Surviving Telepractice for Voice Therapy!

If you have been thrust unknowingly into the COVID-19 world of virtual voice therapy sessions, you are not alone.

I have been transitioning and pivoting my in-person clinic to seeing each and every client on an online tele therapy platform. Our patients can use doxy.me to sign into their sessions, and this has been working well so far.

Difficult, however, is keeping the attention span of a pediatric patient on caseload for voice therapy. Everyone is homeschooled right now because the schools have been cancelled in favor of social/physical distancing, and children grow restless by the day.

Even more challenging, is keeping up with their speech therapy sessions while parents are trying to work from home just to keep food on the table and the bills paid.

EVERYONE is suffering.

In an attempt to keep my kiddos and yours entertained while keeping their voice therapy sessions going in these unprecedented times, I had a request for BOOM Cards.

WHAT THE HECK ARE BOOM CARDS?

Boom decks from wow.boomlearning.com are interactive games that children can play DURING your tele practice session. You can also assign these “virtual decks” for home practice. This helps mom or dad because kids can help themselves with reinforcement from a parent, and any IPAD, Smart Phone or computer can be used.

Check out this Youtube Channel ALL ABOUT Boom Cards.

Also, here is Belinda from BVG describing the best way to use Boom Cards in Speech Therapy Sessions!

I have made a few. decks and tried them out. You can find them here:

 

 

 

  You can screen share and have your kiddo play with you during the tele practice session, and this works extremely well. The child stays engaged, you get trials, you can reinforce and model, and everyone wins.

So get out there and try some Boom Decks!!

Kristie Knickerbocker, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and singing voice specialist in Fort Worth, Texas. She rehabilitates voice and swallowing at her private practice, a tempo Voice Center, and lectures on voice science nationally. She is part of the Professional Development Committee for ASHA Special Interest Group 3, Voice and Upper Airway Disorders, and a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Pan-American Vocology Association. Knickerbocker blogs on her website at  www.atempovoicecenter.com. She has developed a line of kid and adult-friendly therapy materials specifically for voice on TPT or her website. Follow her on Pinterest, on Twitter and Instagram or like her on Facebook.