Online speech therapy reaches remote communities

A Saskatoon company that has worked extensively with Aboriginal communities recently won a pair of national awards.

TinyEYE Therapy Services is a business that was co-founded five years ago by Marnee Brick, a speech language pathologist, and her brother Greg Sutton.
Brick, who previously worked for a private therapy company, was disappointed she wasn’t reaching more people who needed help because she spent a good chunk of her time driving back and forth from the communities she served. She also felt that not enough people were being reached because not enough communities had speech therapists and for many, lengthy road trips to seek therapy were not an option.

As a result, the sister-brother duo came up with the idea for TinyEYE, an online speech therapy service. The company name was chosen as it is a tiny eye (a webcam) which makes it possible for speech therapists to communicate with clients, wherever they are, provided they of course have access to a computer and webcam.
In Saskatchewan TinyEYE has worked extensively with the Prince Albert Grand Council, which provides support to 29 First Nations schools.

“Greg and I are from Saskatchewan and it was important for us to work with Saskatchewan children,” Brick said.
As their worldwide clients will attest, it’s not just students from their home province that are in remote communities that have benefitted from TinyEYE’s services.

“There are no geographical boundaries anymore,” Brick said.

Since the company started, TinyEYE has helped about 700 Aboriginal children in Canada. Besides Saskatchewan, the company also has many Aboriginal clients in British Columbia.

TinyEYE was honoured twice at the Ingenious Awards banquet held in Toronto in mid-June. It received top honours in the Small to Medium Size Business category as well as winning the Judges Choice Award.

“We’re humbled to win these awards,” Brick said. “And these awards are a reflection of the partnerships we’ve forged with the communities.”

This marked the first year for the Ingenious Awards, which was created by the Information Technology Association of Canada as a means to recognize excellence from various Canadian companies for their use of information and communications technology.

The TinyEYE team, which consists of 35 therapists, has conducted more than 40,000 sessions since its inception.
It has also served clients in 12 countries. Besides Canada, TinyEYE has worked with individuals in the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Egypt, China, Germany and the United Kingdom.

TinyEYE’s therapists work with students from Kindergarten all the way to Grade 12. They interact and work on their communication skills via activities that appear on their computer screens.

Brick said there were some naysayers who felt TinyEYE could not be successful as there was no face-to-face interaction.

“That’s so not the case,” said Brick, adding therapists and clients give themselves virtual high fives when feats are accomplished online. “It’s a real special relationship we have with them.”

Caption: Greg Sutton (second from left) and sister Marnee Brick show off the two Ingenious Award their company TinyEYE won.