Speech-Language Therapy Through Telepractice: Bridging the Gap for Rural Children

Our long-term research goal is to develop culturally appropriate telehealth practices for DHH children. Our preliminary data show that rural parents with DHH children are interested in alternate service delivery options including telehealth. Our objective in this application, which is the first step to achieving our long-term goal, is to develop a culturally-appropriate protocol to engage families in telehealth for speech-language services. Our research has shown that inaccurate telehealth knowledge is the primary barrier to Kentucky rural school districts adoption of telehealth. Therefore, our central hypothesis is that rural families with DHH children also are ill informed about telehealth and a health literacy program tailored to this underserved population could improve successful adoption. Our rationale for this proposal is that failure to properly educate and prepare families for telehealth can result in a substantial waste of time, money, and effort, and more importantly, lost development of a child’s communication skills15-16. In doing so, we will be the first to investigate acceptance and usability of a telehealth literacy protocol aimed at families.