I am currently providing tele-health speech therapy services 3 days a week to a school district in western Maine. I work between the middle school and the high school providing therapy to students working on issues such as stuttering, social pragmatics, articulation, and language disorders.

I remember when nearly a decade ago I first heard about online speech. I turned my nose up at it assuming it would be impossible to replicate the quality of services received from a live and present clinician. Later, when I was working within districts that had a shortage of providers, I branched out and investigated the online approach. I have to admit, I was impressed. Clinicians online demonstrated a creative use of resources that allowed the student to engage digitally in a variety of activities. The therapies I observed were often more organized and more motivating than what I had known in my own live sessions.

Then Covid happened. We were all forced to learn how to communicate and educate our students online. I have come a long way from my first few awkward zoom sessions. Now I am working for company that provides a platform for me to engage with students addressing a variety of needs and issues.

I love the flexibility of working from home as my “home” changes by about 3000 miles every few months. I am learning that for many students, participating digitally allows them to be more comfortable and even more engaged in a medium that they feel very at home in.

In France my work days start at 2:00 pm and end at 9:00 to coincide with the school day in the eastern time zone. This, I’m finding, is not ideal for a person who seems to grow increasingly cognitively impaired as the day winds down. For now though, I will sip coffee late into the afternoon and do my best to amuse my students that are so far away. I like to think by sharing my experience of living abroad, I am perhaps opening up an avenue of opportunity and exploration they would have otherwise not had. Truthfully, my students are most pleased to know that there are McDonalds in France and I can walk only a block away to see a castle. The other stuff-not so much.