2020 and COVID-19 came along and cause me to get out of my comfort zone within my profession. I was excited and a bit afraid of what it would be like to begin doing teletherapy full time due to schools closing. It caused me to think outside the box and get creative. Prior to 2020, I had never been on a google meet or used a google slide. Now I use these tools on a regular basis.
I tried to be as client centered as possible and included things of their interest as much as possible. During my journey, I also had a graduate student and was mentoring a new hire. Needless to say, last year was a very interesting year to say the least.
Teletherapy has definitely been challenging. I wasn't used to only using materials that families had at home. For some families, I was able to make packets of materials for them to pick up from the school. I felt like OT needed to be as interesting, fun and exciting as possible as students easily got exhausted with being on the computer all day.
My first major projects that I worked on over the summer while preparing for the start of the school year were making a google classroom with my bitmoji and developing the OT Virtual Calming Corner. I hope you will check out this resource and utilize the materials. See link here: OT Virtual Calming Corner
I also quickly learned to use Kami and Jamboards to give my students access to pdf printables/worksheets that they could write on using their touch screen computers.
Now don't get me wrong, I also used plenty of actual objects and made crafts with students. Teletherapy isn't just about what can be done on the computer.
However, that was easiest for me since that was what I was used to. I must say, I was so thankful for YouTube and all of the OTs and Teachers out there who were willing to share materials and provide tutorials. When I couldn't find what I wanted, I had to figure out how to make it. That's what inspired me to revive my blog and get into making printables and teletherapy slides for others.
I hope you will join me for this new adventure. I'm planning to post lots of free stuff soon. 😉
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