Gwyneth is an excellent speech therapist, her patient and encouraging persona is very helpful in aiding me to develop the right speech techniques to overcome my speech dysfluencies. Due to the COVID-19 situation, most of my speech therapy sessions with Gwyneth is via Skype and ZOOM, but there is no slack in the intensity. Over the Internet, Gwyneth helped me to correct my speech patterns and maintain the rigour in applying speech techniques through the weekly sessions. In the later segment of the therapy, Gwyneth helped me to transfer what I have learnt into my daily life: conversations with family, friends, strangers and also public speaking. Thank you, Gwyneth!

With much gratitude,
Aaron Cheng

It was a pleasure to work with Aaron on his speech. Aaron had stuttering and was treated with speech restructuring (Camperdown Program). This means that he had to learn a new way of speaking to help him coordinate and control his speech better. Due to the Covid-19 situation, Aaron had most of his therapy sessions via Telepractice with ZOOM/SKYPE as a platform. He had about 18 weekly sessions to treat the stuttering. In addition to being consistent in his weekly attendance, Aaron was very diligent and disciplined in his speech practice. He was very determined to use his new speech pattern in his day to day situations e.g. with his family and at work meetings. Well done Aaron!

The use of Telepractice for the treatment of stuttering has been well researched. There are randomised controlled trials supporting the effectiveness of treating stuttering with the Lidcombe Program (pre-schoolers) and the Camperdown Program (adolescents and adults). Treating stuttering via Telepractice can be just as effective as treatment at the clinic. Some advantages include: less travel time, learning in a familiar and comfortable environment, ease of generalising the new speech pattern into real daily situations.

In my experience with Telepractice since 2014, it may not be suitable for everyone. The strengths and potential limitations of Telepractice have to be discussed with each patient/caregiver. Some factors that I may consider are: maturity and nature of the school-aged child/teenager/adolescent, motivation levels, patient needs, parent- child dynamics and language barriers