24 hour Crisis Intervention Hotline:  1-800-621-8504 (or call 903-472-7242)
Behavioral Health / IDD / Substance Use Centralized Intake: 1-800-669-4166
OSAR for Substance Use: 1-800-588-8728 (or call 940-224-6200) Wichita Falls and surrounding counties
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Early Childhood Intervention Telehealth

Early Childhood Intervention Virtual Visits

The ECI Program offers virtual visits for developmental services, service coordination, and meetings when needed to ensure continuity in the provision of services via telehealth.   Eligibility determinations (evaluations) may also be offered virtually through virtual visits.

Telehealth is the delivery of early intervention services using distance technology, typically computers, tablets or other handheld devices, when the early interventionist, child and caregiver are not in the same physical location. Service providers include Speech-language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Service Coordinators, and Early Intervention Specialists.

  • If you agree to get any of your ECI services via telehealth, you will be asked to sign a Consent for Telehealth and Recording.
  • All applicable confidentiality protections, as defined in the “Procedural Safeguards Related to Prior Written Notice and Consent” form and ECI Parent Handbook, shall apply to the services.
  • Telehealth fits well with the coaching model in ECI to help you help your child.

Potential Benefits and Risks of Virtual Visits

 Potential Benefits:

  1. Improve caregiver skills in fostering your child’s communication by focusing intervention on caregiver-child interactions.
  2. Convenient way to receive ECI visits!
  3. Increase visits with a licensed therapist, credentialed Early Intervention Specialist, or Service Coordinator.
  4. Reduce cancellations due to a family member’s minor illness or provider’s minor illness.
  5. Reduce cancellations due to weather or other conditions.

 

Potential Risks:

Your privacy is important to us and your information will be secure. As with any service, there may be potential risks associated with the use of telehealth.  These risks include, but may not be limited to:

  1. The internet connection used may not be sufficient (e.g., poor picture or sound quality, dropped connections, or audio interference) to allow for effective interaction.
  2. The computer must be placed in a safe place to prevent damage.
  3. Security protocols of the internet connection could fail, causing a breach of privacy of confidential clinical/medical information (e.g., all internet access must be password protected).

Your Rights

  • Laws that protect the privacy and confidentiality of health and early intervention information also apply to telehealth.
  • If necessary, other technology staff who are trained to handle confidential information may be present during the session to assist with any difficulties
  • Parents have the right to refuse, withhold, or withdraw consent to the use of virtual visits at any time without risking the loss of services or withdrawal of any ECI services to which you or your child would otherwise be entitled.
  • Parents have the right to inspect all information obtained and recorded through telehealth visits.
  • Parents have the right to ask questions at any point.
  • There may be benefits from telehealth but no results are guaranteed.

For More Information on Virtual Visits:

Telehealth FAQ 

Helen Farabee Centers – ECI Consent Form for Telehealth

Telehealth