TinyEYE Blog

We all know what kind of time pressure can be put on our day-to-day lives. Between shuffling kids between school, sports and other activities, homework, feeding their families and getting them to bed at a decent hour, many parents believe their is no time left in the day to practice speech sounds! However, communication is happening every day, every moment, everywhere. Here are some tips to help encourage your students' parents to work on speech activities with their children every day:

There has been a lot of talk about “preparing our students for the future they are going into, rather than the world that we came from.” What does that mean, exactly?

The advent of technology has created two categories of people: those who grew up with digital technology and those who did not. Those who were introduced to technology later in life are called ‘digital immigrants’. Those who grew up with digital technology are referred to as ‘digital natives’.

There have been many studies conducted on the manner in which digital natives learn. We are now teaching the first generation of students to grow up entirely as digital natives; students who think about and process information in an entirely different way than we, as digital immigrants do.

Blackboard Inc. describes why “the classroom isn’t enough” for digital natives in this video:

Guest Blogger: Wendy, OTR/L

As an Occupational Therapist who has worked in different school environments for 20(+) years, I often get the question:  How do you provide Occupational Therapy services online?  When I first began providing online OT, I had some skepticism too.  The fact is, just like services provided with face to face interaction we are all working toward meeting the student’s IEP goals and collaborating with the IEP team to help the student reach his maximum functional potential; to influence a better life for our students.

As OT’s we all have our “bag of tricks.”  We work on fine motor skills, visual motor skills, sensory regulation, activities of daily living.   But how exactly can you work on those skills with the OT in California and the student in Wisconsin?  First, for this generation of kids, being on the computer is second nature.  And yet meeting with the OT online is a novelty for the kids.  Off the bat, they think it is fun.  We connect.  We talk about how life is different in California compared to Wisconsin.  That connection no matter in person or online is everything. I believe for kids and adults, getting buy in and understanding why we are working on our goals is critical.  I often confer with the student and let him know what his IEP goals are and why these goals are important for his school success. 

With the increased adoption of technology within schools across North America, it leaves one to wonder how this is impacting our youth. It seems that everywhere we turn there’s no getting away from there is a new technology. Like it or not, the future is here…along with the list of critics opposed to this shift. For those who have already opened their doors to online therapy (also known as telepractice), the ability to serve students with speech and occupational therapy disorders has shone through as paramount. It is our hope that the Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy community become educated on the vast benefits this new form of delivery provides through the use of traditional telepractice, as well as the next generation of telepractice in introducing robot doubles to the classroom.