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What does a remote speech/language therapy session look like?

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“Awesome.”  “Hitting it out of the park.”  “Superior.”

Those are some of the ways parents have described their child’s experience with Pine Tree Society’s Speech Language Pathologists remote speech/language therapy telepractice sessions.

These one-on-one video speech/language therapy sessions allow children to maintain and work on their speech and language goals and help prevent regression.

“During this time of physical distancing, Pine Tree Society’s remote speech/language therapy sessions bring much needed consistency to the child and their family,” said Linda Bonnar, director of Communication Pathways at Pine Tree Society. “We strive to provide a service that is as close as possible to what a child would normally receive for therapy intervention.”

It’s important for parents to know that they are not alone.  Pine Tree Society staff is available every step of the way to coach, answer questions and help parents through the process.

“We work hard to make sessions fun and engaging,” Linda said. “One of the biggest things I hear is how lonely and sad kids are about not being at school.  By connecting face-to-face via video, it gives them a feeling of social connectedness and a sense of security that we are going to get through this together.”

Telepractice speech/language services are offered via Zoom, a user-friendly video conferencing technology that is easily accessed from any device.

“I tell parents that it’s not hard at all to connect with Zoom,” Linda continued. “Zoom is a really family friendly platform and we’re here to help right from the get-go if parents get stuck.”

Here’s what a speech/language therapy telepractice session might look like:

1.The therapist begins the session with a schedule, either in text or in pictures, presented on the screen.

2.Next, there is a check in about how the child is feeling, which is sometimes accompanied with a hello song.

“If they’re not feeling so great, we talk about that,” Linda added.  “We use every moment as a teaching moment.  Everything has a purpose and is as interactive as we can make it.”

3.After the check-in, the therapist and child engage in a variety of customized activities that may include reading a book, taking a virtual trip to somewhere special (e.g. zoo, aquarium, etc.), playing a game, or using video tools for other interactive speech and language development tasks.

4.Each session generally ends with a social closing, which may include a goodbye song.

“In every session, we follow a similar routine so it’s consistent and both the child and the family knows what to expect.  Everyone participating is guided when it’s their turn in the activity,” Linda concluded.  “We’re respectful of the fact that we’re virtually coming into people’s homes and do everything we can to adapt to what the family needs and feels comfortable with.”

Sessions sometimes include other supports in a child’s life, such as behavioral consultants.

“I received an email this morning from a behavioral consultant saying, ‘I don’t know who to be prouder of, the child or the parent,’” Linda said.  “The child we were working with has significant challenges and we weren’t sure how telepractice was going to work. Not only did it work, it was outstanding and both the child and the parent felt really successful because it was a team approach and we were all in it together.  The mother said ‘Now I really feel like I’m in the know.  I can see what he’s working on and take part in the process.’ That was a good feeling.”

To find out how Pine Tree Society’s Speech Language Pathologists can support your child and family through telepractice speech/language therapy services, please contact Linda Bonnar at lbonnar@pinetreesociety.org or 207-386-5931.

Three tips to maintain your child’s communication skills at home

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By Linda Bonnar, MA, CCC-SLP, ATP, Director of Communication Pathways, Pine Tree Society

Navigating remote learning from home will be a part of our daily lives for the foreseeable future.  Whether your child’s school is a hybrid or a full distance learning model, some degree of online learning is going to take place.

Knowing that, how do you maintain the communication skills it took your child, with support of their educators and therapists, months to achieve?

Regardless of your child’s age, grade, or developmental level, there are three key aspects of their school day that need to be considered and addressed when looking to provide carryover of communication skills – and even building upon them – at home.

1) Literacy

Reading, whether to themselves, out loud, or being read to is emphasized and immersed in more than anything else during the school day.  Carrying over the level of literacy that kids are exposed to within their educational environment is critical for maintaining communicative levels for students.

2) Peer Interactions

Within the school environment, students are surrounded by peers. This level of expressive and receptive language is unparalleled in other aspects of their life. Figuring out creative ways to mimic this level of exposure is so important in providing carryover of skills. During this time of physical distancing, video and phone chats with friends and family are particularly helpful as are free resources available across the web that help keep you connected to the larger world.

3) Talking

Wait… what? Our grand idea for carryover of communication skills is to talk? Yes! We need to mimic the level of communication that students receive throughout their school schedule. Asking questions, answering questions, describing events and making requests are language functions that happen frequently throughout the school day and are essential in establishing, building and maintaining language for students who are struggling in this area.

So, how are you going to incorporate these three key factors into your child’s day? The same way their teachers do: establish a schedule. Create a schedule that works for your lifestyle and incorporates as much of this as possible and stick to it!

Remember, you are not alone.  Pine Tree Society is here to support you and your child through telepractice speech therapy appointments.  These remote services are available using Zoom, which is a user-friendly video conferencing technology that is easily accessed from any device. Reach out to schedule an appointment today.  Contact Linda Bonnar at lbonnar@pinetreesociety.org or 207-386-5931.

Need hands-on support this fall? Our BHP team is here for you

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In-person.  Distance learning.  Hybrid.  Homeschool.  Whatever your back-to-school looks like, Pine Tree Society’s Home and Community Support BHPs are here to help. Courtney Strout, the BHP Supervisor, explains how.

Q: What is Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support, who is eligible, and what kind of services does it provide?

A: Any child up to age 21 who has a developmental disability that impacts their everyday functioning is eligible for our services. Our behavioral professionals are trained to support your child in achieving the goals that are set for them by their team. Our BHP’s support with skill-building and activities of daily living and with behavior management.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support assist children with distances learning or homeschooling?

A: If children are home during this distanced-learning time, our staff can come in and help work with behaviors that might be inhibiting them from being able to complete their school work. If your child is homeschooling, they may still have some behaviors that are occurring that are inhibiting them from getting their school work done and our staff can help teach replacement behaviors that will allow them to be able to focus more readily for their school work.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support encourage community engagement and help children in making friends?

A: We have a lot supports around working with children for community safety, from things like learning how to play appropriately with their peers to learning about stranger danger. We spend a lot of time out in the community with children teaching them the appropriate skills to be happy, healthy members of society.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support help to assure that children are still receiving necessary services if distance learning or homeschooling is occurring?

A: Some of those services might be online and we can help the child to be able to learn skills to attend to those online sessions. Some of those might be things that our staff can help carry over from the sessions that they learn in school and carry that over so that they have consistency when they’re in the home as well.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support support children in making friends?

A: We do teach a lot of social skills as well. We teach kids how to interact with their peers appropriately, how to make friends, how to handle conflict among their friends and all sorts of things like that.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support assist with online therapies?

A: With online therapies, we can help children to learn the skills necessary to be able to attend to those lessons. We can also do things before and after the lessons to help to prepare your child to be able to attend to those lessons

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s In-Home Community Support help children who are experiencing regression and/or anxiety?

A: We have a lot of children who have a variety of different concerns and behaviors that might inhibit them from doing certain things from regression, to anxiety, to ADHD.  With every child, we meet them where they’re at and we teach them new skills necessary to help them manage their behaviors that are currently inhibiting them from accomplishing the things that they want to do

Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management is here to help

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Mike Bell is the team leader of Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management program.  We recently caught up with him to talk about how he helps parents connect with the services and resources they need for their child.  Connect with Mike today to learn more or get started with a case manager.  Call him at (207) 386-5965, mbell@pinetreesociety.org or complete this form and we will get back to you.

Q: Tell me about Pine Tree Society’s Case Management for Children? Who is eligible for this service?

A: Pine Tree Society’s case management serves children zero to 20 years old, serving kids with developmental disabilities or chronic medical conditions. For eligibility, we require Maine Care services or Katie Beckett and you need to be within one hour of our offices. We currently have offices in Scarborough, Auburn, Bath and soon to be the Central Maine area this fall.

Q: What sort of professional background do the staff of Pine Tree Society’s Case Management for Children have? What services can they provide?

A: Our staff are quite diverse. We have staff who have special education backgrounds, social work, have been in the caregiver field, and some themselves have been parents of kids with special needs. We can do a variety of things depending on the age and need of your child and family.  It could be connecting resources for home/community supports. It could be supporting transition planning into adulthood if they’re older adolescents. It could be being that added person at an IEP meeting just to listen. One of the most common pieces is that we are that person who listens when things get tough.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management assist children with distance learning or homeschooling?

A: We have experience working with kids in those scenarios and are familiar with how to access school programs, how to follow through with IEPs and 504 Plans.  A lot of what we do is we would make sure you have access to community opportunities, connect with homeschool associations and coordinate and support those providers as well so that you have successful programming.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management assist with online therapies?

A: We can help support online therapies and access to those therapies by coordinating with either the school or outside providers. We’ve done this throughout COVID-19 as well as prior to the pandemic. Some challenges experienced by children and families have been access to technology to be able to do that. That’s something our case managers can help with as far as getting access either through the school or through technology elsewhere.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management help assure that children are still receiving necessary services if distance learning or homeschooling is occurring?

A: Connecting to services when you’re homeschooling or doing distance learning can be done in a couple of ways.  We can support you with that through either coordinating directly and collaborating with a school to make sure those services get accessed either online and are successful with supports as needed. Oftentimes there’s also out-patient therapies such as speech, OT and physical therapy that we can make referrals for and monitor and set up for you as a family.

Q:  How can Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management encourage community engagement and help children in making friends?

A: A big part of what we do is connect kids and their families to the larger community. Making friends is often one of those things that is a priority goal for families for their children. We can do that through connecting to services, helping refer, managing those services, monitoring them for success as well as providing opportunities and peer groups with common interests that are in the community already.

Q: How can Pine Tree Society’s Children’s Case Management help children who are experiencing regression and/or anxiety?

A: During the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety has gone up for most people and kids are not an exception to that. Oftentimes, they have come in with anxiety disorders and some have seen regression as a result. We can help with that through accessing services that can directly address anxiety as a symptom.  We can work on coping skills, we can work on exploring med management options if that’s appropriate, and whatever may work best for your child. There’s a number of therapies that could also be accessed as well as counseling.

Ten tips for distance learning

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Pine Tree Society is a leader in distance learning for students with special needs.  From early intervention for preschoolers to maintaining speech and language skills in high school, Pine Tree Society is expert at meeting the individual needs of students of all ages.

Whether you are a parent homeschooling or a teacher providing distance learning, here are our top tips for making distance learning a success.

 

 

TIP #1

Motivate and engage. Keep the philosophy that YES this child can participate and be successful to the best of their ability in distance learning and telepractice sessions.  Keep in mind that just because you are in front of a computer screen, it doesn’t mean you have to sit for the whole session.  If needed, build in movement activities too!

TIP #2

Be creative. Look for blogs and, if you have social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram, look for groups that are posting tips and ideas. Search “distance learning” on TeachersPayTeachers.com for free resources every week!

TIP #3

Be flexible. Look for activities that can meet multiple goal areas rather than worrying about one activity for each goal.  Remind yourself and others that it won’t look the same and it won’t always be perfect, but we are in this together, and together we can succeed!

TIP #4 

For Deaf students:  Share materials, lesson plans and lesson goals with the interpreter in advance of the lesson.  This allows the interpreter to support the short and long-term goals of each assignment.

TIP #5

For Deaf students:  Do a test run on technology before the student is present.  Video interpreting requires a stronger connection than video meetings that use spoken language.  Hard-wired connections are best.

TIP #6  

For Deaf students:  Consider the strengths and learning style of the student and be creative and flexible.  Remember, when the Deaf student isn’t looking at the screen they can’t “hear” what is being taught.  Also, interpreters need to be able to hear all the conversations in the room.

TIP #7

Start small and work your way up.  You know your child. Choose activities and length of sessions to match the child’s attention span and slowly build up as appropriate for all involved. We don’t want the children to become overwhelmed and refuse altogether.

TIP #8

Remember that there may be multiple learners in the home and a limited number of devices. Work with families to schedule times that work best for everyone and try to ensure that everyone gets a break from the screen.

TIP #9

Use virtual backgrounds to keep children engaged. Children struggle to maintain attention during distance learning, so keep your screen exciting and fresh. Change your background as needed to keep their attention. You can also match backgrounds to themes or stories!

TIP #10

Don’t be too hard on yourself.  We want to be able to connect with every child, every day.  We all have days that are challenging. We just need to accept that and try again the next day!

Through strategic use of technology, Pine Tree Society meets the needs of students statewide; bringing much needed services to rural parts of the state where access would otherwise be limited.  To find out how Pine Tree Society can support you, please contact Terry Berkowitz, Chief Operating Officer at 207-443-3341 or tberkowitz@pinetreesociety.org.

Four ways to have fun getting active

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By Linda Bonnar, MA, CCC-SLP, ATP, Director of Communication Pathways, Pine Tree Society

Remote learning from home means less daily physical activity for your child. Whether your child’s school is a hybrid or a full distance learning model, parents will need to find creative ways to promote movement throughout the day.

Regardless of your child’s age, grade, or developmental level, here are four tips that are easily adaptable for children of all abilities.

1) Kids Yoga

There are lots of different poses you can use and you can even help a child make up their own pose.  Here is a great resource for adding yoga into your life.

2) Simon Says

Simon Says is a great way to promote movement and work on basic verbs while building skills for following directions.  For children who are older, try two-step directions.

3) I Spy 

The I Spy guessing game can take place anywhere.  Take a walk around your neighborhood or move around your house having fun spying objects and guessing.

4) Scavenger Hunt

Much like I Spy, you can have a scavenger hunt anywhere, anytime.  Inside or outside, scavenger hunts promote movement and creative thinking.  Here are some great scavenger hunt templates to use or to inspire your own.

Remember, you are not alone.  Pine Tree Society is here to support you and your child. Contact Linda Bonnar at lbonnar@pinetreesociety.org or 207-386-5931 to learn more.

Three tips to structure your homeschooling or distance learning day

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By Linda Bonnar, MA, CCC-SLP, ATP, Director of Communication Pathways, Pine Tree Society

Whether you are homeschooling or your child is distance learning in school, these helpful tips are applicable to children of all abilities.

 

1) Make a schedule for the day. 

What are the goals you hope to accomplish? Create the schedule together. 

You can remind your child of the things that have to be done, but giving your child some control as to when things happen in the course of the day can make them a little easier to complete. Remember:  Most people do better and are more motivated when things are done with them, not just to them.

2) Remember to be sure to work in breaks, movement and fun time.  

We all take a break from our work at times during the day! 

Childhood development experts give ranges of attention spans as loose rules to follow, but there really isn’t any strong empirical research that holds these ranges as tried and true.

Attention span can vary from person to person and might need to be adjusted depending on how effortful or motivating the task being presented is, and what kind of attention is necessary for completion.  People often refocus frequently during tasks for a number of reasons, so keep your learning blocks long enough to get something done, but short enough to not lose them all together.  (These ranges are suggested by  brainbalancecenters.com.)

6 years of age:  12-18 minutes

8 years of age:  16-24 minutes

10 years of age:  20-30 minutes

12 years of age:  24-36 minutes

14 years of age:  28-42 minutes

16 years of age:  32-48 minutes

3) Remember, you are not alone! 

We are all in this together and Pine Tree Society is here to help. We offer many remote services like Speech Language therapy.  This is a great way to retain and continue to build skills during this time.  Contact me at 207-386-5931 or lbonnar@pinetreesociety.org to schedule an appointment or learn more.

Michael: Empowered to take the lead

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Michael has been coming to Pine Tree Camp since he was in elementary school.  Now in his twenties, this year when he came to camp it was a little different.  This time he got to come with his family and show them what he proudly calls “My camp.”

“We have a family camp that we go to on weekends,” said his mother, Nicole. “And he always tells people ‘That’s my family’s camp. But Pine Tree Camp is MY camp!’ He talks about it every day of the year.”

Pine Tree Camp Adventure Day Pass made it possible for Michael to come to camp this summer and keep Pine Tree Camp a part of his life. 

“It has actually helped us to keep Pine Tree Camp a part of his life for more time out of the year than just one week,” his mother continued.  They reserved Pine Tree Camp Adventure Day Pass dates throughout the summer.

“Michael loves showing us around and is empowered to take the lead.  It has provided another layer for us as a family.  It’s wonderful to see the excitement he has about sharing this with us.  It’s something he loves and he has a special ownership in it.”

Nature is powerful and during this time of physical distancing, access to the outdoors is more important than ever.

“Being outdoors in a fully accessible environment is so important and Pine Tree Camp is committed to filling that need,” said Dawn Willard-Robinson, director of Pine Tree Camp.  “Our Pine Tree Camp Adventure Day Pass is designed to provide safe day use of our fully accessible 285-acre campus.  All of Pine Tree Camp’s signature outdoor activities are available – hiking on accessible nature trails, boating, kayaking, fishing, swimming and archery – all provided in a physically distanced manner supported by experienced staff.”

Nicole couldn’t agree more.  “The counselors were wonderful at giving space and being encouraging and engaging.  They even got in a safe distance circle to sing a birthday song with him in the middle.”

Michael did it all.  He we went swimming and kayaking and caught a fish on a pontoon boat with his dad.  He roasted marshmallows, danced and saw his favorite cabin.

During COVID-19, Michael’s parents have been learning how to adjust to his needs and stay safe. 

“Going to Pine Tree Camp is nothing we need to adjust to,” Nicole said. “Being able to continue to go to Pine Tree Camp no matter what has been so positive for us during this time.”

Pine Tree Camp Adventure Day Pass is available for all Maine people with disabilities and their families and caregivers.  Dates are currently available through the end of September.  Register at this link.

Embodying the ‘Spirit of Pine Tree Camp,’ Community Support adapts to offer programming safely during COVID-19

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Pine Tree Society offers a family of programs and services embodying the “Spirit of Pine Tree Camp.” Check out how our Community Support programs in Auburn and Scarborough are adapting to offer clients opportunities to connect, engage in meaningful activities and access the outdoors during this challenging time.

Like what you see?  We are currently accepting new clients.  Please contact Shelley Zielinski at szielinski@pinetreesociety.org or 207-386-5927 or Get Started by filling out this form.