Barriers and facilitators: Clinicians' opinions and experiences of telehealth before and after their use of a telehealth platform for child language assessment.

What is already known on the subject Research about telehealth has shown that it is a reliable and valid way of delivering speech pathology services, yet many clinicians have been wary of its use and uptake of telehealth prior to COVID-19 had been limited. We wanted to know what SLTs thought about using telehealth before and after participating in a 3-month trial of a telehealth platform with an embedded formal language assessment. What this study adds to existing knowledge This study indicates that technology issues including internet stability are a barrier to effective telehealth services, but that appropriate telehealth platforms, resources and experience are facilitators of uptake and successful use of telehealth. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This information will be useful in developing strategies to promote uptake and effective and confident use of telehealth as a mode of service delivery for children during and beyond the pandemic, including those isolated by geographical or transport barriers.