Welcome to the very first installment of my weekly Therapy Tip Tuesday post. I wanted to create a space to share therapy tips, a place where you can come to see what’s working great and maybe not so great. I would like to provide images, visuals, and video clips in an effort to hopefully make your therapy planning easier. I’ve been thinking about this for quite awhile and decided to title it “Therapy Tip Tuesday.” I was originally going to go with “Teletherapy Tip Tuesday” but the reality is the majority of what I do with my students via teletherapy is very similar to how I treat during face to face therapy. Whether you work as a teletherapist or in a traditional brick and mortar setting, I think you may find some value in these weekly tips.

Since starting my blog and becoming a teletherapist, a question that I get on a regular basis is, “what do you do with your students in teletherapy” or “how do you treat via teletherapy?” My answer to this question is quite simple, I treat in much the same way as I did face to face. The biggest difference is, technology is the foundation of every session. Due to the inherent nature of teletherapy, a computer, a headset, platform and digital therapy resources are just an added layer that I have found makes for a more engaging session.

To give you a sneak peek into exactly how I start the school year with my students, it is very similar to how I started my face to face therapy sessions. For our very first session I like to build a rapport, I present a “Welcome to Speech” PowerPoint to introduce myself and allow students to share with me information about themselves, their interests, hobbies, and personal/educational goals.

This is a very informal session and I include personal pictures of myself, family, pets, etc. in the PowerPoint. To download a fully editable Welcome to Speech PowerPoint to use on your first day of therapy or teletherapy, be sure you are signed up for my newsletter and check your inbox.

Depending upon the age of the students, I may wear a fun headband to break the ice and make them feel more comfortable.

If it is a bit more challenging to get the student to open up, I may break out additional props as needed (hand puppets, googly eye glasses, mini video clips from Safe YouTube of popular cartoon characters, etc).

For my slightly older students, I go through the Welcome to Speech PowerPoint and then we spend time completing an All About Me activity. I have a digital version that is for Google Drive.

Students are able to personalize it by adding their own images and it is a great way to get an inventory of their likes to use as added motivation during future sessions. For more details on this All About Me lesson click here.

I hope this information has been helpful. Check back often for additional tips throughout the school year. My goal is to add to the Teletherapy Tip Tuesday Blog Series weekly, if you have a tip or therapy idea you would like to share please don’t hesitate to email me at belinda@bvgslp.com for a chance to be featured.