BOOM CARDS
My students love how engaging Boom Cards can be! Using the Zoom platform, I can share my screen, pull up a Boom Card resource and hand over control to my student to move pieces and activate the resource independently! There are a lot of interactive activities to keep them engaged.
APPS ON TABLETS
Yes! It is true! At least I know it is true with the Zoom platform, you CAN share your screen and do screen mirroring so students can see what is happening on your tablet! Now, they are not able to manipulate and control your tablet but there are definitely ways around that. The biggest way around that is simply they have to use their words. That is a big win for us, right? What a great way to facilitate language from them!
My students have to give me directions so that I know what they would like me to do. When we are playing the matching game while working on articulation using either Articulate It by Smarty Ears or Articulation Station by Little Bee Speech, I have them tell me “Row 3 Number 4” or “Row 1 Column 3.” As you can tell, they get a few extra trials in when working on /r/ and/or /l/ when doing so too (not that they have noticed or minded)! What a great way to still g use out of those tablet apps, right?
NO PRINT RESOURCES
I love No Prints! I love them just as much as I love Boom Cards. Why? Simply because if you open them on your computer and screen share them using the Zoom platform, you can easily give the student control and they too become interactive for your student!
For example, when targeting minimal pairs using my No Print Phonology Tasks resource, students can manipulate the mouse (and it shows up on my screen) to show me the word they heard. When it is their turn to play the teacher and tell me which word to point at, my little ones are amazed to see the mouse move without them touching it as I point to the word they said in return! Another bonus with No Prints is that many can be used for mixed groups. I use my No Print Fluency Tasks resource not only with my students targeting a variety of fluency goals but also with my students working on generalization of articulation skills and students targeting language skills. I have also used my No Print Language Tasks resource with students targeting generalization of articulation and students practicing their use of fluency techniques.
YOUTUBE
You will need to watch the youtube videos before sharing in teletherapy to make sure that they are appropriate. However, there are some amazing resources out there. Here are a few ideas to help you get started!
- Fellow teletherapist, Sarah Wu, has an amazing series of Wordless Videos for Life Skills that she created and a playlist of other Wordless Videos for problem-solving that she saved! I highly recommend subscribing to her channel.
- Check out Simon’s Cat for some super cute little short videos to target body language and facial cues, problem-solving, inferencing, and story retell!
- Search for Animated Short Films for Kids! There are a lot of them out there and they are great for talking about body language, problem-solving, answering wh-questions, story retell, etc..
- Search for Social Narratives for students! Animated social narratives can be super engaging and provide an additional modality to teach the lesson.
WEBSITES
I have found some great resources on websites that I never would have thought to look for until my little preschool students started showing up! There are multiple websites such as Vook, Epic, and Storyline Online to help you create a literacy-based lesson! You can also find some cool online coloring pages, puzzles, and games for reinforcement and to target functional language skills such as requesting and asking questions and to facilitate the use of appropriate social exchanges!
RESOURCES THAT CAN EASILY CONVERT TO NO PRINT
Do you have a favorite PDF from grad school that you created and are super proud of and just seems to work miracles? Did you purchase some great no-prep resources from Teachers Pay Teachers that your students have loved in person and you just know students online could benefit from too? If so, you are in luck! I have found that with a little creativity and the annotation bar on the Zoom platform and you can get just as much use out of some of your favorite PDFs!
For example, I use my No Prep Speech and Language sets constantly! Sure, they were made to use with a pencil and a paperclip or else with dice but I can just as easily use my electronic spinner from Super Duper Publications and my students love marking up the page just as much as they practice their speech and language skills!
With the annotation bar, my students have also been able to use the shape marker to cover pictures from my Mash and Mark series and the highlighter to highlight the hidden articulation words in my Find Articulation and Follow Directions series! The Zoom platform also allows you to add a text bar so my students have also enjoyed breaking the mystery codes from my Crack the Code Articulation resources!
As you can see, there are many tools available to you. What is the most important tool of all for providing successful and engaging speech therapy services via a telepractice format? YOU! You are the biggest determiner of your success. Just be you! Provide services as you would if the student was there with you in person. Build rapport as usual and be creative. Telepractice at times may require a little more creativity and problem solving but it is completely doable! You got this!
I have created a comprehensive list of my GO-TO Resources to Use for Teletherapy. If you do not want to go about making your own list, you can grab my free cheat sheet below.
