iPads for Thinking Clinicians

A student clinician of mine a little while back told me about an SLP who advised her SLP interns that the way to use the iPad in therapy was to "turn it on and put it in front of the students."  Um, No.  iPad apps are a fantastic tool to use for speech/language therapy.  The images are crisp, animations cool and access to the world, endless.  However, for our patients who struggle already with social interactions, teaching them to zone on yet another screen and zone out with us humans is NOT the way to conduct therapy.  If you've been hanging around us, either in person or interacting via social media, you know that we are BIG, HUMONGOUS fans of the iPad so we are not hating on our favorite device.  Like any other tool, there are positive, productive ways to use this device.

The first time I look over an app as a potential therapy tool, I search out the "settings" button.  All exceptional apps have one.  There are some good apps out there which are not adaptable.  We all use them but understand their limitations for creating individually enticing activities for students.  A stellar app has the ability to adapt levels of difficulty for individuals and allows for custom images, sounds or videos to be customized.  Good adaptable apps also allow us to select appropriate vocabulary.  Some may allow the therapist to decide how the app transitions between tasks and decreases the ability of the student to skip through challenging items.  Apps should assist us as therapists, provide quick access to appropriate vocabulary, add a little motivating zing-o to our sessions and, possibly collect a little data along the way.

They should NOT independently conduct a therapy session all on their own.

Use your iPad just like you do a good picture book, as a cool shared reference for you and your child/patient/student to share together and to learn with! Have fun!!