I've always observed an overlap between tech literacy/digital citizenship and safety with language and social skills-- probably why I have pursued the instructional tech and SLP sides of my work. I recall materials like Google's Search Education existing at the dawn of its search engine (I also recall AltaVista), and am happy to see them again.
Search essentially involves central coherence/main idea thinking, vocabulary selection and question formation, among other skills, and that's just the first part. What follows involves text comprehension and determining what is the best result to pursue, not to mention evaluating sources! All good language and social cognition work.
At Google's page above you can check out leveled lesson plans with wonderfully broken-down Google Slides visuals- perfect for teletherapy but also in-person learning, and also of course, modifyable- just make a copy, shorten or add and pick your path through these lessons.
A Google A Day is available as a stand-alone activity with daily challenges but also from selectable categorical challenges on the above page. Great engaging activity for the end of sessions, perhaps.
i-Spy is a rich, simple interactive website that's like a Where's Waldo of New Zealand. You can play 5 different scenes and locate hidden animals, objects or people. I'd recommend the free play mode as the challenge mode is timed. A search icon will bring you to the general vicinity of the target with a visual cue.
Activities like these are visually packed and not for all students, but for many can serve as "thinking with the eyes" collaborative "group plan" activities (both Social Thinking® terms) and also connect well to narrative elements of setting and action sequences. Consider researching or Google Earth-traveling to the places beforehand and filling out a setting map/graphic organizer.
Google Experiments are, well, experimental websites that play with new features and aspects such as artificial intelligence (AI). These can show great use of the I- Interactive aspect of my FIVES criteria, as well as the V-Visual, and thereby be great contexts for language use.
Check out QuickDraw, which gives you 20 seconds to draw an object. You have pause time to discuss strategy or features (think Expanding Expression Tool) with students, and this is especially fun if you can give remote cursor control. The AI will then verbally guess what you are drawing, often with funny results that are sure to get a reaction from your students!
Blob Opera is also a blast and a fun way to play and explore voice pitch with students, as well as vocabulary about it (e.g. bass, tenor).
I've long been a fan of the contextual approach described by Hoggan & Strong in their influential article The Magic of Once Upon A Time-- that of pairing a picture book with pre- during- and post- narrative/language teaching opportunties. I have been presenting about this with many iterations for years, and last year published a pamphlet about it (free) on Teachers Pay Teachers.
We can consider "apps" in this context as including websites and webtools. Last week I used a picture book via it's YouTube read-aloud. There are usually several versions available for any picture book, I like to make choices around the style of reading and a slide-show look. I mentioned I have been picking lots of picture books with emotional vocabulary or self-regulation themes. In this case, I liked this version of Good News, Bad News (Jeff Mack) also because the visuals were a little quick. It provided the opportunity for many stopping points targeting situational observation and use of association and causals:
"Now he has an umbrella, so that's good news. What do you think the bad news will be?"
"Hmm that went by kinda fast, what did you see as the good news there?"
One post activity suggested by Hoggan & Strong is an "art" activity! I set up a collaborative art activity with the group using Jamboard- an interactive/collab whiteboard that is part of the Google Suite (find it in your little "matrix" of Google Apps- upper right corner of Gmail, Drive etc). In cases where I have used Jamboard, I have just clicked on Share and made it editable to anyone with the link, then put that link in the chat of Zoom or Meet, and students navigated to it easily. In this case, I thought we could do a good news-bad news cause effect chain in a different setting- my students chose a supermarket, I started them off and it played out like this:
Here's the resulting Jam. It owes something to Nancy Tarshis, Ryan Hendrix, and Kari Palmer who presented a verbal play activity I once saw called "Yay! Oh No!" Our activity with some coaching involved:
-Student 1: The lights go out at the supermarket!
-Student 2: But good news- the rabbit has a flashlight
-Student 1: But then bad news, dinosaurs invade the supermarket.
-Me: But good news, they are herbivores and just wanted lettuce
-Student 2: Bad news- they have no money.
-Student 1: Good news- there's a cash machine
-Student 2: But it's broken!
-Student 1: a repairman comes (but we should make him an animal to fit the story)
And we all decided everyone gets money to shop!
The boys did well with this playful narrative activity!
Piggybacking on yesterday's post, I just wanted to demonstrate a brisk look at Smart Exchange. We need not focus only on ELA categories in any material but can be looking also at content areas and consider a) would this activity be Fairly Priced, Interactive, Visual, Educationally Relevant, and Speechie/Specific, i.e. you can identify specific objectives you can target with it and b) what can you do AROUND the activity?
Adjective Noun Riddles - These two follow along recent research for later language development especially that metalinguistics is important. Not only are parts of speech a curriculum area but our understanding of them helps us unpack complex language for comprehension.
What is Weather? - These two are similar. Weather is always one of my favorite educationally relevant language areas-- it's so tied up in categories, description, time, causals, conditionals, functional decision making. Think about pairing with the MarcoPolo Weather app.
Animal Homes- As in this pair, science topics can also be contexts for sequencing and sentence formulation.
Park Map Skills- Maps are wrapped up in our understanding spatial concepts and executive function mind-maps of space and its layout. Pair with the free app Beep beep Alfie Atkins for map-making.
Remember from yesterday's post, Smart Exchange requires a free account to sign in, you'll need Smart Notebook Basic (also free) and you can edit files as you see fit.
SMART Notebook is free software designed for interactive whiteboards, but activities available for it work well in telepractice sessions. Notebook activities are similar to PowerPoints but have interactive elements that will be useful if you are giving students cursor control or perhaps just screen sharing with students making verbal choices. No need to re-invent the wheel, instead take a look at activities available on SMART Exchange, the free website (access w a free SMART account). You can look in ELA and SEL categories or find activities in Science or Social Studies with language underpinnings to target (categorization, sequencing, sentence formulation, etc).
For example, look at this activity created for National Pizza Day (see in quick-and-dirty demo below). The author modified The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza (with language targeting suggestions) and then created a page where you can make a pizza. Features like Infinite Cloner make it so there's an image of sauce you can drag over to the pizza, but then the sauce is still there so you can drag over more. SMART Notebook files are editable so you can, say, change the title slide because it's no longer National Pizza Day, remove one of the videos if you want, and delete/modify the page where students vote on their favorite pizza (this uses a push-out-to-devices piece called SLS Online that you might not want to get into).
So, again, the components you need to get started here are SMART Notebook basic software. Go to SMART Exchange to download activities.
I just stumbled across the website E-Learning for Kids- it has tons of content applicable for a number of levels and in various subjects. You may gravitate toward Language Arts, but note that the other topics have content for teaching many language underpinnings (e.g. concepts in the Math activities, description in the Science activities. The lessons here would be good for screen sharing and having students verbalize choices, or with cursor control, and have engaging animations. I am adding E-Learning for Kids to the Teletherapy Resource List.
This activity in the Science area is about describing and categorizing based on smell (lots of 5 Senses activities in Science here). I also like that the Science area has theme related to places around the world.
Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides and, I understand, for other tools, allowing you to make Google Slides interactive. You can also do this by sharing any slide deck so students can edit it, but Pear Deck offers some attractive possibilities as well. You can do much with the free education account available and I am on a premium trial. In this video I show how the add-on works and how you can do an activity like "sketch a birthday gift" for someone in a teletherapy group. I'm sure after looking at it, you can think of many other creative ways to use the tool--I'd love to hear about what you come up with. I have used it a number of times in groups and it's very engaging and fun. In the video also you can see what your view will look like as an instructor vs. the student view, and I also discuss brain in the group/executive function/pace as skills we have worked on through using this tool. Thanks- for email subscribers, the video is here.
I have been working on a list for some time that has been available in the sidebar of the blog, but wanted to wait until it got a bit beefier before making any kind of deal about it. The list sections include:
Interactive websites useful in teletherapy
Video resources
Mobile apps useful in teletherapy
Sources of e-text
Professional development (mostly free) related to telepractice
As I say in the document, it is a work in progress. If you have items you would like to share for addition, please email me (link on the website).
Please do not request edit access to the document, it is available as View Only. You could go to the file menu and select Add to My Drive and you would be able to see any updates added on an ongoing basis. Feel free also to download, but you would not see updates in that case as it is a Google Document.
Make-a-scenes are like Colorforms, for people who remember those. They present a setting, and allow for choices of elements to put in the setting. They therefore can work on thematic vocabulary, categories, syntax such as verbs, present progressive or causals, or on several levels of narrative- descriptive if choices are just items in a setting, action sequence if actions, or reaction sequence if more initiating events/problems.
Pic Collage has always been my go to for this, but if you want to involve some simple interaction in a teletherapy session, try with Google Slides. Even if you are using Google Hangouts Meet you have the potential to share the Google Slide file with the student so they can choose elements.
Here's a short video showing some tricks on creating a Make-a-scene in Google Slides. Have a good, safe, and as-positive-as-possible weekend.
About 3 years ago, Nathan Curtis and I did a webinar for ASHA, Apps and Web-Based Materials for Telepractice. It is now offered through ASHA's Learning Pass, which they have made free through July. This post serves to notify readers of this opportunity offering .15 CEUs, but I am also receiving a lot of questions about it, actually a lot of the same two reasonable questions, so I wanted to provide a quick link to those answers. Also some of this would be useful even if you haven't seen the webinar
The webinar being 3 years old, some info and resources are out of date or no longer available.
In the webinar, Nathan provides great information on how to use simple tools such as PowerPoint (see also Keynote and Google Slides). He refers to available quick videos (one created by the equally brilliant Amy Reid) now up at:
This trick could give you the option of using mobile apps interactively in a teletherapy session. Worked for me. As we know, we can allow viewing of, say, iPad apps by Quicktime on Mac (here's a link on that, you just don't ever have to click record, you can simply show the screen) or wireless mirroring. But students would not be able to manipulate the app even through remote control (the iPad/app appear on the screen, when we click on the screen on the app nothing happens, so when they click on it on the screen nothing happens, you still have to touch the iPad to interact with it, QED).
I was inspired to check out the possibility of Android Emulators a few years ago by the brilliant Megan Sutton and this post. As she describes, these take some experimentation. I have downloaded some of the 3 emulators she lists and they have not worked on my Mac, or did, then didn't. Currently Bluestacks works great for me, and I describe in the video below how I have used it and several Android apps in teletherapy sessions. This requires setting up a Google Play account (basically your Google account) and attaching a credit card to it as you do your Apple ID. No, any apps you have purchased in the Apple App Store will not transfer- you'd have to re-purchase as Google Play apps. So try this if you really like the idea of using some of the apps you love that are also available on Android (you can look that up in advance in the Google Play Store to see if you should even bother). And as in the video, I'd recommend:
-try free apps first
-test this out with someone you can test remote control with on Zoom or wherever
-assume the risk- if you pay for apps and then say, Bluestacks stops working, theoretically you still own the apps like with Apple, I just can't guarantee anything.
So, use this trick for apps you would love to use interactively (for me Pic Collage and Toca Apps) and don't go nuts with purchasing.
I have long been a fan of the TinyBop interactive apps for iPad. These smartly designed visualizations of "systems" are fun to use, linked to important curriculum topics, and language-neutral, so lots of talk can come out of them. They have ported them to web form as TinyBop Schools and made them free for the next several months, so I would highly recommend checking them out. In teletherapy these would provide for great interactions especially if you are sharing cursor (remote) control
Each model comes with a handbook. These are important to explore because the TinyBop models are so language-neutral that sometimes you don't know what they can do! The models also have journal and graphic organizer activities that are ideal for language therapy.
I'm long past processing that April School Vacation Week isn't happening. We all have bigger fish to fry, right? But here in MA it is always a rite of spring that brings the Marathon and some momentum leading up to the end of the school year...all that unclear as well.
However, we can simulate. Some of you know I am a Google Earth nerd, from way back when it was an application to download and you had to take a two-day class to understand it. Now, it's much easier. In Google Chrome, just launch Google Earth (or Google it); you can also use on iPad. But, Google Earth being so visual and interactive, it makes a great tool for telepractice. Consider using Google Earth for traveling to locations and working on descriptive language, situational awareness or the story grammar element of setting.
The activity I am doing is to have group members give a "tour"- could be a place they have gone to, are planning to go to, just want to go to, or even their neighborhood. I provided one- roughly main idea of place, 3 details and a story- as a model in groups. As a scaffold and also so that the activity makes social sense we talked about how a tour is a kind of conversation (thanks Anna Vagin for this and Conversation Paths, one of which I modified below- you should go purchase her amazing product on this, see a video here).
Students were given the roles of asking questions or making comments during or after my model tour and then I asked them to:
-use "future thinking" (see work of Ward/Jacobsen)
-think about a place to give a tour
-look it up in Google Earth and make sure it is searchable/navigable for an overview (main idea) and 3 details (places within it).
-think of a short story of your experience.
-at group you will verbally tell me where to go.
-please do not spend more than 10-15 minutes preparing for this
(this sent in email to parents)
Here's a video showing some of the navigation controls in Google Earth in Chrome which you can also find by, well, Googling! Typing a ? when in Google Earth will also display the shortcuts.
I tried out Loom to show you some recent books I have used in teletherapy and a simple game that can be used for social and language targets in multiple teleconference platforms (i.e. through screen share or through remote cursor control). Email subscribers click through to see the post or see the video here.
Sites like ABCya are filled with possibilities when we stop and consider what makes them potentially "Speechie" (see FIVES criteria). Ask yourself:
-Is there an inherent language process in this activity (e.g. categories, cause effect).
-What kind of conversations can I have with students that are NOT prompted by the screen (e.g. a description, commenting)
We've got categories, naming, the potential to make sounds corresponding to each instrument, later possibly finding songs where particular instruments are prominent and discussing them, looking at the language of lyrics, considering the narrative of songs, I could go on...
This site would be useful regardless of whether your could give remote (cursor) control by having students verbalize choices as you screen share.
Here are some other examples from this site: The Calendar Game: categories of activities, temporal concepts, following directions, executive function ABCYa Paint: Create a story, follow directions, draw vocabulary words Input/Output Devices: Describe by function and have awareness of how equipment is being used in the telepractice process Latitude/Longitude Treasure Hunt: Sync with curriculum concepts and spatial reasoning. Make a Treehouse and any other "Make a" game on skills pages: Describing, integrating parts into a whole, pair with a book like in this case If You Give a Pig A Pancake which involves a treehouse, also see Create a Car paired with If I Built A Car (lots of opportunities for complex IF sentences)
This is just a sampling from the "Skills" page. I hope you'll continue looking at this and other sites through this kind of language lens for telepractice opportunities- I didn't even mention the specifically targeted word games available by grade.
Note: there are ads on this site unless you go premium but I encountered only one pre-activity ad while writing this post and it seemed one I would use for discussion (a cool toy).
Into the Book is an interactive website from PBS Wisconsin targeting language-based literacy strategies. It has light but engaging interactivity allowing students to view portions of text and click on possible responses, making it more fun than a simple multiple-choice kind of thing. The website has modules including summarizing, visualizing, questioning, prior knowledge, inferring, evaluating, making connections, and synthesizing, with multiple opportunities to practice the strategy for each, allowing you to "get on a roll" (follow this link and click Newer Post for more like it) contextually and strategically. The website is free and also gives a "key" that saves your progress with a student or group. The features above make it a good candidate to use in telepractice or (hopefully, eventually) in-person sessions. Recall my tutorial on screenshare and remote control, the use of which would add engagement. Consider pairing each module with a text that lends itself to the strategy, perhaps from Epic! Books for Kids.
Also take a look at their complementary site, Into the Map. I love maps for visuals and eliciting language, talking about stories, setting and spatial concepts, and this site lets students make basic maps including ones that tell a story, and practice following directions.
Continuing to work here to share information for those who are considering or working to transition to telepractice given the ongoing Coronavirus Emergency. I am going to focus on "what to" rather than "how to" but this post has a little of both. In presenting with some amazing experts, Amy Reid and Nathan Curtis of Waldo County General in Maine, I have liked to say "I'm not a telepractitioner, but I play one on TV." I'm the SLP/Instructional Tech Specialist, so there's some overlap, but I'm only an emerging telepractice SLP. But I hope this is helpful.
Using Zoom (you decide what tier and apply HIPAA procedures) and other platforms you can move from videoconference to screen sharing and then remote control/giving the mouse and keyboard control to the student participant, shown here in my video:
Main idea: screen sharing and giving interactive control to the student (you can always take it away) opens worlds of contextual activities. The one shown was Draw A Stickman (I'd recommend ep 1-2)
Using interactive websites allows you to work in context; just do a little task analysis. Draw a stickman lends itself to extracting a narrative, sequencing, and using verbs and causal and conditional structures (because, so, if/then).
Some other sources of interactive websites:
-Look on Pinterest or Google in general or for a topic e.g. "interactive websites trees." (there are not many good speech-language specific interactive websites so remember, task analyze..."oh this one has categories.")*
*flash based websites becoming outdated and may be an issue. If it doesn't work for you, keep looking. Develop a Google Doc or other repository of sites you like and share.
If you have other sources of interactives you like, please let us know in the comments.
In February I am going to closing in on blogging for 10 years in this space. Wow!
I recently discovered a VERY OLD weblist I used for some of my first presentations. It's on Diigo- anyone remember Diigo (I started bookmarking on delicious which went defunct soon after). A theme of this blog has been having a Kübler-Ross style understanding that some technology passes away.
But looking through this list, I wanted to note that some of the resources from 10 years ago are still quite useful. Keep in mind that some of these are flash-based and you'll want to use on a laptop or Chromebook:
iCivics
Interactive games promoting understanding of civics, world schema, narrative language, cause-effect (also some iPad apps)
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Audio files with functional information (e.g. a phone message) good for building listening strategies
Popplet
A very cool concept mapping website, make graphic organizers and discussion maps (also an iPad app for this one)
Jamestown Online Adventure
Consider making a graphic organizer or decision tree for this oldie but goodie aligning with social studies curriculum
Utah Education Network
Wide selection of interactive websites on K-12 curriculum topics- many promote categorization, narrative, cause-effect and conditional thinking, and make curriculum concepts and vocab visible.
Storybird
Add text to pictures to form a "book"- good for descriptive language, "thinking with eyes," narrative
QR Scavenger Hunt
Make a quick scavenger hunt using QR codes- good for collaborative work, moving in a group, responding to questions. Also see other ClassTools.net tools.
Merriam-Webster is known for documenting the changing words of our language. Their Time Traveler website (accessible in any browser) will allow you to look up any recent year and see a list of words that had their "First Known Use" in that year.
Click on any site to see a definition; you may have to provide "kid-friendly" definitions. This site would be great if you want to incorporate engaging material or current events content, which often has many contexts for teaching narrative and expository text.
Many of the words featured are nouns. For a strategic focus you can teach semantic structures with a tool such as the Expanding Expression Tool.
Example:
Escape Room (2012)
Green/Group: A recreational place
Blue/Do: It simulates a locked room according to a theme, you have to get out
?/What does it look like?: Room or series of rooms
What is it made of/Parts: Puzzles, codes, hints, themes
White/Where: Often in a mall or amusement center
What else do I know? I once did one that was a fallout shelter
Buy one, or the kit, but did you know you could make a template for classroom instruction, or use mine at this link? (please DO NOT request access, rather, you can click File> Make a Copy to copy to your Drive).
SpeechTechie is my take on simple and interactive technologies you can use in language lessons and interventions. Enjoy!
Interested in learning more? I am available to conduct professional development sessions, including via webinar. If you'd like to work with me to design a presentation or consultation for your school or organization, please check out the "Work with Sean" page on this website.
Sean is a MedBridge instructor for several courses (avail. Feb 2018). Click to join MedBridge at a discounted rate for high-quality online PD and CEUs. A wide variety of courses are available for SLPs.
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