Teletherapy Resources: The ULTIMATE Master List

Written By Lucia Stone

Welcome! If you are reading this and have been searching for teletherapy tutorials, ideas, and resources, you have come to the right place!! This post was co-authored by SLP, Holly Rosensweig of Spiffy Speech and SLP, Lucy Stone of The Speech Express.

While we wrote this with SLPs in mind, many of the suggestions below can be used or modified for use by other therapists and educators who are transitioning to digital learning or service delivery models. If any of you have come up with or stumbled across other ideas, resources, or links that you think should be included, please comment beneath this post or send either of us a DM on Instagram! We hope that you will find this master list helpful as you continue working to provide outstanding services to the populations we treat!

Please note, this post contains links to our own products as we both create digital resources that lend themselves well to being used during teletherapy sessions. You can view The Speech Express’s entire store here and Spiffy Speech’s Teachers Pay Teachers store here. It also contains a few Amazon affiliate links, or direct links to Amazon products mentioned.

First, a pep talk… For those of you (such as private practitioners) who have had to learn the ins and outs of teletherapy from scratch in a matter of mere days, we are right there with you. We can commiserate and we feel your pain…mentally and PHYSICALLY. Who knew that sitting in one spot on the couch all day could be so exhausting!? Can someone please just turn off this episode of Black Mirror already?

Thankfully, we are in this together and surrounded by SUCH an amazing group of fellow SLPs (as well as other therapists/educators) who have been kind and patient enough to share their incredible wealth of knowledge and experience. Since there is so much information out there, and so many places to look for teletherapy ideas/resources, as well as some mixed messages (especially regarding the selection of teletherapy platforms), we decided we would compile everything we have found into one MASTER list of teletherapy ideas. We have grouped them into categories (of course), because we wouldn’t be SLPs if we weren’t thinking about categorization!

If you missed our free teletherapy tutorial, you might want to read that first; it was intended to teach you how to set up and use the platform, Doxy.me. We created the tutorial right before the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would be waiving HIPAA requirements for teletherapy, opening up additional teletherapy platform options. You can click here to read ASHA’s considerations on reimbursement of telepractice services which answers questions about coding and insurance. We are now more often using Zoom (with Doxy.me on standby as a backup), and Zoom is extremely similar but less glitchy and with some additional features. The original tutorial provides instructions for pairing your iPad with your computer in order to use iPad apps during teletherapy sessions and also covers Screen Sharing (for pulling up PDFs, websites, videos, etc. etc). You can still follow those directions even if using a platform other than Doxy.me, such as Zoom, as long as that platform has a Screen Sharing feature. While the pairing and Screen Sharing skills are not totally necessary and might seem scary to lower-tech SLPs, they will make a world of difference when it comes to keeping your clients (especially the little ones) occupied during a video session!

Do you remember that time in grad school when your supervisors said a good SLP should be able to conduct a treatment session using only the objects in their purse? Even though you aren’t providing therapy in person, you still have access to SO MUCH MORE than what’s in your purse, and you likely just don’t realize how many resources you already have at your disposal!

Last, SLPs know all about being FLEXIBLE. We are all creative, we are all hard-working, and we are all problem-solvers; we will master this technology and will ultimately be better for it. For a little bit of silver lining: think about the potential here to have face-to-face interaction with parents after (or even during) your therapy sessions and how that will maximize progress and improve relationships. Also think about the opportunities for generalization since your clients/students will now need to use their skills while inside their own homes! Think of all the times when a client has gone on vacation and had to miss speech, or when they’ve moved a little farther away but wish they could continue seeing you, or when your caseloads in summer have been low, or the times a child has wanted to come in for speech but has had a residual cold, or pink eye, or head lice 😬and you’ve had to ask them not to come in! Also think about all the times you haven’t quite felt well enough to go into work but might’ve been able to work a half-day at home in your pajama pants with a hot cup of tea. Even when the current situation improves and things go back to “normal,” these are all excellent skills for SLPs to have and they could open up new possibilities for how we provide our services in the future! When parents see how well we are able to delivery therapy online, something our brilliant SLP telepractioner colleagues have been doing for years, they might not just be open to online make-up sessions but may prefer this model! Not only that, but the list we have put together below includes tons of resources that you will likely want to use during in-person sessions later on. We had no clue that many of these online activities even existed before last week!

 

Does Teletherapy Really Work?

While attempting to transition over to teletherapy, you might encounter some hesitation from parents/caregivers, who are wondering if you can really conduct a productive session without being face-to-face with the child. Yes, yes, yes, you can (and you will)! One thing we have been doing is explaining the difference between teletherapy and just “video chatting” (i.e., using a dedicated teletherapy platform such as Zoom or Doxy.me as opposed to an app designed for video chat such as FaceTime). We have been telling parents that IN ADDITION TO video chatting on the teletherapy platform, we are able to play tons of fun games (physical and digital), pull up iPad apps, view pictures or other materials on screen with kiddos, view websites, and watch video clips! We have been telling parents that our prior sessions with other clients have been successful and that their child will very likely do great as well. We are offering to give it a shot and saying that we can either discontinue the session or cut it short (without charge) if for some reason it is simply not working out. After seeing just how successful the first teletherapy sessions have gone, many caregivers have been incredibly enthusiastic, even asking for additional sessions the following week or for us to help out with schoolwork that has been assigned online. Caregivers who have been in the same room during the session have also commented on how much they have learned from us!

 

Teletherapy for Early Intervention and Children with Developmental Disabilities/Nonverbal Children

If you haven’t yet conducted a teletherapy session, you might be wondering how in the world you will be able to work with a fidgeting preschooler or a child with more significant developmental disabilities through a computer/iPad screen. For many of these cases, you will most likely need to adopt more of a “parent coaching” model, where the caregiver is present for the duration of the video call. The student or little one can be present, playing or interacting with the caregiver as you watch, narrate, and provide suggestions to them. You can read books and instruct the caregiver on how you would work on expanding language during an in-person session or give the caregiver verbal directions to try with the child as you take data. You can pull up photo cards such as from Teachers Pay Teachers or photos from Pixabay or Google Images and have the caregiver require the child to point to a picture (providing hand-over-hand cues as necessary). If the child is able to interact with you somewhat but has difficulty staying seated, the caregiver can hold them in their lap, provide plenty of motivating snacks (we’re looking at you, gummy bears and @mrsmcspeechie) or provide an object of extreme interest (ex: iPad or Play-Doh) that can be taken away when the child is required to focus on you, then given back as you are speaking to the caregiver. You can try to incorporate movement as much as possible (see specific suggestions below). While playing, you can also instruct the caregiver to withhold items briefly and ask, “What do you want?” or “What should I do?” as you would do with the child yourself during in-person sessions. If you are a private practitioner, a cute idea would be to mail your clients small bags of snacks, stickers, or prizes directly from Amazon that the parent can award during/after the session, especially if the child usually earns a prize from you! For these populations, collaboration and consultation with parents/guardians/caregivers is vital - and what a great opportunity this is for school based SLPs to let families in on a therapy session! Don’t be afraid to ask parents what their concerns are at home, and work together to figure out ways to support your client’s communication during these interactions.

Teletherapy for Occupational Therapists

For occupational therapy sessions, you might also want to adopt more of a parent coaching model. You can have the caregiver set up obstacle courses in the house or send activities home for the caregiver to print in advance of each session. Then, while video chatting with the caregiver present, the child can complete the activity (e.g., fine motor tasks) while you monitor and provide feedback. OTs, you might also want to test out the whiteboard feature in Zoom or try this interactive whiteboard online! While video chatting, you can draw a dotted outline of shapes or letters for the child to trace and can have the caregiver describe how each letter/shape was formed.

 Distance Learning Series

Session Plans, Freebies, and Green Screen Activities

The Distance Learning Series was created by The Speech Express and Spiffy Speech in order to share activities and lesson plans by goal area. Check out each post for tons of inspiration!

Distance Learning Series: Making Inferences

Distance Learning Series: Reading Comprehension

Distance Learning Series: Articulation

Distance Learning Series: Syntax

Speech and Language Activities by Theme

Functional Speech and Language Activities for Older Students

Taking Attendance and Data

Head to this blog post ‘Virtual Speech and Language Folders’ by The Speech Express to learn about using virtual interactive folders to take attendance, monitor progress, and share strategies, visuals, and activities with your students or clients! To purchase pre-made virtual folders, click here.

Quick and Easy Ideas

While first getting started and still mastering the technology basics, you might want to keep the actual therapy activities as easy as you can! Here are some of the easiest, low-prep ideas to try first:

  • Read picture books with students whenever possible—they are not only able to address a ton of goals (just as you would in an in-person session) but they’re entertaining for kids through video! Older students may enjoy wordless picture books. Our favorites include The Journey Trilogy by Aaron Becker (Journey, Quest, Return), Zoom by Istvan Banyai, and Octopus Soup by Mercer Meyer.

  • If you don’t yet feel comfortable using Screen Sharing and/or Screen Mirroring features (in order to pull up documents, pictures, iPad apps, etc.) and are feeling overwhelmed at the idea, that’s okay! Many of the materials that you use during in-person therapy can also be used while video chatting, including most card games or guessing games that you may already have like, Guess Who, Guess What I Am (highly recommended for teletherapy and a few are available on eBay), Guess Where or Where Are You?, HeadBanz, Jeepers Peepers, Secret Square, Ned’s Head, Apples to Apples, Taboo, 5 Second Rule Jr., Don’t Say It, Blurt!, Outburst Jr., iSpy including the iSpy books, brain teasers, etc. Go through your existing games because you probably have more than you think that are usable! You can even have the child watch you play a physical game (ex: Jumping Jack) where you take both turns but incorporate something silly like pretending to be terrified when the rabbit pops or hits you in the head! Any popping games made by Goliath (ex: Greedy Granny, Pop Rocket, Pop the Pig) could be used this way!

  • Any picture cards can also be held up while on video including your inferencing cards, sequencing cards, noun/verb cards, Kaufman cards, and articulation cards.

  • If you don’t want to bring physical cards or games home with you, you can take pictures of them and pull them up on a phone, iPad, or computer during the session. This includes things like Super Duper games, Bingo boards, and Guess Who cards/boards!

  • To use any worksheets, graphic organizers, or pages from books during teletherapy, scan them into your computer as PDFs or use a free scanner app like Genius Scan, which allows you to take a picture of the page that the student can view or print as if it was scanned in using an actual scanner!

  • You can have the child take you on a “tour” of their room or house (which can be great for many speech, language, and social goals!). Encourage them to show you things like their favorite toys/games or even take you to meet their pet or sibling. Use objects and rooms in their house as much as you can—the kids love showing off their stuff and seeing your reaction (“You have a stuffed bumble bee!? Oh my goodness!!”). For older students, you could ask them to share awards and trophies from sporting events, musical instruments, or any other possessions that are special to them.

  • You can have them describe pictures from a book for you to draw and then compare/contrast your drawing with the actual picture.

  • You can have the child set up with markers and a coloring page of your choice-- find free coloring pages on Google Images, send to the caregiver, and have them print in advance ( sequencing coloring pages by SPARK innovations included in free links at the end of this post). Give each other directions during the session to color one thing in the picture at a time with the goal being to make both of your pictures match. At the end of the activity, the pictures can be compared/contrasted.

  • To make the session more fun, you can play music on your phone for dance/movement breaks. For younger kids, try giving silly directions (ex: Simon Says), or sending them on a quest to find things in the house (ex: Things that are sticky) and bring them back to you. If you are losing the attention of the little ones, immediately play a song or do something silly (start dancing, pretend to fall asleep and wake up abruptly). For older students, let them show you a game or movie trailer on YouTube. Even if you haven’t yet mastered Screen Sharing/Mirroring, you can have a parent/guardian on standby to pull up a YouTube video of the child’s choice. You can also send the caregiver a link to a YouTube video/clip in advance such as these digital shorts that can be used to address speech-language goals. The child can watch It right before the session and then discuss it with you! For videos to watch with your client, check out this HUGE LIST of animated short videos that are great for addressing a ton of speech-language goals! Pause the videos at various intervals to practice making inferences, answering general “wh” questions, identifying problem and solution, retelling the sequence of events, etc.

 

Here are even more ideas and resources sorted by type:

 

Receptive Language

Following Directions:

  • Have the student follow directions of any type (ex: one step, first/then, conditional, before/after) as you watch them on video. Provide a visual model of steps by acting them out on camera (if needed). If the student performs a multi-step direction as both steps are being said (as opposed to waiting until the full direction has been given), ask a parent/guardian to place their hands gently over the student’s hands on the table until both steps have been given. If no caregiver is present, see if the student can wait until you say “Go” or until you hold something up like a green traffic light.

  • Give the student silly directions involving household objects such as “Go get a sock, bring it back to the computer, and shake it!” “Show me where you keep your shoes and then put them next to the couch.”

  • Give the student directions that involve adjectives, attributes, or categories such as, “Find something that is sticky, heavy, spotted, etc.” “Go get something that has a handle,” “Bring back as many farm animals as you can find.”

  • For targeting prepositions, instruct the parent/caregiver to get a box with a lid or a bag and fill it with small household objects (ex: a pen, a sock, an apple). Make sure that the caregiver has first positioned the camera so that you can see the table clearly. Give the student directions such as “Get the ____ and put it IN/ON/UNDER the box/bag.” For other prepositions such as first/next/last in line, in front/behind, have the student or caregiver get three toy vehicles, three toy animals, or three figurines so that they can be lined up bye the student based on the concept they hear (ex: “Put the red car IN FRONT of the blue car,” “Point to the animal that is last in line.”)

  • Using objects in your own house, put them in silly locations (ex: hold a sock above your head) and give the child choices (ex: “Is the sock ABOVE my head or BELOW my head?”)

  • Pull up a picture of a Bingo board or any Bingo resource from Teachers Pay Teachers such as Spring Bingo. Have the student find pictures that are above/below, next to, between two other items, in the top/bottom row, etc.

 

Listening & Sentence Comprehension:

  • Listening comprehension resource: All listening comprehension activities in this packet can be used via teletherapy! Screen share the included visuals and comprehension rating scale and have the student apply listening comprehension strategies while listening to sentences or paragraphs. Strategies include: repeating sentences of increasing length/complexity, making connections or associations, putting information into their own words, and asking and answering WH questions about what they have heard. For visualization practice, have the student a) describe to you what he/she was visualizing while listening, or b) draw a picture after listening to show you via video chat. The picture can be drawn on paper and held up for the SLP or on the screen using a whiteboard feature if it is supported by the teletherapy platform (ex: Zoom). If your teletherapy platform does not have a whiteboard feature, you can consider an external website with an interactive whiteboard such as the one found here.

  • Complex Sentence Comprehension resource: The student is presented with four photos at a time and must match the sentence they hear with the correct picture. If a parent/caregiver is present, you can have them tell you if the student selected the correct picture by pointing. If using Zoom, the child can draw directly on the PDF so you can see which picture they are indicating. For older students, you can ask them to tell you the number or letter that corresponds to the picture of their choice (A, B, C, D or 1, 2, 3, 4). You can write letters or numbers directly on the cards for the student to see if you have the PDF open in an app that includes an annotate tool (such as PDFelement). You can also zoom in on one picture at a time while using Screen Sharing and ask the student yes/no questions (ex: “Do you think this picture matches the sentence?”) As a bonus, the student can be asked to explain why each picture does or does not go with the sentence they heard!

Reading Comprehension:

  • Have the child read aloud from a book or magazine of their choice during the video chat, then answer comprehension questions.

  • Using the Screen Sharing feature, pull up websites such as education.com, Newsela, or readworks.org. All are great resources for grade-level reading comprehension (with questions) and other language activities that can be used in teletherapy (ex: themed crossword puzzles, word searches). Education.com and Readworks require paid memberships but they are worth it! Newsela is currently free!

  • Using the screen sharing feature, pull up any article of the student’s interest appropriate for their age/level, read together and then have the student answer comprehension questions or summarize.

  • Use any one of the plethora of TpT resources containing reading comprehension passages/stories for SLPs and ELA teachers. Check out these themed mini-units which combine reading comprehension with a TON of other speech-language goals! Another great resource is these Wild Cats Reading Comprehension Passages with visuals for prediction, identifying text structures, answering literal and inferential questions, using context clues, and summarizing.

  • To view PDF files from an iPad with your student, use a FREE iPad app such as PDFelement that will allow you to annotate directly on the text (ex: write/draw on the document, underline, highlight, add sticky notes, etc.). You can add visuals such as a sticky note anytime the student uses a reading comprehension strategy like making a connection or add a stamp such as a check mark any time they visualize something.

 

Expressive Language Skills

Describing, Categorization, Comparing/Contrasting

  • Have the student find something in their house and bring it back to the computer/iPad without letting you see it. Have them describe what they are hiding using category, function/action, appearance (size, shape color), parts, location information, etc. Pull up a picture of the Expanding Expression Tool on your screen such as the ones found here or in Google Images while using Screen Sharing. You can also have the child draw the caterpillar on paper or hold up your EET caterpillar so the student can see it on camera while describing. You can zoom in on a particular circle that you want the student to focus on while describing. Next, you get something from your house to describe for your student to guess. You can also do this with objects that you have in Ned’s Head, a hat, a basket, etc. if you don’t want to leave the room. You can hold something up with your eyes closed or position the camera so the student can see inside the basket and have your student describe that item to you instead of getting something from their house.

  • Similar to the above, have the student or caregiver find two things that are similar (ex: a sock and a shoe, a fork and a spoon). Have the student bring them back and then compare/contrast them. You can again pull up an EET picture or hold up your caterpillar as they describe.

  • Have the student name items in basic and more complex categories while video chatting. You can use these leveled category cards as visuals when practicing naming a category or explaining word relationships. You can also choose two for the student to compare/contrast. For more categorizing by attribute, such as, “Things that are red” or “Things in a bedroom,” use the fact that the student is at home to your advantage! Have them go into another room briefly or take you around the house with them (if using an iPad or iPhone) and then name things in a certain location (ex: things inside the fridge) or that can be described by an adjective. When they come back to the starting point, have them recall as many of the items within that category as they can and encourage them to visualize the place.

  • Use these comprehensive Spring-Themed Teletherapy Cards for describing, compare and contrast, multiple meaning words, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, conjunctions, generating sentence types (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative), spring-themed idioms, analogies, similies, and more! The real photos included on the cards are super colorful and very engaging for all ages!

  • Pull up fantasy scenes and have your student practice describing them using as much detail as they can.

  • Pull up Spring Bingo or St. Patrick’s Day Bingo boards using Screen Sharing and have the student describe a picture for you to guess. You can also choose two of the Bingo pictures for the student to compare/contrast! After you guess, place an X over the square or circle the square on your screen using a pen or annotation tool. Alternatively, print out the Bingo cards and draw one at random. Either describe the card for the student to guess or hold it up for them to describe to you. After the picture has been guessed, cross it off on the Bingo board and keep playing until the student has a Bingo! If you would like to play along, have a different Bingo card printed and placed in front of you while the student’s Bingo card is on the screen.

  • Take a picture of your favorite sequencing cards (ex: Spark Cards!) already arranged in order and show the picture to your student via Screen Sharing. You can zoom in if you would like your student to focus on only one card at a time. You can also simply hold up your sequencing cards one at a time.

 

“WH” Questions

  • Read a picture book of your choice with your student while video chatting. Hold up the book and have them answer questions about the pictures. You can provide a visual cue like you would during an in-person session such as circling the location with your finger while asking, “Where?”

  • Have the student show you family photos from a recent activity or vacation, such as on a parent’s cell phone or have the caregiver E-mail to you in advance. Ask the student “wh” questions about each picture or the overall experience.

  • Using the screen sharing feature, open an app such as My PlayHome, First Phrases, or one of the Wanderful Interactive Storybook apps. Ask the student “wh” questions about each character (ex: Where are they? What are they doing? Who is jumping on the trampoline?)

  • Use a pre-made TpT resource that contains “wh” pictures scenes such as this leveled WH-question resource with cards that contain a person, place, and object.

  • Play a game of 20 Questions where you take turns asking one another questions in order to determine what the other is holding out of view of the camera (ex: “Is it something round?” “Can you eat it?”) You can pull up (or hold) a picture of EET to help with asking questions!

  • Pull up photos from YOUR recent activity/vacation using screen sharing (or hold up your cell phone) and provide question prompts as you would during an in-person session (ex: “Find out ____,” “Do you know ____?”)

 

Pragmatic (Social) Language Skills

Note: Social group sessions (and/or mixed group sessions) can be conducted via teletherapy! One thing to consider is having every participant’s microphone muted (you can control this using Zoom!) until you are ready for them to talk. There is also a feature where they can “raise their hand” by clicking a button (or they can actually raise their hand since you can see them on video). You can choose to unmute them when you are ready for them to talk.

  • While chatting via video, have the student ask and answer questions to engage in back-and-forth conversation. Say, “Find out ______” or “Do you know WHERE I went this weekend?” to provide ideas for questions to ask. Correct any deviations from the topic, errors of question-formulation grammar, etc. as you would during in-person sessions.

  • During social skills group sessions, have each caregiver send you photos of the child/family that you can pull up for everyone on screen during the session for children to describe or discuss!

  • Also during social skills group sessions, play any games involving cards or pictures that you already have on hand like Apples to Apples or any story-telling games!

  • Use a set of conversational topic cards or other conversation starter games/activities (i.e. Would You Rather?); this conversational strategies resource with visuals, tons of practice worksheets for questions/comments/initiating/ending conversations, and rubrics for each skill; or simply give the student a topic (ex: their pets) to ask/answer questions about.

  • Check out these social inferencing cards for teletherapy, as well as these perspective-taking cards for teletherapy, both of which are great for working with older students

  • Read books involving social skills while video chatting and discuss with the student (ex: How do you think the character felt? Why? What should they do?) Use any social skills books that are appropriate for your student including any book where the character encounters a problem OR a dedicated social skills book such as the We Thinkers! books from Social Thinking and What Should Danny Do? by Ganit and Adir Levy.

  • Using Screen Sharing, pull up videos to watch and discuss with your student or direct the student to watch the video on his/her own and then discuss together afterward. This AMAZING website includes links to social skills video clips sorted by social skill area (scroll to bottom)!

  • Discuss problem-solving scenarios or hypothetical social scenarios while video chatting. Make up your own scenarios or ask the student to come up with scenarios based on any tricky social situations they have recently faced. While Screen Sharing, you can go to Google Images and search for a picture to show the student that relates to the problem (ex: water spilling on the floor) if you want to include a visual. Check out these Problem Solving in School cards or Problem Solving in the Workplace cards depending on the population you treat.

  • Use Social Vocabulary and Inferencing Cards to practice social vocabulary, syntax, and answering inference questions about photos.

  • While Screen Sharing, use Google Images to pull up photos of people experiencing different emotions. Talk about feelings/emotions vocab and have the student state how they can tell from emotion from facial expressions/body language. This resource contains photos of different emotions to use for answering, “How can you tell?” inference questions (e.g., “How do you think they feel and how can you tell?”) It also contains inference questions about seasons, holidays, weather, and other concepts, so this is also a more general critical-thinking resource in addition to targeting pragmatics.

  • Pull up any digital social skills resources while using Screen Sharing such as the activities including within this growing Social Skills Bundle. (manners, public vs. private behaviors, comments/questions, feelings/emotions words and photos, problem-solving).

  • Make a social skills “movie” where you role-play scenarios with the student via video.

  • Check out these freebies from Friendzy.co that are great for discussions about social emotional learning and pragmatic language with older students!

  • Have students create a caption for a photo from different perspectives! Use your own photos or try this pre-made set of cards by The Speech Express.

 

Language Formulation, Written Expression, and Vocabulary

  • When working on higher-level language formulation or spoken grammar with older elementary and middle schoolers, you can pull up any TpT resources that you might already have purchased or check out these resources that involve formulating complex sentences about pictures at a variety of different levels: subordinating conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs.

  • For higher-level vocabulary work, check out these resources: vocabulary strategies with TONS of visuals and a bookmark activity for generalization (that can be assigned for homework!), vocabulary strategies: prefixes, vocabulary strategies: roots, vocabulary activities: shades of meaning, analogies, context clues.

  • Play this fun Create-a-Sentence GAME over teletherapy or have students simply practice generating sentences for a variety of word forms that differ by suffix (i.e. happy/happiest/happily/happiness).

  • While it was designed to work on sentence comprehension, the complex sentence resource listed under the “receptive language” section above is loaded with photos that can be used to work on formulating sentences about pictures given target words.

  • Graphic organizers are your friend for any written expression tasks! If you are using Screen Sharing, you can pull up any that you have saved or any that you find on Google Images! You can also have the student create an organizer or writing plan on a piece of paper. For paragraphs, have the student fold a piece of paper into six sections. The first section is for the introductory sentence, the last is for the conclusion sentence, and the four middle sections should each contain one sentence (each with 2-3 supporting details and one “power word,” or higher-level vocabulary word).

  • When working on generating narratives, pull up these fantasy scenes or any picture/photo of your choice (this can even be a picture from a book you have on hand) and have the student choose one to generate a story about. The Fantasy Scenes resource above includes a visual reminder card for include characters, setting, problem, solution, and dialogue and a graphic organizer that the child can use to create a story plan. Using the annotate tool, you can type the child’s responses directly into this (or other) PDF document! You can also generate narratives about random objects around your (or their) the house—or take turns selecting a weird object for the other person to incorporate. Many story-telling games such as Tall Tales or Story Cubes (that you might already have) work great during teletherapy! Another option for these awesome fantasy scenes is to have students generate one of each sentence type about the photo: a declarative (statement), interrogative (question), exclamatory (exclamation), and imperative (demand).

  • The website education.com includes writing prompts that can be used during teletherapy.

 

Articulation

  • Have the student go on a scavenger hunt in their house for items containing their speech sound(s). You can have them run and find the items but if you are afraid they won’t come back, have the caregiver monitor and/or set a timer! If they are using an iPad or iPhone, have them “take you” with them on their search. For students working on phrases/sentences/conversation, have them describe what they found or use each object’s name in a sentence. You can also have the student take you on a tour of their home or bedroom using their sounds in conversation.

  • Have the student select a favorite book or magazine to read from if they are practicing using their sound(s) in conversation. If they are working on sounds at the word or phrase levels, have them stop whenever they find a word containing their sound(s)—or stop you when their hear a word containing their sound-- and practice saying only that word or phrase. The themed mini-units mentioned earlier under “reading comprehension” contain paragraphs and other language activities on interesting topics, so they are fantastic for older artic kids to read aloud! Kids can also circle the thematic vocab containing their target sounds and create their own word list, which can be practice and reviewed each session.

  • Check out these articulation word lists containing words for each sound, color-coded by sound position and these no-prep articulation worksheets that involve scavenger hunts by category/attribute AND sound.

  • For kids who are working on improving overall intelligibility in conversation such as by slowing rate or segmenting multi-syllabic words (but not on individual sounds), check out this intelligibility strategies resource.

  • Since you are watching your student on video, have them make a movie or put on a play for you (this can include parents or siblings!) using their sounds in conversation.

  • Play guessing games like 20 questions, iSpy, or do MadLibs while using speech sounds.

  • Use Truth or Myth cards where students guess whether interesting science facts are true or a myth. They can practice reading or explaining their answers using their sounds. These are incredibly popular with middle schoolers and older elementary kiddos since the facts that are actually true tend to blow their minds!

  • This giant articulation generalization resource includes activities for using sounds during reading and structured conversation activities. Some of the activities such as the sound-loaded Spot the Difference Scenes (also available as a stand-alone resource), Tongue Twisters, Sound Stories, or the Articulation Aliens (where the student adds sound-loaded clothing, body parts, accessories to the alien body), can also be used for working on word or phrase-level practice. As a bonus, the full resource includes the set of over 160 conversational topic cards referenced under the Pragmatic Language Skills section.

  • The above resource includes a HUGE list of games and apps that involve reading or talking, most of which can be played during teletherapy!

 

Fluency

  • SLP Stephen is the number one resource for treating stuttering! Check out this FREE list of Stuttering Treatment Techniques that can be easily shared via teletherapy sessions!

  • You could also have students use their strategies to respond to conversation questions using the topic cards listed in the pragmatic language section of this post! Then, have students rate their fluency and discuss what they felt went well, as well as what they would like to improve.

  • Check out this resource for opening up discussion on feelings and attitudes toward stuttering. Talk about ways to improve fluency, complete a feelings and attitudes rubric, and figure out which techniques to use during difficult speaking situations. You can also role play these difficult scenarios via teletherapy in order to help your students improve their confidence!

Games and Fun Stuff

  • Check out Boom Cards from Boom Learning, interactive learning tools where the SLP or student can drag and drop pictures or text. There are many SLPs like Goldie Talks Speech who have created Boom Cards that address a variety of speech-language goals while the child plays an interactive game on a computer or tablet. Boom Learning just announced that you can now get a free membership with the site through June!! You can then download resources from Boom Learning directly or from TpT sellers by searching “boom cards” plus “speech.”

  • Stacy Crouse makes fun, interactive teletherapy games that are available on Teachers Pay Teachers. Check out Bubble Pop or her entire TpT store here. If you sign up for the mailing list on her website, you can gain access to several free resources including a digital game board that comes with instructions for moving a game piece around the board. Her website includes additional teletherapy resources.

  • Spiffy Speech now has several digital PowerPoint games available with many more in the works! Check out Plant Monster!, Grocery Grab!, and Giraffe Stretch! Or get everything in a Growing Digital Games Bundle.

  • Simply Speaking SLT provides teletherapy tutorials on her website and has a ton of great teletherapy games available from her TpT store. Check out her interactive game spinners such as her articulation spinners and Spin a Story, digital dice alternative, and a ton of no-print games/reinforcers like Digital 4 in a Row and Hidden Images that are perfect for use in teletherapy!

  • This super cute Lucky Snail Race game by Speech Safari which can be played using the colored spinners by Simply Speaking SLT mentioned above and was a huge hit with my elementary schoolers.

  • This is a link to free PowerPoint Dice.

Websites

  • Courtney Overton of Speech of Cake, Inc. (how cute is that private practice name!?) was generous enough to share a giant list of resources that she will be using as her private practice transitions to teletherapy this week! Thank you SO much, Courtney!

  • SLP Stephen’s Fluency School (as mentioned above) is chock full of resources that are FANTASTIC for learning how to treat stuttering like a (teletherapy) BOSS

  • Jamboard *A Google Chrome extension that serves as a virtual whiteboard. Add post-it notes, images, or text to a white background. Great for describing photos or creating visuals!

  • Ultimate SLP *Ultimate library of speech therapy materials; over 10,000 real life images, games and activities to target every speech-language goal! Free 2-week trial and then $12.95/month for membership

  • Toy Theater *Includes games and virtual manipulatives such as tangrams, spinners, and dice. Can also be used on an iPad!)

  • Starfall Education *Specializing in reading, phonics & math - educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-3.

  • Sesame Street *Play free educational games, watch videos, and create art with Sesame Street characters

  • FUNBRAIN *Online educational interactive content, with hundreds of free games, books & videos for kids of all ages.

  • Cookie.com *Offers a wide variety of online educational games and activities for kids

  • RoomRecess *Over 140 learning games for kids

  • ClassroomScreen *Provides quick, easy access to tools like a timer, drawing tool, traffic light, and name picker that can be minimized in the corner of your screen such as while playing a game

  • Edpuzzle *Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students. Lets you upload a YouTube video, add questions, and it will pause the video to allow for the student’s response!

  • AWW board (interactive whiteboard with free 14-day trial)

  • PBS Kids (Educational games and videos from Curious George, Wild Kratts and other PBS KIDS shows)

  • Quia (Create your own educational games, quizzes, surveys, and web pages)

  • Match The Memory *Use your photos, words, and other content to create a personalized game

  • CardGames.io *Tons of classic card games including Go Fish

  • Coolmath Games *Brain-training site with logic and thinking games

  • Learning Games for Kids *Online learning games for preschool and elementary schoolers

  • PrimaryGames *Play free games including action, puzzle, learning, and racing games (has Snakes and Ladders)

  • ABCya *Educational games for grades preK through 6th

  • Epic! *Digital library with unlimited access to children’s books with a free 30-day trial!

  • 24/7 Checkers *Free Checkers games that include themes like seasons and holidays

  • Poki *Free online games like Minecraft Classic

  • MYSTERY doug *Videos that answer real client questions

  • Highlights Kids *Games, jokes, surveys, answers to science questions, and fun crafts and recipes)

  • IXL  *Subscription based learning site for K-12.

  • Jeopardy Labs *Create your own Jeopardy games or browse templates created by others

  • Wheel Decide *Set your own custom choices and then spin the wheel to make the random decision of lunch, movie, or anything!

  • Glow Word Books (Online MadLibs for kids with themes including seasons and holidays)

  • Vooks *Streaming library of animated children's storybooks with a free trial available

  • Pixabay (free clip art and photos)

  • Newsela *Includes thousands of relevant, standards-aligned texts specifically selected for the social studies classroom, with an emphasis on diverse and unheard perpsectives. Offering free access for the rest of the school year!

  • Speech Language Pathology: Voice and Swallowing Center of Maine (telepractice, literacy, and voice videos)

  • Parents’ Guide to Language Delays and Speech Disorders by Baylor University *this is a great resource for parent education on milestones, risk factors, next steps, and exercises that can be done at home!

  • Storyline Online (celebrities reading stories aloud online)

  • Scholastic *Books, literary resources and educational solutions for kids

  • StoryTime at Awnie’s House *Childrens books read aloud on YouTube

  • Toy Theater (includes games and virtual manipulatives such as tangrams, spinners, and dice. Can also be used on an iPad!)

Apps

Once you have mastered the Screen Sharing feature and have learned how to view iPad apps during teletherapy sessions (you can find this information at the bottom of our previous tutorial here), you can use any apps that are on your iPad during sessions, just as you would in person! Some of the apps that lend themselves particularly well to teletherapy are:

  • The My PlayHome series which are like virtual dollhouses—use to target just about any speech-language school with preschoolers.

  • The Toca Boca apps, namely Toca Boca Kitchen, Toca Boca Haircut 4 (and others in the haircut series) also geared more towards preschool and younger elementary kids.

  • First Phrases, has a handy pause feature so you can wait to play the animation until the child (typically preschool or younger) requests the desired action (ex: “Mouse, eat the cookie!”)

  • The Wanderful Storybook Apps which are interactive—just about anything in the pictures that you touch come to life and performs and silly action.

  • Any articulation apps that you probably already have such as Articulation Station (don’t forget that this includes a matching game), Articulation Vacation (and others by this developer), and the articulation apps by Erik X. Raj such as Wacky Selfie.

  • MAD LIBS, which require no explanation 😊

  • Cake Doodle-- only 99 cents! Kids add ingredients to make and decorate cakes!

  • Family Feud-- great for social skills groups and for use with students working on higher-level language skills such as naming category items and making word associations

  • COMOLA Pirates— adventure with a pirate and work on expanding utterances, conjugating verbs, and more using this free app!

Note: When viewing apps with your student, they will not be able to control the iPad or touch anything themselves. This actually works to your advantage and is often preferable to having the child press buttons silently as they would if they were holding it! They will need to be specific and use long utterances in order to request every action that they want you to perform in each game.

 

Teletherapy Freebies and Tutorials (some repeated from earlier sections because they are SO good!)

Resources for Boosting Communication Skills at Home

If you are looking for resources to share with parents, check out 18 Home Practice Activities for Speech and Language by The Speech Express. Many of the activities are suited for both elementary and middle/high school students!

Additionally, this Functional Skills Unit on Laundry is full of WH questions, real photos, sequencing cards, and problem solving scenarios that would be great for home practice.

You should also check out the Speech Explorers TpT store, which offers a variety of communication quests, including those for working on building communication skills around the home!

Last, a shoutout to our Instagram SLP besties and partners in crime (if the crime is awarding too many free Cariboo games), Tina (@speechbrain), Kian (@mrsmcspeechie), Sarah (@coffeeandspeech), and Kim (@scanlonspeech). Thank you for your support and much-needed comic relief! You should go follow them all right now because they are wonderful and we love them (and also you might win the next Cariboo).

Best of luck everyone (we’ve got this!!) and please do comment below or DM us on Instagram with any comments, questions, or ideas—we love chatting with all of you!

P.S. If you’re interested in more resources that are great for teletherapy, check out these bundles on TPT:

Lucia Stone
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