Online or In Person: Which Child Therapy Actually Fits?
Written by the Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center therapy team — our Speech & Language Therapist, psychology and ABA staff. Clinical reviewer for this site: Dr Muhammad Suffyan, MB BS (GMC 8023727) · Updated August 2026; this page has changed since our last clinical review.
Parents usually ask this as if there is a better format. There is not. There is a format that fits this child, this skill, and this week. Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center has one room, on MPS Road in Model Town, Multan, open Monday to Friday, 2pm to 6pm. Everything else is video. Both are real work. They are not interchangeable.
If you are outside Multan, start with how online therapy runs across Pakistan. If you can travel, child therapy in Multan is the in-person picture. This page is the honest comparison.
What does the research actually say?
For school-age speech sounds, the largest comparison we have found no difference. Coufal and colleagues matched 1,331 in-person cases with 428 telepractice cases of children aged 6 to 9½ who had 4 to 9 months of speech-sound therapy. Median change on ASHA’s functional communication measure was not significantly different. That is not a promise that video will work for your three-year-old. It is evidence that, for that age and that target, the format was not the thing that decided the outcome.
A later meta-analysis of telepractice speech-language work in children under 12 (seven studies) found telepractice outcomes comparable to in-person work, including caregiver-mediated approaches where the adult in the room is coached. The sample is still small. We treat it as permission to use video well, not as proof that the room is obsolete.
Parent coaching over video is often the better tool, not the compromise. Most of a child’s talking and behaviour happens at home. Coaching you while your child plays in their own kitchen is closer to real life than a clinic toy box.
When in person is the honest choice
Come to Model Town when the thing we need to see cannot travel through a camera:
- A first full developmental assessment — play, movement, how a child copes in a new room. Video can start the conversation. The full look is better in person. See what a developmental assessment actually involves.
- Hearing, feeding safety, or hands-on motor work — we have no licensed occupational therapist, and we will not pretend a video session is a swallow assessment or an ear exam.
- A toddler who will not stay in frame — some two-year-olds can be coached through a parent on the floor. Some cannot. We say so after one try, not after ten.
- A child who needs to practise sitting, waiting and a goodbye that ends — those are school skills. They show up in a doorway, not on a laptop. School readiness is built for that.
Families under an hour away — Lodhran, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal — usually come weekly. From Bahawalpur or Sahiwal, one fuller visit and video in between is the usual rhythm. Areas we serve sets that out by road.
When online is the honest choice
- You are not in Multan, and a weekly drive would collapse within a month
- The work is parent coaching, speech, behaviour, or school skills you can practise at the table
- A teenager will talk more from their own room than from a “kiddie” clinic
- One parent is on shifts and the only overlap is inside our Monday–Friday afternoon window
Online sessions still sit inside our hours: Monday to Friday, 2pm to 6pm Pakistan time, arranged around your clock if you are abroad. A consultation is Rs 1,500 and lasts up to 50 minutes either way.
What online cannot do
It cannot test hearing. It cannot diagnose autism or ADHD. It cannot replace a paediatrician, an ENT doctor, or a hands-on motor assessment. We coach, teach and assess. If the first video hour shows that your child needs the room, or needs someone we are not, we will say that before you pay for a block.
Related: how to choose a centre, the first session, parent coaching, and how fees work.
Sources
- Coufal K, Parham D, Jakubowitz M, Howell C, Reyes J. Comparing traditional service delivery and telepractice for speech sound production using a functional outcome measure. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2018. PubMed 29188278
- Vanderauwera J, Vanden Bempt F, D’haenens W, et al. The effectiveness of telepractice for speech-language pathology intervention with children younger than 12 years: a meta-analysis. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. 2026. PubMed 41847737
Frequently asked questions
Is online speech therapy as good as coming in?
For school-age speech sounds, a large comparison found no significant difference between in-person and telepractice. For toddlers, parent coaching on video is often the useful bit. A first full developmental assessment and hands-on motor or hearing work still belong in a room. We will say which after one conversation rather than sell you a format.
My child will not sit for a video call. Can it still work?
Your child does not have to sit and watch the screen. We coach you while they play as they normally would. If they will not stay in the same room at all, we will tell you after one try that the Multan room is the better tool.
We live in Multan. Should we still come in person?
Usually yes for the first look, and for anything that needs the body in the room. Weekly parent coaching and some speech work can move online if a week is impossible. A consultation is Rs 1,500 and lasts up to 50 minutes either way.
What are your hours for online sessions?
Monday to Friday, 2pm to 6pm Pakistan time. We arrange around your clock if you are abroad, inside that window on our side. Saturday and Sunday we are closed.