019s skills and assess progress. Since the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grafton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GraftonNetwork\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"942\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Moises Mendoza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GraftonNetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GraftonNetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Moises Mendoza\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Moises Mendoza\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/person\/89416d1b12db1bdece4546b97718a08c\"},\"headline\":\"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\"},\"wordCount\":814,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Early intervention\",\"Infants\",\"Toddlers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\",\"name\":\"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg\",\"width\":1842,\"height\":942},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/\",\"name\":\"Grafton\",\"description\":\"Grafton School, Inc.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Grafton Integrated Health Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/logo.png\",\"width\":1779,\"height\":417,\"caption\":\"Grafton Integrated Health Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GraftonNetwork\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/GraftonNetwork\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/grafton-integrated-health-network\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCZpWv7VpQhOMTqj2-dTCTfQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/person\/89416d1b12db1bdece4546b97718a08c\",\"name\":\"Moises Mendoza\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/author\/moisesmendoza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton","og_description":"The therapists working at Grafton\u2019s Infant and Toddler Connection of the Shenandoah Valley (ITC-SV) typically work face-to-face with clients during home visits. The program, which offers services for children ages birth to three who are not developing as expected, uses a parent-coaching model to help families develop their children\u2019s skills and assess progress. Since the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/","og_site_name":"Grafton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GraftonNetwork","article_published_time":"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1842,"height":942,"url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Moises Mendoza","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GraftonNetwork","twitter_site":"@GraftonNetwork","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Moises Mendoza","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/"},"author":{"name":"Moises Mendoza","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/person\/89416d1b12db1bdece4546b97718a08c"},"headline":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic","datePublished":"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/"},"wordCount":814,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg","keywords":["Early intervention","Infants","Toddlers"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/","name":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic - Grafton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-17T01:07:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/SusanAndJennifer.jpg","width":1842,"height":942},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/early-intervention-team-shifts-to-telehealth-model-during-pandemic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Early Intervention Team Shifts to Telehealth Model During Pandemic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/","name":"Grafton","description":"Grafton School, Inc.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#organization","name":"Grafton Integrated Health Network","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/logo.png","width":1779,"height":417,"caption":"Grafton Integrated Health Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GraftonNetwork","https:\/\/x.com\/GraftonNetwork","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/grafton-integrated-health-network\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCZpWv7VpQhOMTqj2-dTCTfQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/#\/schema\/person\/89416d1b12db1bdece4546b97718a08c","name":"Moises Mendoza","url":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/author\/moisesmendoza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7742"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7752,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions\/7752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}