Katie Aday is the founder of Aday of Speech Therapy. Even though her practice is located in Tulsa, she can assist the children in rural areas thanks to technology. Speech telepractice, also known as online speech therapy, utilizes Skype or Facetime allowing the child and therapist to see each other, almost as if the child were in the office.
Aday said the new practice helps the therapist perform the needed activities to assist the child.
“It also allows the client and child to participate in speech/language games and activities that are centered around their goals,” Aday stated. Games like memory games, turn-taking games, and other simple direction activities are vital to reaching the goals and milestones for the child.
Aday was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature from the University of Arizona and went on to graduate with honors in Clinical Speech Language Pathology from Northern Arizona University.
She has worked as a bilingual speech pathologist with special needs children for over fifteen years.
Aday said even though the practice is becoming mainstream, it is still leaving children in need behind.
“Although speech telepractice, or online speech therapy, has taken off in rural schools around Oklahoma, it has not been utilized much for individual insurance/private pay children who are not in school yet, or need extra help outside of their school services,” Aday stated.
She said they accept Soonercare for children who live in rural areas and need the online speech therapy.
Aday said this new program is great news for rural families with children in need of speech therapy. “If your town does not have a speech/ language clinic/therapist available to get your child help, then now you can now receive speech therapy over the internet, with a tablet, computer and sometimes a smartphone.”
She said her practice accepts children ages one to eighteen years old. The oneyear-olds can also be helped by coaching the parent to teach the child while doing an activity.
Aday said the most exciting part of the new technology is all children can receive the help they need with speech, regardless of their location.