Teletherapy activities

Teletherapy activities are a way to engage clients in what has become an established standard of care across mental health, speech-language pathology (SLP), occupational therapy (OT), and physical therapy (PT).

Maintaining active client engagement during teletherapy is a key component of successful online sessions. Luckily, providers now have access to a wide range of teletherapy activities, including interactive games, exercises, and digital tools.

Key takeaways

• Interactive teletherapy activities can improve motivation, attention, therapeutic rapport, and participation. Enrolling in a teletherapy course for therapists can help providers enhance their knowledge.
• Activities should be selected and adapted according to the client’s discipline-specific goals, abilities, environment, and interests.
• Alternating screen-based tasks with movement, visual supports, and predictable routines can reduce fatigue and improve engagement.
• Integrated teletherapy tools can simplify session preparation while supporting secure, interactive care.

With thoughtful planning, therapists can transform traditional intervention into dynamic digital experiences that keep clients motivated and help them meet therapy goals faster.

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Why interactive teletherapy matters

When it comes to virtual care, engagement is essential. Unlike with traditional in-person therapy, clinicians are faced with additional challenges like screen fatigue, home distractions, and barriers related to technology.

Incorporating interactive activities into teletherapy sessions encourages the client to actively participate. That can lead to a stronger therapeutic rapport, increased motivation, and better attention.

Key benefits of interactive teletherapy activities include:

• Improved client motivation: Research highlights the positive impact that gamification in remote sessions has on a child’s motivation to continue speech therapy. Repetitive drills are transformed into rewarding gameplay, keeping clients eager to participate.
• Enhanced therapeutic rapport: Engaging in digital games, drawing together, or watching shared videos helps build a stronger connection over the screen.
• Increased customization: Clinicians can individualize digital tools so they are specific to the client’s everyday life. This involves incorporating real-world scenarios, customized social stories, and virtual field trips. Everyday items already available in the client’s environment become part of the therapy session.
• Supported caregiver involvement: Particularly in pediatric therapy, teletherapy provides opportunities for close collaboration between the caregiver and the clinician.
• Decreased provider workload: Clinicians can save hours of session prep time by taking advantage of pre-built digital apps and reusable digital resources.

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Best teletherapy activities by discipline

Adapting activities to discipline-specific goals can improve the clinical effectiveness of teletherapy sessions.

Mental health teletherapy activities

Remote counseling sessions benefit from creative avenues that foster emotional awareness, trust, and self-reflection without physical proximity.

Helpful teletherapy activities include:

• Mindfulness exercises: Utilize relaxation audio tracks, calm visual timers, and guided meditation videos. Lead grounding exercises, breathing exercises, or body scans that clients can practice in between sessions.
• Interactive CBT worksheets: Screenshare digital whiteboards or use shared documents to complete coping plans, cognitive restructuring exercises, or journals together.
• Custom social stories: Therapists can create individualized social stories on presentation slides to help clients navigate social routines, cues, or emotional transitions.

SLP (Speech-language pathology) teletherapy activities

Speech-language pathologists have access to online articulation, language, and fluency tasks that incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic stimuli to help clients meet therapy goals.

Effective teletherapy activities include:

• Interactive articulation games: Digital board games, reward systems, or spinner activities increase practice opportunities while keeping clients engaged.
• Household scavenger hunts: Work on basic concepts by asking the client to locate items that match certain functions, categories, or descriptions.
• Digital stories: Target comprehension, sequencing, vocabulary, and inferencing by pausing throughout stories.
• Sentence building and narrative development: Create shared documents and take turns writing sentences to target syntax and expressive language skills.
• Conversation starters: Sharing photos, short video clips, or current events allows clinicians to target pragmatic language, higher-level language, and conversational skills in engaging ways.

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OT and PT (Occupational and physical therapy) teletherapy activities

Virtual OT and PT require a combination of digital guidance and physical movement in the client’s own environment.

Popular teletherapy activities are:

• Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): Therapists can provide clients and caregivers with strategies as they complete daily tasks like dressing, meal preparation, or self-care routines within their natural environment.
• Fine motor challenges: Use a document camera to project fine motor tools like playdough, beads, or handwriting worksheets onto the client’s screen for guided instruction as they follow along.
• Obstacle courses: Use household items such as pillows, chairs, and tape to create obstacle courses that target balance, strength, coordination, and motor planning.
• Movement break videos: Screenshare short, engaging movement videos or incorporate interactive movement games to work on gross motor skills, coordination, balance, and crossing midline.
• Physical challenge board games: Incorporate physical challenges into interactive digital board games (e.g., “Do 5 jumping jacks if you land on blue”).

Teletherapy activities across industries

Teletherapy activities engagement tips

Engaging clients over teletherapy isn’t just about having great tools, it’s also how you deliver teletherapy activities.

Here are some recommended practical strategies:

• Establish a predictable routine: Start each session off by displaying a visual schedule to set expectations, reduce anxiety, and give clients a sense of progress as you check off tasks.
• Actively involve parents and caregivers: Parents and caregivers should play an active role in teletherapy sessions with pediatric clients. Guide them through cueing strategies and reinforcing positive behaviors.
• Alternate seated tasks and movement: Keep seated activities short and vary them with movement to maintain client engagement and reduce screen fatigue.
• Plan for technology issues: Have backup activities prepared in case any issues arise with technology.
• Utilize visual behavior supports: Simple schedules, visual timers, and other supports help keep clients on track. Provide digital rewards like picking the next activity, playing sound effects, or showing interactive animations.

Platforms and digital tools for teletherapy activities

Combining a dedicated teletherapy platform and digital therapy resources helps therapists create engaging online sessions.

Some of the most useful digital tools are:

• Therapy games
• Online reinforcement activities
• Interactive whiteboards
• Digital storybooks and PDFs
• Secure screen sharing
• Shared drawing tools
• Visual schedules and timers

Selecting an all-in-one, feature-rich teletherapy platform makes it easy to run interactive sessions without juggling multiple third-party tools.

TheraPlatform offers:

• HIPAA-Compliant screen-sharing: Display presentation slides, educational videos, or interactive websites while maintaining client privacy.
• Interactive built-in apps: Specialized built-in apps and games tailored to target speech, language and cognitive goals.
• Resource storage and PDF uploads: Therapists can store go-to worksheets, audio files, and therapy materials in one centralized practice management system that can be accessed instantly during sessions.
• Document camera compatibility: Easily toggling between a primary webcam and an external document camera allows clinicians to demonstrate handwriting drills and hands-on activities live.

Whether you’re an SLP, OT, PT, or mental health therapist offering virtual services, interactive teletherapy activities help transform online sessions into engaging, effective experiences. Combining evidence-based interventions with creative digital tools allows therapists to improve participation, strengthen therapeutic rapport, and support meaningful progress.

Choosing the best HIPAA-compliant teletherapy platform

Telehealth use has skyrocketed since the pandemic, with teletherapy emerging as a trusted, convenient, and secure alternative to in-person care for both children and adults. Therapists and clients report high satisfaction, and teletherapy now accounts for 13–17% of U.S. healthcare visits.

To protect privacy, providers must use HIPAA-compliant video platforms. The top platforms not only secure sessions with encryption but also support scheduling, billing, documentation, and client portals to streamline practice management.

The best teletherapy platforms go beyond video conferencing. By combining compliance, reliability, stable video, resources, games and practice management tools, they help therapists deliver care that’s safe, effective, and adaptable to modern client needs. 

Marketing is also another aspect of owning a practice that can be conducted through a secure HIPAA-compliant platform as you can communicate with existing clients via chat, email and more.

Why therapists choose TheraPlatform as their teletherapy platform

Whether for solo practice or larger clinics, therapists choose TheraPlatform for its blend of usability, flexibility, and robust telehealth tools.

Here are top reasons why therapists choose TheraPlatform for teletherapy:

• Efficiency and convenience: Everything down to payments, scheduling, documentation, and insurance claims is managed in one integrated platform, saving time and reducing friction.
• Security and compliance: TheraPlatform is fully HIPAA and PIPEDA compliant, with encrypted video sessions, secure data storage, and 24/7 monitoring for peace of mind.
• Engagement tools: Built-in interactive features like whiteboards, games, media sharing, screen annotation, and therapy-specific “apps” enhance client engagement especially useful in pediatric and speech therapy.
• Client-centered functionality: The secure client portal empowers clients to book sessions, complete forms, submit documents, and make payments, reducing admin work for the therapist.
• Customization and flexibility: Therapists can create and customize templates for notes, treatment plans, and intake forms allowing them to tailor workflows to their practice style.
• All-in-one practice management: Combines telehealth, EHR, billing, insurance, scheduling, and documentation, eliminating the need for multiple tools or software.
• Therapy-specific design: Unlike generic telehealth platforms, TheraPlatform is purpose-built for mental health, speech therapy, OT, PT, and more with features tailored to each specialty.
• Professional credibility: Recording features, branded portals, and compliance tools help therapists present a more professional, trustworthy experience to clients.
• Positive user experience: Therapists appreciate having everything in one place and often report a smoother workflow, fewer tech issues, and faster onboarding.

What therapists are saying about TheraPlatform telehealth

Therapists praise TheraPlatform for its ease of use, seamless scheduling, and built-in billing tools like superbills. They value the platform’s features including intuitive charting, customizable notes, and interactive telehealth tools as well as the responsive support team, which listens to feedback and implements updates. 

Many highlight that the platform offers the best of all worlds, combining excellent video conferencing with resource sharing and an engaging, client-centered teletherapy experience.

"There's seriously no better platform out there! Easy to use … syncs to your personal schedule, provides superbills …"- Coastlinespeechtherapy (Source)

“It is not just the platform, it is the team behind TheraPlatform, always willing to help and receptive to feedback to bring updates requests to live,” Orly, Smarty Therapy PC (Source)

"The video conferencing is excellent and the ability to share resources and the interactive screen make Telehealth a rich experience."- Kathy J.  (Source)

"TheraPlatform has been the best of all worlds! … intuitive charting, in-system billing, customizable notes …"-Kendrah B. (Source)

Streamline your practice with One EHR

• Scheduling
• Flexible notes
• Template library
• Billing & payments

• Insurance claims
• Client portal
• Telehealth
• E-fax

Learn More

Resources

TheraPlatform is an all-in-one EHR, practice management, and teletherapy software with AI-powered notes built for therapists to help them save time on admin tasks. It offers a 30-day risk-free trial with no credit card required and supports mental and behavioral health, SLPs, OTs, and PTs in group and solo practices.

More resources

• Therapy resources and worksheets
• Therapy private practice courses
• Ultimate teletherapy ebook
• The Ultimate Insurance Billing Guide for Therapists
• The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Private Therapy Practice
• Insurance billing 101
• Practice management tools

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References

Mallipeddi, N. V., Mehrotra, A., & Van Stan, J. H. (2023). Telepractice in the treatment of speech and voice disorders: What could the future look like?. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 8(2), 418-423. Telepractice in the Treatment of Speech and Voice Disorders: What Could the Future Look Like? | Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups

Odeh, A., Abdelfattah, E., & Salameh, W. (2024). Privacy-preserving data sharing in telehealth services. Applied Sciences, 14(23), 10808. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app142310808

Stankova, M., Kamenski, T., Tsoukka, K., Alshawesh, H., & Proedrou, A. (2023, May). Online Parent Counselling in Speech and Language Therapy-The View of the Professionals. In International KES Conference on Innovation in Medicine and Healthcare (pp. 21-30). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-3311-2_3