COVID hero awarded to Prof Alicia Spittle for internationally reaching telehealth success

For families with newborns or babies born pre-term, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a radical change to treatment.

For greatly contributing to the transition to telehealth in paediatric physiotherapy, Prof Alicia Spittle has been awarded COVID Hero by the Victorian Branch of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

With the Melbourne Disability Institute Seeding Grant, and working with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Prof Spittle and her team devised an online module for health professionals to deliver early detection and intervention for infants at early risk of developmental disabilities through telehealth. The module, Telehealth for Early Detection and Intervention for Infants with Developmental Disabilities (TEDI), which is being used worldwide, consists of telehealth information, instructions and application.

Prof Spittle also participated in an International Taskforce held by the International Alliance of Academics of Childhood Disabilities (IAACD). With 45 countries and over 2000 people registered, the Taskforce involved running sessions where committee members from across the globe could share their experiences in managing COVID-19.

Speaking of the future of paediatric physiotherapy, Prof Spittle stated: “I hope we can look at a hybrid model, so that we can support families really early in development through both mobile technologies and face-to-face interventions.”

We congratulate Prof Spittle for this incredible achievement and look forward to hearing more about the future developments of telehealth in paediatric physiotherapy.

For more information, visit the IAACD website.