Tips for increasing engagement during teletherapy


Here are our top tips to make teletherapy as engaging as possible and to get the most out of your sessions in individual or group sessions!



  • Think Time (duration and scheduling).

Think about how the duration and frequency of your sessions translates over into teletherapy. 


I’ve found introductions, getting settled into the session and changing between activities much shorter in my teletherapy sessions. The cumulative effect of this is that I find I save a lot of time when delivering remote therapy sessions. Which enables the ‘dose’ of my therapy to be more intensive. 


With this additional time, as clinicians we need to decide if we can use this extra time for therapy or whether it is better spent giving the client a break from the screen.  Dosage is an entirely different blog post, but remember if the opportunities for learning (doseage) are high then the literature suggests that session frequency can be reduced (check out the latest research on this, for in person therapy, in Frizelle et al. 2021). Think about how best to spend your time online with the pupil. Equally, if you have a teenage client that you know sleeps terribly, or works better after they have taken their meds at 11am, see if you can schedule the session at a time that works best for the client when they are more likely to engage. 


  • Simplicity is key.

It’s great being able to do loads of cool things, but if it requires your client to download resources, create passwords or have several tabs open at once, make sure it’s really worth it. My best sessions have been with me sharing the screen to a powerpoint and interacting with the client as face to face as possible. Teletherapy ≠ automatically boring. However if you are struggling to engage your client, continue to read and hopefully we can help.


  • Update your cursor.

A simple change of cursor to make it more eye-catching. This can give your session that little ‘edge’ to engagement,  you could even have clients pick which cursor to use next. We discuss a cursor chrome extension in this blog post (with other chrome extensions). 


  • Polls and quizzes.

You can quickly involve someone and formatively assess progress by including polls or quizes. These work really well in large groups or individually. Your video calling platform may include this feature, otherwise you can use sites like mentimetre (free & subscriptions available), google slides includes a feature in presenter view where viewers can ask questions and zoom also includes polls available to hosts. 


  • Sharing your screen.

I would be surprised if there isn't a video calling platform that allows you to share your screen. Share your own screen, whether that is a presentation, a website, or a video. You could even take it up a notch and have your client(s) share their screen, they could  show you how to do something, share their work or be the ‘teacher’ for a while as part of the session. Giving people responsibilities is often a really great way to engage them while being able to assess, model and teach them something new.


  • Whiteboards.

Whiteboard.fi or Google Jamboard are good ways of incorporating and using whiteboards. The former allows you to see what multiple people are doing at the same time, while the latter allows you and your clients to work on something together and simultaneously. 


  • Games. 

You can make games out of anything. Anyone that remembers being fooled by the ‘who can be quiet the longest?’ game knows that! 

  • Simple games without any pre-prepared resources such as a scavenger hunt or I spy.  
  • Games that use a presentation/whiteboard for hangman or pictionary
  • Image reveal tools to play a guessing game. 
  • Online games with ready-to-go resources, like Skribbl.io, which allows you to create a private room without needing to share or give control of your screen.
  • There are also options on Zoom to give remote control to the client which helps with 2 player games. 


  • Make it meaningful. 

An engaging session, be it virtual or face-to-face, requires buy-in from our clients. Making the activities meaningful plays a huge part in their engagement and carryover. 

Making sure our clients understand the following four things, can make all the difference: 

  1. What are their goals? 
  2. Why are they working on this goal?
  3. How is this session working towards this goal? 
  4. Why this is meaningful (see article on Coproduction) 


So, now it’s your turn! We would love to hear from you, via Twitter or email. If you have some top-tips you would like to share with the SaLT community, we would love to share it. 


  1. How do you connect with your client and support them to understand why they are at the session?
  2. Do you have top engagement tips to share with the community?
  3. If you’re delivering face-to-face therapy, or teletherapy, what has been the biggest challenge you've faced?