First and foremost, have patience! Teletherapy takes time to learn and you’ll develop your own tricks and techniques as you go! Be open to trying and persevering!

Items Recommended (more so when at school vs. home) :

• DocCam

• Headphones with microphone

• Pencil box with items: dice, glue, scissors, crayons, game pieces

• Folders for students

• Consider para to help get students, help with therapy activities, print off items for parents

Audio/Video Troubleshooting :

1. Check volume/mute on both computers and headphones-fixes 90% of problems!

2. Log out and then log back in - fixes 90% of problems!

3. Check your internet speed for downloads and uploads (www.speedtest.net)

Favorite Websites/Games for Teletherapy :

• Variety of Games: www.primarygames.com

• Online memory games (matchthememory.com) and decorating games (dress up princess, superheroes, etc.)

• Quia.com games and flashcards for a variety of skills

• Online Connect 4 Game: https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/connect4.html

• Online coloring pages (choose options with least amount of colors for the student to tell you/describe to you!)

• Teacherspayteacher.com has a ton of free resources as well

How to write teletherapy into IEP-LRE statement (see examples). If doing teletherapy regularly during a normal school year, there is specific verbiage that needs to be in the IEP:

Example 1:

STUDENT will receive speech/language services 2X per week via telepractice with intermittent face to face therapy sessions. There will be an adult available to assure STUDENT's safety and assist with the technology. STUDENT will independently manage the headset during the telepractice session.

Example 2:

During teletherapy sessions, STUDENT will have access to an adult for assistance with the technology and to assure student safety (i.e. fire drills, lock down drills, other in-school emergencies, etc). Remediation for student's disability in the area of communication is appropriately facilitated with the use of teletherapy interventions. STUDENT demonstrates technology skills necessary for effective teletherapy sessions.

MA Billing:

1. Evaling (cannot MA bill at this time), but can MA bill for therapy

2. What does it look like? Need a seperate tab and ICD-10 Code needed for telemedicine/teletherapy

3. Mode of Transmission: Secured and Encrypted

4. Provider Location and Student Location? (This information is by where you would enter in your Start/End Times)

5. Contact Dellynne Monson if you have any questions ( dellynne.monson@swwc.org)

Assessments :

1. Recommended to use a DocCam (sometimes I have used my moveable camera or held items up to my camera) to show stimulus pictures/materials or Q-Global has assessment stimulus pictures for download FREE during this time.

2. Use discretion when selecting assessments; not all assessments will be the best for teletherapy

3. Need to interpret scores with caution due to standardized assessments not being normed through teletherapy– check manual-some assessments might have these norms!

4. Make sure parents/caregivers understand they CANNOT aid with the assessments (no whispering or showing the answers while they sit next to their child)

5. For Speech-Language Pathologists see ASHA Guidelines: https://www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Professional-Issues/Telepractice/

   1. 1. 1. •  “Modification of Assessment and Treatment Techniques and Materials: Clinicians who deliver telepractice services must possess specialized knowledge and skills in selecting assessments and interventions that are appropriate to the technology and that take into consideration client and disorder variables. Assessment and therapy procedures and materials may need to be modified or adapted to accommodate the lack of physical contact with the client. These modifications should be reflected in the interpretation and documentation of the service. Some publishers of standardized assessments have developed guidance about administration of tests via telepractice or validated assessments for administration via telepractice. Other researchers have compared the validity of in-person and remote assessment protocols (Sutherland et al., 2016; Taylor, Armfield, Dodrill, & Smith, 2014).” (ASHA, 2020)

Treatment/Interacting with Students :

1. Ask students if they can see the shared materials? Is it large enough? May need to adjust your “zoom” settings for the webpage/pdf.

2. Perspective Taking: Many students will point to the screen and say “that one” when playing Memory or any other type of activity. I remind students that “I can’t see what they are seeing/I can’t see their screen” so they have to describe it to me (i.e. What row is it? What column? Top, middle, bottom? What number is the card if you count it out? Be creative! Good way to target vocabulary and perspective taking skills naturally! You may need to count items out loud/number items verbally for students.). Double check with the student if it is the right selection. Students will need to describe what it is they want. Also, if playing an online board game, to make it more interactive, I’ll ask the students to tell me “GO!” when they want to roll the dice (however, I am the one clicking on the dice to make it actually “go”)

3. 3. If you want to move the teletherapy screen to the middle top of the computer, it will make it seem as if you are “looking at the student” versus looking at your computer. Gives them more direct eye contact.

4. You will have A-LOT of tabs open at one time! Switch back and forth. Use the “SHARE SCREEN” button. We encourage you to use Google Drive and create folders for your resources (TeachersPayTeachers worksheets, workbook CD’s, etc.) for ease of access.

5. Students won’t necessarily hear what you hear if sharing a YouTube video. Usually mute the video if doing a read-aloud and I’ll read the story while it plays.

6. Mute music/noise if playing on an activity/game webpage that has background music/noise.