It's that time of year again!

Yellow school buses are on the street, backpacks are on children as they run down the sidewalk and the sound of the school bell rings throughout the neighborhood. It’s that time of year again! Time to get back into the school routine!!!

Getting back into a routine can be a little bit challenging. My friends and I joke that we have until October 1st to figure it out, and until then we give ourselves lots (and lots) of grace! Going to bed and getting up early are half the battle. Adding in after school activities and travel for extracurricular activities for your children as they get older, can really start to be tricky. We want to share with you a few of our ideas on how to transition back into the school routine.

Sticky note weekly calendar

Visuals

Start a family calendar with days and lists of activities on those days. Our family uses a weekly calendar that includes each activity Monday through Friday. This helps our children increase their own independence (they know what is ahead) and plan for the items they will need the next day. It also helps us remember what our children have going on during the week!

Sticky Notes

Use lots of sticky notes with checklists and visual reminders. We place reminders of things each child is responsible for having done and ready before bed. This might include: backpack ready, lunch ready, sport bag ready, homework complete, reading done, etc. This gives an excellent visual and decreases the verbal reminders we have to give to our kids!

Checklists can also help for the morning routine. The lists might include: put on clothes, eat breakfast, brush teeth, shoes on, backpack ready, etc. Again, this decreases verbal reminders and increases independence!

Get Backpacks and Clothes Ready

Have your children get their backpacks ready and pick out clothes the night before. Morning time and morning routines are already crazy enough! This might alleviate some of the stress! Our own kids line their backpacks up next to the door, ready to go, the evening before. One of our children lines out her clothes for each day of the week on Sunday evenings!

Sometimes simple changes in habit can make a big difference for our routine. Remember to give yourself and your family lots of grace, and just like our friends joke… October 1st!!!

As always Trilogy Therapy is here to help. We strive to make access to speech, occupational and physical therapy services accessible to anyone, anywhere. We believe that therapy should have no barriers. Contact us today for all of your therapy needs!

More... Animated shorts we love!

A little over a year ago we did a blog about animated shorts and how to use them during therapy. We still love them and use them and wanted to share with you some of our new favorites!

Lifted

It’s like a driver’s test for an extraterrestrial! This fun animated short is about one of our “out of this world” friends learning how to navigate a spacecraft. It’s super cute and there are loads of opportunity to incorporate speech and language into this one including: Articulation, Verbs, Grammar, Inferencing, Pragmatics: Feelings Problem solving, Story Grammar and retell

Mike’s New Car

Mike is pretty excited about his new car. Do you think Sully will like it? Share this animated short with your students to find out. There’s an abundance of targets in this one, but here are some recommendations: Articulation/Phonology: fronting, Vocabulary:  Antonyms, Synonyms, Verbs, Pragmatics, Problem Solving, Feelings, Prepositions, Inferencing, Story Grammar and Retell

Gordon Goose

This is a short, animated short and can be used when you only have a few minutes to spare. Gordon is busy at work when he realizes what a beautiful day it is. What does he decide to do… work or play? Your students will get a kick out of this one and learn a lot too! Here are some targets: Vocabulary: Synonyms, Antonyms, Verbs, Prepositions, Grammar, Inferencing, Wh- Questions, Pragmatics, Problem Solving, Feelings, Story Grammar and Retell

*If you like this one, check out the Holiday edition Gordon Goose: Christmas Tree.

Trouble in Paradise

The island life! Will this crab figure out what is going on when a new visitor arrives to his own little island?! This is a great short to work on: Articulation/phonology: especially /r/ blends, fronting, Vocabulary, Wh- questions, Prediction, Increased sentence length, Grammar

Alike

This is a creative animated short that is great for helping all to see the bright side in everything and reminding all of us to have a little fun! This animation is great for many speech and language targets including: Opposites, Pragmatics, Problem Solving, Feelings, Vocabulary, Adjectives, Verbs

Animated shorts are great to add to your therapy activities whether you are in person or on-line. Want to see how Trilogy Therapy uses them in action? Click our demo page and we’ll show you how we use animated shorts while providing therapy to anyone, anywhere!

Should I call a speech therapist? How to decide when speech errors just aren’t normal anymore.

Should I call a speech therapist? This question pops up a lot, and I hear it especially at the beginning of a school year. Often it’s not just parents but teachers asking about students they teach. The answer can depend on what setting the child is in as school based and private speech therapy differ on qualifying criteria. Here’s an excellent blog post on the difference, “Important Info for Parents About School-Based and Private Speech-Language Therapy Services.”

In the fall of 2018 a published journal article by McLeod and Crowe came out providing a cross-linguistic review of children’s acquisition of consonants in 27 languages. The article backed up what speech language pathologists already knew about sound acquisition… it happens earlier than most think! 

McLeod and Crowe really didn’t determine anything new, they simply summarized a terrific amount of studies to show when 90% of English speaking children develop specific speech sounds. Because we know that children with even just single speech sound disorders are at risk for a host of educational difficulties regardless of the number or kind of errors expressed (Farquharson (2019). It Might Not Be “Just Artic”: The Case for the Single Sound Error, ), we recommend any child that falls outside of the norms in McLeod and Crowe’s cross-linguistic study be evaluated further for speech therapy needs. 

With articulation therapy, early intervention leads to an increase in positive outcomes, meaning less time and money spent on therapy.  Studies show that the age of the child significantly impacts the outcome and duration of therapy.  With each year that passes, the length of time needed to remediate sound errors significantly increases, especially after a child reaches 8 years of age.

So if you are still wondering if you should call a speech therapist don’t hesitate any longer. Contact Trilogy Therapy today, because we believe no matter where you are, access to therapy should have no barriers and we’re ready to help!

Speech Teletherapy: Why in some cases it works better than traditional on-site speech therapy.

I’ve been doing speech teletherapy for several years and know first hand how effective it is, but I don’t think others truly grasped it until this spring when the entire country came to a halt and everyone shifted virtually.  Here are five reasons why, in some cases, teletherapy is more effective than traditional therapy and you should consider trying it!

Carry-over and home practice

Carry over is a client or student’s ability to take an individual speech skill learned in therapy and apply it broadly in all speaking situations. Because you are providing teletherapy within the client’s/student’s home this can be easier to achieve. Items used during therapy are typically found within the client/student’s home. These items can be used for practice until the next speech teletherapy session.

More frequent contact with therapist

Because therapy can be scheduled without worry of travel time and at the convenience of both the client/student and the therapist, it is much easier to have multiple sessions and contact with each other. In some cases short, more frequent practice, is needed to master a skill (i.e., speech sound aquisition).

Convenience of doing therapy in your home

As noted above there’s no travel time or waiting in waiting rooms. The client or student simply logs on to the HIPAA/FERPA compliant platform and the therapy session begins.

Helps with those who have social anxiety

I have clients and students who have difficulty warming up to others in person. Each session begins with a period of time used to build rapport and establish (or re-establish) a connection. However, with teletherapy, I have found the time for building rapport is decreased. My client or student is in his/her own home and often has support from a loved one to decrease his/her anxiety.

Family support and participation

My clients and students all have family members who actively participate in our speech teletherapy sessions. This has been invaluable as many of them then work on targets with the client/student during the week while we aren’t in our session together.

There are many reasons to consider when providing speech therapy in person, on-site or virtually, and Trilogy Therapy specializes in doing it all! Visit us at www.trilogyteletherapy.com and schedule a visit today!

Ellen C. Treide MS, CCC-SLP

Animated Shorts... How to use them in therapy and teletherapy

Have you ever used animated shorts to guide your therapy or teletherapy? If you haven’t, you should! Luckily there are an abundance of them on YouTube and other video streaming websites. Here are some of our favorites!

Snack Attack

This cute animation details a grandmother’s need for a snack mixed with a little forgetfulness. Our students are always actively engaged with this one. Here’s what we love to target: Articulation: Ample opportunities for /k/, Pronouns, Verbs, Grammar, Pragmatics: Feelings and Problem solving, Story Grammar and retell

The Present

A boy and his dog! Some of our students really relate to The Present as it highlights differences and acceptance. There’s an abundance of targets in this one, but here are some recommendations: Articulation/Phonology: Fronting, Vocabulary: Antonyms, Synonyms, Verbs, Pragmatics: Problem Solving and Feelings, Prepositions, Story Grammar and Retell

Pip

Another dog animation here, but who doesn’t love puppies… especially, puppies going to puppy university! This animation follows Pip as he learns how to be a guide dog. Our students love this animation and it’s full of speech and language! Here’s what we like to work on: Vocabulary: Synonyms, Antonyms and Verbs, Prepositions, Grammar, Pronouns, Wh- Questions, Pragmatics: Problem Solving and Feelings, Story Grammar and Retell

Hey Deer!

Christmas animations always catch and keep our learner’s attention! Hey Deer! does not disappoint. The deer does everything exactly the same, everyday so this animation is really great for prediction. There are fantastic visual clues throughout! We also like to target the following: Articulation: especially /r/, Vocabulary, Wh- questions, Prediction, Mean Length Utterance, Grammar

Coin Operated

Imagination and the love of space are highlighted in this short animation as it features a boy’s desire to go to outer space. This animation is fabulous for many speech and language targets including: Articulation: especially /k/, Vocabulary, Prediction, Pragmatics: Problem Solving and Feelings

Lambs

This is a fun tale on how a mom and dad try to teach their little lamb to “baa.” Imagine the shock they experience when the lamb makes a “moo” instead! There are so many targets in this one. Here are some we use: Opposites, Pragmatics: Problem Solving and Feelings, Vocabulary: Adjectives and Verbs

Animated shorts really are amazing! Want to see how Trilogy Therapy uses them in action? Click our demo page and we’ll show you how we use animated shorts while providing therapy with no barriers!

Teletherapy... How to find and maintain a work-life balance

There are numerous benefits to providing teletherapy (see our blog post here!), but when you add in a global pandemic, your own kids homeschooling, and a spouse who is telecommuting, the work-life balance can seem much more difficult to find! 

Here are some tips on how to find and maintain a work-life balance:

Create a schedule and stick to it.

This may seem simple, but when your work is in your home, it’s very easy for work and home to get in the way of each other. Find a way to create and follow a schedule just like you would if you were working away from home.

Make a workstation.

Set up a place to work that is different from where you eat, sleep, exercise or relax. Your family will know when you are there it is time for work. They will also know the items in that area are for work. Even if your work area is in a corner, leave it just as you would your office, at a certain point during the day.

Use one specific device for work related material.

Pick one computer or device to use for work related email and other messages. Use only that device to read and respond to those during your scheduled work hours.

Keep a morning, evening and daily routine with your family.

With young children in your home, finding a routine is key. Build into your schedule breaks to help with school work and daily life needs. If you exercised in the morning or after work in the evening when working outside of the house, continue that routine while working from home.

Have pre-planned cues to let others in the house know when you are busy.

Setting up boundaries has to happen not only with your colleagues but with your family as well. Drawing mental boundaries, as well as physical boundaries with those around you is critical to find that work-life balance.

Soon working from home will be the new normal, and once you’ve set boundaries, finding and maintaining a work-life balance is much easier. The future is bright for teletherapy!

Heroism Comes in Many Forms

“You’re living a part of history,” I hear myself say repeatedly to my three daughters. “This is something you’ll remember forever, and tell your own kids about and probably even your grandkids,” I’ll add on. It’s true. Each and every one of us is living through a piece of history right this very minute.

In the past month, I’ve had the honor of working with many teachers and therapists as they transition from teaching within a classroom or providing services within a clinic to providing virtual learning through on-line platforms. To say it has been inspirational is truly an understatement. Again and again, I witnessed total and utter courage as these professionals moved forward, not knowing or feeling completely comfortable with this new way of teaching and doing therapy, but doing whatever it took to learn how to do it. They forged a path to make it meaningful for every student no matter his or her background. 

Because I am a speech therapist, and by nature love vocabulary and semantics, I often think about words that describe situations I am a part of or are going on around me. When reflecting on the past month, there are a few words that come to mind when I think of all the teachers and therapists who changed the way they were teaching and doing therapy. They developed a whole new curriculum and treatment plan in just a matter of weeks. Right away my mind fills with words such as perseverance, tenacity, grace, strength, courage, and inspiration, but the overarching vocabulary word, the one that it is most glaring... heroic.

I listened to an article today on Wyoming Public Media where a colleague and friend of mine, Wade Kinsey, was quoted as saying, "If I can provide some of that classroom community that we've spent months building over the course of the year that was taken from us, if I can get that back, that's the stuff that will make the difference for these kids,"  Not only have these teachers and therapists, worked tirelessly on doing just that but they’ve developed new curriculums and treatment plans compatible with on-line learning, and they have individualized each lesson and treatment plan according to the student. They’re taking into account students whose parents are essential workers or are not able to provide support and making plans accordingly, they’re dropping food and other essentials off on family’s doorsteps daily (i.e., tables and chairs to do school work on, writing utensils, paper, etc), they’re on video and phone calls all hours of the day and late into the night helping those who are most vulnerable, and they’re taking time away from their own family to tend to their students and patients. I’ve witnessed therapy clinics making lunches and having them available for their patients every single day, and this is on top of all the services they are providing. This is nothing short of heroic.

So yes, we are living a part of history, and the heroism our teachers and therapists have exhibited throughout this pandemic will always be a part of the story I will tell in years to come.  I will be forever grateful.

An open letter to school administrators, special education teachers, therapists...

Dear school administrators, special education teachers and therapists,

We realize with schools closing across our country you are working hard to figure out how to continue providing education to all of our precious students. Thank you for your hard work in achieving this and for taking on the task of educating our children in non-traditional ways.

If you are considering to provide educational and related services through online programs, Trilogy Therapy can help your therapists learn how to perform teletherapy effectively. We’re currently helping other school districts in our northwestern region do just that!

Currently, Trilogy Therapy works with school districts providing on-line and on-site speech, occupational and physical therapy services. We’ve had great success implementing teletherapy and are happy to help your district do the same. We can train your therapists how to use teletherapy platforms, provide your therapists valuable digital resources to decrease planning time and offer extended support whenever they may need it.  All of your therapists will know how to make teletherapy effective, engaging and fun!

Please contact us for any teletherapy consultation you might need. Check out our website at www.trilogyteletherapy.com, email us at contact@trilogyteletherapy.com, or call (307) 459-1111.

We are here to help you!

Sincerely,

The Trilogy Therapy Team

Get Moving and Talking...Anywhere, Anytime

Trilogy Therapy has simple tips to continue fostering minds and bodies of our precious kids, anywhere, anytime!

Lo-Tech Options for PT at Home

Charades - Encourages motor planning and control

Potential Categories

• Animals (Flamingo, Frog, Duck, Cat, Chicken, Dog, Snake, etc)

• Sport Activities (Baseball, Volleyball, Golf, Hockey, Basketball, etc)

• Musical Instruments (Guitar, Piano, Drums, Trumpet, Flute, etc)

Balloon Living Room Volleyball - Great for visual tracking and eye-hand coordination

• Set up the “court”

• Each person gets 3 hits to get ball back to other side

• Don’t let the balloon hit the floor

Higher Tech Options for PT at Home

GoNoodle - Online website to encourage movement and activity all related to educational topics

• Create a free family account or an educator account

  • https://assets-gnp-ssl.gonoodle.com/parent_invite_pdfs/gonoodle_parent_invite_en.pdf

• Different categories including: Mindfulness, Sensory and Motor Skills, and Movement Type

YouTube Work-Outs 

• Many different fun workouts for kids

• Yoga, Frozen, SuperMario Brothers, etc 

Low Tech Options for Speech Therapy at Home

Play “I spy…”

• A good game of “I spy…” can be played anywhere! Try playing it by giving two to three describing clues (i.e., “I spy something green, soft, and you sit on it). 

Baking/Cooking/Crafting

• What a great time to bond and work together on something creative! This time also allows for lots of direction following, sequencing, and new vocabulary. Let your child help you with dinner, bake dessert, or make that scrap book you’ve been meaning to do for years!

Go for a walk or bike ride

• Get outside together and move. What a wonderful time to talk about what’s going on around you. Work on opposites (i.e., fast and slow, up and down, etc.), find and/or show verbs (i.e, find things that fly, find things that crawl, show me skipping, etc.), and describe what you see (i.e., “look it’s at the animal with feathers, who flies, and who will probably be laying eggs soon”).

Reading

• Read together! For older readers, a good chapter book might even be in order. This gives ample opportunity to talk about and work on comprehension of the different parts of the book (i.e., the main character(s), the setting, etc.). It’s a great time to point out and examine new vocabulary further. You can talk about specific words in the book, the meaning of those words, what are other words that might mean the same thing, what are words that are the opposite, what other words might be associated with the specific word, etc. For our younger readers, this is also a great time to look at the pictures in the book and talk about what you see. You can also work on hearing and saying the sounds in specific words in the book, and you can work on comprehension and understanding of what was just read.

Higher Tech Options for Speech Therapy at Home

ABC Mouse

• There’s a 30 day free trial for this educational website. It’s great for children between kindergarten and 2nd grade. Give it a try!

Vooks

• You can have a free subscription to this website if your school has been impacted by a closure. There’s also a free 30 day trial. Vooks takes normal story books, animates them, and makes them come alive! It’s really a great resource!

Boom Learning

• Boom Learning is full of gamified academic exercises including those that target speech and language! Try the starter package. It’s free and you’ll find a ton of really great exercises for your child!

Low Tech ideas for Occupational Therapy at home:

 -  Use that backyard swing set! Engage sensory systems with swinging, monkey bars, teeter totter, and going down the slide! 

-      Sensory play – we’re big fans of Floof and Kinetic Sand at my house. This could also be as simple as dumping flour in a casserole dish and driving cars through it or mixing water and cornstarch together.

-      Cook together – stirring, mixing, measuring – cooking targets so many excellent skills areas – cognition, attention to task, sequencing, bilateral coordination. Plus the end result is yummy!

 High Tech ideas for OT : 

Tools to Grow OT : This website offers two levels of activities – both free and membership options. Tools to Grow breaks down activities by skills targeted – such as fine motor skills, visual motor integration, sensory processing, and bilateral coordination. 

 Best Apps for screen time : 

-      Dexteria – fine motor skill development

-      Dexteria Dots – fine motor development with some math

-      Dexteria VMI – visual motor integration skills

-      Doodle Buddy – a fun drawing app

-      Little Finder – this one targets visual perception skills

-      Osmo Tangram – more visual perception skills

-      Letter Reflex – great for working on letter reversals

-  Sensory Sound Box – a calming visual and auditory app you can control by touch

Reflecting on Connecting

When traveling home after an on-site visit, I often find myself reflecting on what Trilogy Therapy is all about and why we are so proud to provide therapy services to anyone, anywhere. Trilogy Therapy uses a unique approach to provide speech, occupational and physical therapy, using both virtual therapy and on-site therapy (Mixed Model approach).

Recently, I had the pleasure of working on-site in a small school district. This was not my first visit to the district, but I had not been on-site in a couple of months. Currently, Trilogy Therapists provide virtual speech therapy to about 30 students in this district weekly. Our therapists have a strong connection with each student and share lots of smiles, laughs and triumphs together, not to mention virtual “high-fives,” fist bumps, and pats on the back. The students work hard during their therapy time, and they are making good gains to show for it, all while having a lot of fun. 

Once I checked into the school, I opened the office door to walk down the hall when I heard, “Mrs. Treide, you’re here!” I turned around to see one small (but mighty) kindergarten student, who was receiving speech therapy through our Mixed Model approach, running toward me with her arms open wide for a hug. That moment was a great reminder of why Trilogy Therapy provides therapy through virtual and on-site modes and the considerable difference our therapy makes. I know Trilogy Therapists are making connections whether we are providing services virtually or on-site and those connections carry-over into each student’s performance toward meeting his/her therapy goals. 

Trilogy Therapy is committed to providing speech, occupational and physical therapy services to rural and hard to access areas where therapists can be difficult to find. We will continue to work toward  building successful relationships and connections to help our students achieve the most growth possible. We believe no matter where you are, access to therapy should have no barriers.

Contact Trilogy Therapy today to learn more about how we can provide speech, occupational and physical therapy services to you, no matter your geographical location.

We have you covered!

Nine months notice seems like plenty of time... until you realize you need to find a solution to fill your therapist’s position while on extended leave.  With the shortages of speech, occupational and physical therapists our nation is facing, finding someone to fill in for an extended leave can be quite challenging. Don’t worry, Trilogy Therapy has you covered!

Trilogy Therapy combines teletherapy services with on-site services (Mixed Model) to offer a solution to the challenges school districts face finding speech, occupational and physical therapists.  Trilogy Therapists have their feet on the ground working and collaborating on-site with students, teachers, PLC teams, and district therapists all while combining virtual services through teletherapy. 

Trilogy Therapists work closely with the therapist who is on leave to make sure the transition goes smoothly. Our therapists continue collaborating with school staff and covering all therapy sessions, evaluations, IEP meetings, and PLC meetings just as the therapist who is on leave did, so when he/she returns it’s as seamless as possible. But most importantly, Trilogy Therapists provide top-notch, evidence based therapy to make sure all students continue to achieve success while his/her full time therapist is away. 

Trilogy Therapy believes access to therapy should have no boundaries. We are committed to providing long term and short term solutions for all of your related service needs. Consider calling Trilogy Therapy to cover your next extended leave today. Trilogy Therapy has you covered!

Mixed Model Approach

Everyday I’m thankful for the beautiful state I live in… the beautifully, BIG state. While Wyoming has over 97,000 square miles, it’s ranked 50th in the nation with its small population (577,737 in 2018). There are over 15,000 students in our rural state between the ages of 3 and 21 years old who receive special education, and a majority of those kids also receive related services including speech, occupational and physical therapy. Many school districts have gone to great lengths to find therapists often advertising for months and years only to fill with traveling therapists who are short-term and expensive.

By combining teletherapy services with on-site services, called our Mixed Model approach, Trilogy Therapy offers a solution to the challenge school districts face daily obtaining speech, occupational and physical therapists.  Trilogy Therapists have their feet on the ground working and collaborating on-site with students, teachers, PLC teams, and district therapists all while combining virtual services through teletherapy. The Mixed Model approach decreases the inefficiencies (including inability to fill therapy positions, increased expense, travel, etc.) of only using on-site therapy.

Trilogy Therapy is committed to providing related services to rural and hard to access areas where therapists are difficult to find. We believe no matter where you are, access to therapy should have no boundaries and we are working hard to fulfill this need throughout Wyoming.

Trilogy Therapy offers the best of both worlds with our Mixed Model approach. By combining virtual therapy services with on-site therapy services successful outcomes are achieved! Ask us about our Mixed Model approach and how we can help you implement it today! 

Contributed by Ellen C. Treide MS, CCC-SLP 

Summer's here... how to get out, enjoy it and add in speech and language!

Summer’s here!

As a mom of three girls, I can relate to both the ups and downs of that statement, but mostly the ups.  I LOVE putting little nuggets of speech and language into all of our family activities especially our summer ones. Whether we are camping, splashing around in the lake, or slipping down outdoor water slides I’m always looking for chances to increase phonemic awareness, articulation or language skills. Here are some ways you can do it too!

Camping

If you are able to go camping there are a fortune of opportunities to work on understanding and expression through talking about the experience. It’s a great time to work on prepositions (i.e., going in or out of the tent/cabin/stream, walking around the tall pine tree, standing next to the fire, etc.), following directions (i.e., “first put the marshmallow on the stick, then hold it near the fire, last take it out and blow on it,” etc.), and building new vocabulary (i.e., “those trees with leaves are called deciduous trees. Their big, broad leaves fall off in autumn,” etc.).

If you aren’t able to go camping setting up the experience in your home will provide for loads of fun and learning too. Use blocks to build a fire and roast marshmallows with sticks around it, turn on a flashlight and see what you can find in your own backyard or living room with your child. If you have access to a sleeping bag pull it out and work on climbing in and out of it. Maybe a nap or even a night’s sleep might happen in the sleeping bag!

Kick the Can, Hide and Seek or Running through sprinklers

Our family loves these games on hot summer evenings! It also provides for a great opportunity to work on a variety of vocabulary concepts such as fast/slow, high/low, up/down, behind/in front of/next to/between, etc. Your child will have a chance to use lots of gross motor movement, and this movement will help him or her produce speech sounds while having lots of fun doing it!

I Spy

Those long car rides heading to new places will give you lots of time to play “I Spy…” This is the perfect game to increase your child’s ability to describe, make inferences and reason. Ask your child to try and give two or three descriptions (or let you give two or three descriptions) before answering. You can play this in your own backyard or living room too. Try turning off the lights, and adding a flashlight to make it even more fun!

Beach

Like camping, going to the beach is filled with vocabulary building and understanding galore!  Simply talking and interacting with your child about the experiences going on around them will increase your child’s understanding and language use. Build a sand castle and use concepts such as short, tall, small, round, etc. Cover yourself or your child in sand and describe what is happening (“the sand is wet, cold, itchy,” etc.). Go swimming with your child and let them move and play with you in the water! You’ll be surprised by the speech and language during that time together!

Blowing bubbles, Sidewalk chalk, or Bike riding

Being outside and moving in the fresh air is not only exhilarating, but it brings out the speech and language too! All of these activities give you ample time to work on describing, following directions, prepositions (i.e., under/over, up/down/, next to/between/around, etc.), concepts (i.e., right/left, big/medium/little. etc.), reasoning and problem solving.

Have your child follow your directions drawing a mystery item (i.e., “draw a big circle, then a medium sized circle on top of the big circle and last a small circle on top of the medium sized circle”, etc.) or let them give you directions to draw an item. Locate a new destination while riding bike by giving your child clues (i.e., “turn left, now go straight and then take a right next to the blue house,” etc.) or let them give you clues to a new destination. Work on speech sounds while blowing bubbles by saying that sound each time you pop a bubble (i.e., “okay let’s say /s/ this time, every time we pop the bubble!”).

Summertime is a grand time for all sorts of reasons! Get out and enjoy it with your child. Playing and interacting with them will increase speech and language immensely, and I promise, you won’t even have to think about it that much!!!

Contributed by Ellen C. Treide MS, CCC-SLP

Your Future Therapy Job... Now

Statistics show the average American changes his or her career path every 4.5 years (2018: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm), and I would suspect this is true of speech therapists.  “Burnout” is the overwhelming response I receive when I ask my fellow SLP colleagues why they decided to turn to a new career path.  Whenever I hear this I encourage them to look into speech teletherapy. It really is a great option to renew, refresh and reignite your love for speech therapy.

Here are just a few benefits of speech teletherapy:

Flexibilty

As a speech teletherapist you are able to set hours for when you want to work. You have the ability to move therapy sessions around important life events if need be (i.e., soccer games, choir concerts, etc.).  There’s no drive to and from work. In fact, you can work from anywhere!

Smaller ratio of students to therapists

Most teletherapy sessions have a therapist to student ratio of one to one which gets you right back to doing what you love… speech therapy! Even if the therapist to student ratio isn’t one to one the group size is usually very small.

Impact

Group sizes are small so it gives you ample opportunity to provide direct feedback, and because you have this opportunity, your therapy makes more of an impact.

Working with Professionals Around the World

Being a speech teletherapist allows you to work with talented professionals around the globe. The wealth of knowledge shared this way is incredible, and is undoubtedly, one of the best reasons to consider being a speech teletherapist.

Collaboration

Speech teletherapists have direct access to teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers servicing the students they see in speech therapy. This collaboration is essential to the student’s success and something that’s not always easy to find in brick and mortar settings.

Smiles

The connections made doing speech teletherapy are unparalleled. Although, there’s no “pat on the back,” there are virtual high fives, pounds, lots of cheering and thumbs up. I look forward each week to seeing students virtually, and I know they feel the same.

Being Part of a New, Exciting Trend

Telehealth is going to continue to grow. Isn’t it great to be a part of it?!

Before you hang up that speech therapy bag permanently consider taking a look at what Trilogy Therapy has to offer for your next career!

Contributed by Ellen C. Treide MS, CCC-SLP

Easy Peasy: Essentials for Teletherapy

“Goodbye, I love you!” were the words I heard through my headset as I looked at a beaming face on my computer screen at the end of a productive speech therapy session. Immediately I knew we needed to work on proper greetings! But through that realization, I could also see the joy on this student’s face as he completed another successful speech therapy session.

There are countless studies that prove speech, occupational and physical therapy provided through teletherapy are just as effective as a face to face model. Research even proves students who participate in speech teletherapy “outperform control groups and national benchmarks” (according to Towey, 2013 and Gorgan-Johnson, 2011) in the areas of expressive and receptive language, social pragmatics, and articulation skills.

It doesn’t take much, as far as equipment is concerned, to complete a meaningful teletherapy session. Here are the essentials:

• Internet

• Computer, laptop, or tablet

• Web camera

• Headset with a microphone

Before your first teletherapy session we can do a test run to make sure your equipment is ready and to answer any question you might have. We know you’ll be just as happy with your session at it’s conclusion as our student who exclaimed, “Good bye, I love you!”

Trilogy Therapy is committed to providing related services to rural and hard to access areas where therapists can be difficult to find. We believe no matter where you are, access to therapy should have no boundaries and we are committed to fulfilling this need throughout Wyoming and across our nation.

Click on schedule a demo with Trilogy Therapy today so you can experience how great teletherapy really is!