The staff at Jacksonville Speech and Hearing Center (JSHC), a Jacksonville-based nonprofit therapy center, has recently completed the Board Certified Telepractice Specialist program through the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES).
“The IBCCES training and certification enabled Jacksonville Speech & Hearing Center to make a confident leap into telepractice. Our clinicians gained an appreciation for techniques, platforms and compliance issues, and, most importantly, invaluable guidance in helping patients, including our Duval County Public School students and their parents, to work through technology issues at their end,” said Michael Howland, President and CEO of the Jacksonville Speech & Hearing Center.
While the technology to implement teletherapy and telehealth has been in place for quite some time, research shows that less than 5% of therapists have been properly trained on how to deliver services virtually. In addition, there is a wide variance in the way it is practiced by therapists and providers when working with individuals on different platforms. The result is adults and children all over the country may be without the necessary services required to help them.
The Board Certified Telepractice Specialist is a training and certification program offered by IBCCES to fill the gap in professional standards and best practices for therapists looking to provide teletherapy to their patients and includes training on setting up a conducive environment for therapy, assessments, privacy, technology, and working with facilitators and other stakeholders in the therapy process.
“For more than 70 years, Jacksonville Speech and Hearing Center has always been willing to step up to the needs of the community. By becoming the first speech and hearing facility in Florida to have all of their therapists certified in teletherapy, they continue to demonstrate their commitment to innovate and adapt to the ever-changing needs of the community,” said Myron Pincomb, Board Chairman of IBCCES.
Since 1949, the Jacksonville Speech & Hearing Center (JSHC) has served Northeast Florida with the mission “to provide the highest quality professional and compassionate care to all individuals with speech, hearing, and/or language disorders in our community, regardless of ability to pay.” Each year, JSHC empowers thousands to live more fulfilling lives through individualized speech-language and audiology plans that enable patients to communicate and connect with the world around them.
In 2015, JSHC became the first healthcare provider in Northeast Florida to earn IBCCES credentials as a Certified Autism Center. The organization remains the only non-profit in Northeast Florida to offer speech and audiology services to children and adults.
For more than 20 years, IBCCES has been the industry leader in cognitive disorder training and certification for education, healthcare, and corporate professionals around the globe. IBCCES provides evidence-based training and certification programs created in conjunction with clinical experts and individuals with autism in order to provide professionals serving individuals with cognitive disorders a better understanding of what these disorders are, industry best practices, and the latest research in these areas.
IBCCES also created CertifiedAutismCenter.com, a free online resource for parents that lists certified locations and professionals. Each organization listed on the site has met Certified Autism Center™ (CAC) requirements.
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