Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2020
  4. arrow_forward_ios 07
  5. arrow_forward_ios Speech Pathology tele-practice was the right call

Speech Pathology tele-practice was the right call

14 July 2020

Long before COVID-19 demanded new ways of seeing clients, UTS Speech Pathology had set up its own tele-practice clinic.

Lucy Telepractice coviu

Lucy Bryant (left) using tele-practice software, Coviu.

Dr Lucy Bryant has always had a penchant for technology. Growing up in a rural area, she was interested in the opportunities the internet opened up. So, setting up and managing the UTS student-led tele-practice clinic was a natural fit for the speech pathologist, UTS lecturer and early career researcher. Lucy said “I’ve always enjoyed the puzzle of technology and being able to get it to work for me and for others, since a lot of technology helps us to connect with loved ones and friends, and to communicate.”

The SPROUTS clinic, for Speech Pathology Reaching Out at UTS enabled Lucy to ensure that students in the clinic have the vital skills in using technology and that clients have better access to speech pathology services. The SPROUTS clinic first opened in August 2019 to link in to schools and provide services to children in Mudgee, Oberon, and Hargraves in rural NSW, where Lucy grew up. “The children showed fantastic improvements in their speech and language and our UTS Speech Pathology students benefitted from a valuable clinical placement early in their course.”

Lucy builds on her knowledge of what goes wrong in technology as much as her interest. “In the past, I think it’s been a really big barrier to more widespread use of technology that when something went wrong, many just gave up in frustration. Our students are really developing skills in being able to use technology in their practice and to troubleshoot, manage and be resilient in their use of technology – to keep at it and make sure it works for the client.”

Our students are really developing skills in being able to use technology in their practice and to troubleshoot, manage and be resilient in their use of technology – to keep at it and make sure it works for the client.

Lucy Bryant
Lecturer, Speech Pathology

The communication skills that you develop from the tele-practice clinic are different to those for a face-to-face placement.

“The students are developing this higher level of communication skill in talking to their clients online. They’ve been able to manage assessing and treating clients remotely, rather than being in person face-to-face to explain and show things – it takes a lot of creative thinking at times.”

Unexpectedly, the tele-practice clinic been an education beyond borders and institutions. Lucy says that “just before COVID-19 hit, SPROUTS expanded to provide services to adults. In this case, our student placements were pandemic-proof before they even needed to be. Being able to swiftly run our services online didn’t just help our students and clients, it also helped us to pull together across the disciplines at UTS. With colleagues in the Faculty of Law and The Business School we’ve been able to train people all over the world in how to rapidly implement tele-practice in the face of COVID-19.”

Lucy and her colleagues have had over 600 people from a dozen countries attend their tele-practice webinars.

“Having set up our SPROUTS tele-practice service prior to COVID-19, we’ve been really well placed to assist all of our colleagues globally, in being able to transform their practices and enable them to continue to provide services during restrictions. We’ve taught people the practicalities and basic skills to get online and work with their clients.”

Especially after the push from the pandemic, it’s clear that these modes of working are going to become a bigger part of health professions.

“Technology is a bigger part of how we work in society, not just in speech pathology, but in every health discipline and in every career. It’s really important that we are future-proofing our profession and giving our graduates the skills to be able to manage change and evolve. It can only help clients, and will help drive future developments in technology as more challenges come along.”

Learn more about Speech Pathology at the Graduate School of Health.

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to Speech pathology news

Related News

  • 3D printed food on plates
    And for dinner? A little of what you might fancy

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility