Today we are going to be discussing what to do when your students CANNOT request control of the screen during your teletherapy sessions. The short answer is, the SAME THING you would do if they could request control. The ability to manipulate and control items on the screen is an added bonus. It definitely NOT a necessity by any means. Each teletherapy platform is slightly different.  We explore how to navigate your teletherapy sessions when your student CANNOT request control.  With each new blog post, I really want to continue to remind you to stay up to date with ASHA’s position and the most recent information: www.asha.org/About/Coronavirus-Updates.

First and foremost always take care of yourselves and your families as we continue to navigate through this unfamiliar terrain. It has been a challenge but please know that we will get through this together. Supporting one another is what we do best as SLPs and educators. I want to be of value to you and plan to continue sharing what I have learned along this journey. My goal is to hopefully make your transition a little bit easier.

This is my fourth year as a teletherapist. When I first started there were NOT a lot of resources designed with a teletherapy platform in mind. This is what initially motivated me to create what my students needed. Teletherapy resources have come a very LONG way in the past four years.  I want to assure you that you can have fun, engaging, and effective sessions even if your students cannot manipulate items on the screen.

In all honesty, I personally only allow my students to request control during our sessions about 10% or LESS of the time! My students have come to understand that my expectation is that they are using their words to communicate with me. I want them to be thinking more about what they are going to SAY next as opposed to what they are going to manipulate on the screen next.

• Are my sessions still engaging? ABSOLUTELY!
• Are they still fun? OF COURSE!
• Are my students still motivated? YESSS!

It really depends upon how you, as the therapist, approach the session. If you are excited and enthusiastic, your students will feed off of your energy and want to actively participate with you regardless of whether they can move things around on screen. You certainly set the tone and have the ability to facilitate a FUN dynamic session with very minimal external stimuli. If you missed my last post, it provides several ways to keep it exciting without being fancy.

I work hard to maximize the time I have with my students and take advantage of the entire session, especially for my group sessions. It is extremely important to get as many trials as possible for all students involved and taking turns requesting control back and forth can significantly impact the number of opportunities to address their targets. When your students are required to use expressive language to tell you what to move next, it is a great way to challenge them while effectively working on verbal expression.

A frequently asked question that has come up a LOT lately is whether Boom Cards can still be played when students are unable to request control? YES THEY CAN! Regardless of the target you are working on, you can certainly engage your students using Boom Cards without giving them control of the screen. I do it frequently and my students are still highly motivated by Boom Cards. I have conditioned my students to not expect to request control during every session. Even though they realize it is a possibility, they also know how much I LOVE to hear them using their words and effectively expressing themselves verbally.

Depending upon the age and maturity level of your students, giving them control of the screen has the potential to be extremely distracting. Start your sessions off by setting a positive, uplifting, fun, and dynamic tone. Take a genuine vested interest in getting to know your students and they will:

• Want to come to SEE you
• Want to RECEIVE your positive praises
• Want to MAKE you happy
• Want to make PROGRESS
• Want to TALK to you!

As I’ve said in previous posts, YOU are your own secret sauce.  YOU have the power to run a FUN, very effective session even if you are the only one controlling the teletherapy screen! Don’t view your students inability to request control as a bad thing. It does not have to be and can definitely result in increased expressive language. It can also lead to increased articulation trials during the session.  When students are focused more on their productions and not on what to move next on the screen.

I hope you found this information helpful and I would love to hear from you. If you have run an effective teletherapy session that was FUN and dynamic without allowing your student to control the screen, comment below and tell me about it. If you prefer, email me at belinda@bvgslp.com.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that the content of this and all previous and future blog posts are for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.  Be sure to abide by and follow your company’s policies and procedures.  The information contained within are tips that have worked well for ME in my therapy/teletherapy room.