Spicing up your teletherapy!

Hey Tek-ninjas! Here's a quick chat about something fun... Video conference backgrounds! Most of us have played with different backgrounds. They are fun, and can capture an audience, which may be really important with younger clients.

You can download wallpaper from various sites, and most platforms allow you to upload any jpeg or png. Well. Tobii Dynavox has some really fun pictures that you can add to spice up your teletherapy, and they are available here for free. I'm pretty sure this is official Boardmaker art!

If you are uploading them to Teams you will need to store them at this link:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads.

Have fun, and remember, wash your hands!

Create Tailored, Hands-On and Accessible Content for In-Home Learning

Hey Tek-ninjas! Living in Coronatopia, many of us are struggling with HOW to keep students engaged with hands-on activities that are access friendly and individualized. This is true, whether they are our own children, or kiddos we are serving remotely. Turns out Boardmaker has some great tools to help you deliver lessons that tackle these challenges. 

Check out the Activities-to-Go, an online platform that helps you to differentiate learning in fun and engaging activities. Activities-to-Go comes in units, and each unit has three levels of books. Because each unit focuses on one topic, you can use materials from any level to extend, enrich, and customize learning. You can learn more in depth here. 

There are over 200 interactive templates for hands-on learning. Learners can manipulate the activities you have created using a computer, iPad, or Tobii Dynavox device. Were I doing remote services, say with Zoom, opening these on a child's device, sharing their screen and working with them on this content could be a really powerful way to connect and teach. You can learn more about these hands-on learning tools here. 

If we were doing this on their personal AAC device, we would need to make certain the device was "unlocked" so it could access the internet. The fee to unlock most devices is $25 these days. The family would need to contact the vendor to get it unlocked if they've not done so. 

A significant aspect of these hands-on learning opportunities that I really love is that you can take into account access issues, and accommodate touch, scanning and eye gaze. This is explored more here. 

Not everyone has Boardmaker online, but currently they are offering a free 90-day trial. If you don’t have a Boardmaker Online account, here is a tutorial to get that 90-day trial. 

Wash your hands friends!!