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SLPs Love Tips & Tricks (Guest Blog Series!): Tips on Using Technology for Speech Therapy

Today, I have some fun tips on using technology!

Thanks TLC Talk Shop for coming by and guest blogging today!

Using technology in the speech therapy room is almost a must these days! Check out this guest post that describes a few different convenient ways that SLPs can use technology in their therapy sessions.

Hi! I am super excited to be the guest blogger for today. Thank you so much to Hallie for the opportunity to share some tips and tricks to incorporate technology to assist you in providing therapy.

I have to start by saying that I am not the most tech savvy but I make do with my trusty tablet! Some of our speech rooms are fortunate enough to have smartboards. I am NOT one of those lucky speech therapists. I'm one the many of us that makes communication magic happen in a room the size of a closet and have paid my dues traveling from one school site to another. I have found with a tablet, I can make great things happen! Here are some tips and apps that have made great things happen for me. I am in no way affiliated with any of these apps that I share, nor have I been provided any sort of compensation to share them with you.

  1. FINDING FREE APPS or at least SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED PRICES-   I am a therapy materials hoarder and that includes apps on my IPad. Two apps you can get for free that will tell you about additional free apps or reduced prices are: Apple Sliced and Apps Gone Free. Apps Gone Free will provide you with 3-6 free apps daily, while Apple Sliced provides you with a search engine to find the type of apps (Educational, All) that are free or discounted. I have saved hundreds of dollars buying my Speech Therapy Apps this way!
  2. I-TUNES MUSIC- I am not big on buying music but I do use this app a lot. I have a lot of music CD's that I use for therapy (i.e. Silly Sounds, Songs with Themes, etc…) and to haul a CD player from school to school with a pile of CD's, therapy materials, and more would be completely ridiculous (plus, it ruins your back) One day, inspiration hit! Download my music into ITunes and make play lists! Now, I just find the music on my I-Pad instead of hauling out the CD player and pile of discs.
  3. MATERIALS STORED ON TABLET- When I download the new products I make or buy from Teachers Pay Teachers (such as no print items or stories), it automatically wants to put it into IBook. This works, yes. However, I do not like mixing work with pleasure reading. I have found three great Apps (Moka Notes, Cabinet, and GoodNotes) that let me download to them and then pull them up as little libraries. It is an easy way to make print items into NO PRINT therapy tools. Another reason these are all great apps is that each of them also allow you to highlight, draw, and email. I use these features both in therapy and when I am at staff development trainings (notes in PowerPoint presentations). I am not sure on the price of the above mentioned apps as I managed to get them a few years back for free using the Apps Gone Free and Apple Sliced Apps. There are several other product apps like Moka Notes, Cabinet, and GoodNotes, so keep your eyes out and you may just manage to get a bargain too!

Thanks again to Hallie for providing me the opportunity to share these tricks and tools to bring technology into the speech room. For additional ideas and upcoming tutorials on how to do so, check out my blog at TLC Talk Shop.

Want to read one of the other guest posts in this series? I bet you'll enjoy this one about organizing plans and materials!

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