Feasibility of Speech Telerehabilitation for a Patient with Parkinson's Disease in a Low-Resource Country during the Pandemic: A Case Report

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, neurodegenerative condition resulting in various motor impairments, including speech disorders. However, at the height of coronavirus 2019 pandemic, patient with PD could not access traditional in-person neurorehabilitation care. This case report highlights feasibility telerehabilitation to deliver therapy over distance using available resources developing country. We describe Filipino elderly woman, public speaker, and marriage counselor, seeking teleconsultation for her voice problems (slow soft) attributed PD. At that time, most center-based outpatient rehabilitation centers Manila were closed due preferred stay home safety reasons. Hence, she was evaluated managed remotely by an interdisciplinary team (neurologist, physiatrist, speech-language pathologist) through video calls. Since ideal set up (in-person evaluation therapy; use Lee Silverman Voice Therapy) be done, clinicians had find practical alternatives, such as administering subjective perceptual assessments, objective analysis Praat™ computer application, teletherapy synchronous (videocalls, phone calls) asynchronous (e-mails, text messages, pre-recorded exercise videos) techniques. Notable improvements observed clinicians, patient, patient’s frequent communicative partners after least four sessions. carry-over affected lack compliance prescribed program. Telerehabilitation techniques disorders found feasible, beneficial, safe, amid social distancing low country