Teletherapy: Summer Speech Homework Using Shared Folder in Drive

One effective way to share summer speech activities with families is to use a shared folder in Drive. Parents will need to have a Google account to access the documents. With that in mind, NEVER include any Protected Health Information (PHI) about your students anywhere in the documents or in the folder, even if students need a link to access the folder.

Steps for Making a Homework Folder in Drive

1.       To create your folder, go into your Drive.

2.       Then left click NEW, then left click FOLDER. You will see a box called New Folder. Name your folder then select CREATE.

3.       Once created, it will show up as folder in your Drive. Double click on the folder and a large circle that says, DROP FILES HERE, will appear.

4.       You can upload PDF’s and Documents into the folder. Within the folder, you can create sub folders for specific areas such as articulation of language activities.

5.       To create sub-folders within the Homework Folder, right click in the empty folder and a box with options will appear. Select NEW FOLDER and name it to create the sub-folder. The great thing about using the folder is that you can add to it at any time. Many parents may not have a printer or want to print out worksheets. Uploading colorful NO PRINT activities, as long as you have Terms of Use permission, can be an effective solution for families on the go. If parents have Drive as an app on their phone or tablet, they will be able to access full color activities on their devices.

6.       To share the folder with families, you will need to right click on the folder name. You can do this a couple of ways. You can right click on the folder as it appears with your other folders in Drive or if you have already opened the folder, click on the drop down arrow next to the name of the folder. Right click on SHARE. Click on CHANGE.

7.       You will see a drop down next to ANYONE WITH THE LINK can view. Copy the link to share with your families.

8.       You can also right click on the folder and select GET SHAREABLE LINK. If link share is OFF, slide the button right so it turns green then the link will be copied to your clipboard and you can paste it into an email or document.

9.       Below is a link for an editable calendar that can be used to created customized calendars that can be saved as PDF’s and added to a shared activities folder in your Drive. The second link is for a NO Print Calendar that is also editable in Google Slides and can be uploaded into a shared folder.

Teletherapy Materials: Making Board Games in Power Point

This process is for making your own materials for personal use ONLY—not for making materials to sell! Click below for a FREEBIE game board with movable pieces!

1.      Open Power Point.

2.      Delete text boxes that automatically come up on a new slide.

3.      Click on Design tab at the top. Go all the way to the right and select Slide Size.

4.      Chose Standard Size for more of a square look or Widescreen for a more elongated look.

5.      Next, choose Format Background.

6.      To add some interest, I use backgrounds from Pexels or Pixabay. Choose Picture or texture fill then select Insert from Picture Source. I like to slide the transparency bar over to make the background a little more transparent.

7.      Then insert shapes to form your game path. Go to the Insert tab at the top and find shapes. Select the shape you like, such as a rectangle. Change the color to coordinate or stand out from your background. Select shape outline to add an outline. You can also choose the color and thickness of the outline. Once you have a shape you like, copy and paste several times and create a path from Start to Finish.

8.      If you want to align your path shapes more, use the align tools to get a look you like. To center your new path on your background, select all of the shapes, then move them together as a group.

9.      Write directions or words in the boxes. For example, you can write START, END, AHEAD 1, BACK 1, or specific words or directions in your pathway boxes. Once you create a path you like, you can use it over and over with different backgrounds and customize it with different target words or sentences. Another trick is to select the Shape, Go to Shape Fill, then select picture. You can add a picture from your own files or go to the image search and grab an image online. If you choose to add online images, DO NOT TRY TO SELL YOUR GAMEBOARD. THIS WOULD BE A COPY WRITE VIOLATION. If you are planning on making products to sell, that is a whole different ballgame!

10.  Once you have your power point slide the way you like it, save it and label it something like Power Point Game Slides. That way, whenever you need to make a new game, you have a template.

11.  Next, save it again as a PDF. I prefer to save my PDF’s in Adobe Acrobat Reader. This allows me to add stampsto my game board as movable game pieces.

FREEBIE PDF GAMEBOARD

Telepractice Materials: Learning to Make Your Own

Providing teletherapy comes with many challenges and many rewards. As I have stated before, telepractice is not for wimps. If you are a school SLP, you are already versed in clawing your way over walls and finding ways to solve seemingly impossible or unreasonable problems. Sad but true. School SLP’s are problem solvers. Wall climbers. Public relations specialists. Sometimes it feels like we have to fight our way to be able to work with our students. Again, sad but true. Teletherapy is a service provision model that exercises all of these skills. As you transition or begin to regularly include telepractice services as part of your new normal, you may end up falling in love with the experience. Or not. Either way, you will grow your expertise and push yourself in new ways. It can be especially exhausting at first—both mentally and physically. It took me a full three years to cross the Rubicon to arrive at a place where I consider myself a teletherapist. I am confident I will never return to face-to-face therapy.

Importance of Materials and Activities Used in Telepractice

Several weeks ago, I posted a 6-question survey on the Teletherapy Materials for Speech-Language Pathologists Facebook page. The purpose of the survey was to gather information from practicing teletherapists regarding their opinions about the role that motivating materials played in the success of sessions. By no means was this a scientific survey. But it helped shed light on my personal burning questions related to the amount of time I had been spending creating and adapting activities for use with my students in telepractice. I enjoyed making my own customized activities but also purchased many excellent appropriate materials on TpT specifically for telepractice or that could be easily adapted. I had tremendous respect for our TpT sellers and the amount of time, effort, and creativity they invested in making such activities available. My survey came from wondering if I was the only one spending tons of non-paid time planning and creating telepractice friendly activities. Was I missing something? Was there some magic website I wasn't aware of? Were some platforms easier to use? What was my problem? Given the results below, it appeared that having access to motivating appropriate activities and materials was important to many telepractioners. Having access to materials or a budget to purchase materials would be a significant plus for teletherapy companies looking to attract and keep therapists. Also, when interviewing, therapists should feel justified in asking about how a company provided access to materials to use with their platform.