Training for the Delivery of a Comprehensive High-Dose Aphasia Therapy Program via Telerehabilitation: Effectiveness and Satisfaction With the TeleCHAT Training Package.
Shu En Lee, Genevieve Vuong, Jade Dignam and 1 others
Four SLPs who completed a 5-hour training package delivered their first telerehabilitation aphasia sessions independently, resolving five tech errors without help.
All 14 trainees gave a median satisfaction of 5 out of 5, though confidence in troubleshooting was the weakest area.
Key findings
1All 14 SLPs completed the training and reported high satisfaction, with a median of 5 out of 5 across every survey item (range 3–5). Knowledge items (understanding the program, its components, and what is required to deliver it) were rated 5 by every respondent.
2Objective observation of the four SLPs who delivered TeleCHAT showed full independence (median 3 out of 3) across all technology domains in their first sessions. Five technological errors occurred and all were resolved by the SLPs without outside help.
3Confidence in helping a person with aphasia troubleshoot technology on their end was the weakest area (median 4 out of 5; three SLPs rated 3, ten rated 4, one rated 5). Both participants and the observing researcher called for more hands-on practical training, particularly separate sessions for troubleshooting from the client's side.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only four of the 14 SLPs actually delivered TeleCHAT to patients and were objectively assessed; the other 10 were evaluated solely by self-report, and their feedback may reflect general professional development rather than preparation to deliver this specific program. There is no comparison group. Without SLPs who did not receive this training, you cannot tell whether the observed independence would have been achieved through self-directed learning or a different training format. The satisfaction survey and the technology independence checklist were not formally validated; the authors note they were developed by experts in the field but acknowledge the lack of validation. The four SLPs who delivered therapy were observed only on their first sessions. There is no follow-up data on whether skills were retained over subsequent weeks or months. All 14 participants were female, recruited from a single region in Queensland, Australia, limiting generalisability. The training package was developed, delivered, and iteratively refined by the same research team, and feedback from each cohort was fed back into the next cohort's training, so later cohorts received a different (improved) version than the first.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The project was funded by the Queensland Aphasia Research Centre, which in turn is supported by philanthropic gifts and The University of Queensland strategic funding. No commercial entity funded, designed, or wrote the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the TeleCHAT therapy program is effective for people with aphasia. This study evaluated only whether a training package prepared SLPs to deliver it; no patient outcomes are reported. The 'effectiveness' finding rests on self-reported satisfaction from 14 SLPs and observation of four SLPs' first sessions only, with no control group and unvalidated measurement tools. It tells you the training got SLPs to a functional first session, not that the therapy produces lasting language gains.
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