See how Global Teletherapy’s very own Andrea Kyndhail, TSPC creates a fun and growth oriented online environment for autistic and on the spectrum children. From creating personal avatars to fun exercises, Andrea has great tips for teletherapists to help students and parents succeed with remote therapy. Learn more by joining Lindsey and Andrea for this informative and resourceful SPEDtalk.
Lindsey:
Good morning, Facebook. Welcome to SPED talk. I’m your host Lindsay Kucich. And I am the lead mental health therapist here at Global Teletherapy, and I’m so excited for today’s show. We did have a little bit of technical issues. I apologize if your links weren’t working and you couldn’t get logged in, but we are up and running and we’re live, so drop in the comments if you’re able to hear me and see me and you’re joining, and you are #teamlive.
Lindsey:
Welcome, Olivia and Janet. Thank you guys so much for joining. I’m so sorry that there was a little bit of tech issues, but who knows? We figured it out. All right. If you are watching us live, not to worry, just put #teamreplay. If you did get on live, take a few seconds, and I want you to share this video. Share the video on your personal wall, or you can share it in a group for other therapists, and that way everybody gets to hear today’s message. We’ve got a great show for everyone today.
Lindsey:
I’m actually really excited to kind of follow up on you guys from last week’s show. We launched a movement #BeKindFirst. So tell me in the comments, how have you been participating? So keeping sure with this spirit, I did last night, take my dog for a walk, and I made sure to say hello to each neighbor that I passed. I don’t have much social contact with people right now, as I’m sure most of you don’t either. Tell me how you are finding ways to Be Kind First, because every little bit helps. We want to spread this, Be Kind First and remind everybody that we need to unite as a community and don’t be afraid to Be Kind First.
Lindsey:
Also remember, Global Teletherapy has launched their free webinars. This is a great resource for families and students. So go to www.globalteletherapy.com to sign up, and encourage everyone to sign up too (these resources have been since taken down from our website. For more information please email us at info@globalteletherapy.com). This is open to all families and all children. So go on the website and sign up. You’ll see a list of different webinars that they can join and they just fill out a really quick form and then they’ll get access to the link so that they can share this with the students and their families.
Lindsey:
All right, everybody, that’s joining us. Thank you guys for coming on. Erika, I know that you’re here as well, so that’s great. We’re all waiting for my mom to sign on. She will, don’t worry. But without further ado, I want to introduce you to our wonderful guest today. So, this is our special guests, Andrea Kyndhail, she’s been with Global Teletherapy for a few years and she was named Therapist of the Month in March. She is joining us to discuss strategies that can be implemented with working students who have autism, and help build social skills with students in rural areas. So I would like to welcome our guest, Andrea, today. So Andrea, thank you so much for joining us. How are you?
Andrea:
Wonderful. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
Lindsey:
Thank you for helping us and putting up with this technical issue that we had. We got you on here. Everybody can see you. We’ve had people logging in, which is fantastic. So how are things going? Where are you located right now?
Andrea:
I’m out on the coast. I’m in Portland, Oregon.
Lindsey:
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Out there, definitely. Some rural areas that you’re working in as well?
Andrea:
Absolutely. Yes. Through a very long series of events that I won’t trouble you with, I ended up being licensed to work in Oregon, but also in the state of Minnesota. And there are a lot of rural communities in both places where students either, it doesn’t work out for them to go to a brick and mortar school for logistical reasons or the online setting just seemed to be a better fit.
Lindsey:
Great. And I love that you’re still able to service students, and this is actually important for our therapists. If therapists are in rural areas, they don’t like to commute. I mean, sometimes it can take an hour just to get to a client. So being able to do this remotely helps the therapist that’s in a rural area and students who are in rural areas that might not be able to get access to the services that we provide. So I’m so glad that you’re actually servicing this population as well.
Lindsey:
And you are very well versed with working with students that have autism. We have 14 years of working with students, understanding their needs. I know you used to be a teacher, an administrator, and now you’re a school counselor. Passionate about working with the students and building genuine connection. So let’s talk about these connections. Connecting with students on the spectrum. That can be challenging just in itself. So what are some things that you like to do to help connect with students, especially in the virtual setting? And you can discuss virtual setting and the difference in the traditional setting.
Andrea:
Absolutely. One of the things that I absolutely love about working online is the time factor. I think many times when we’re working in a traditional setting, there is so much going on and so much to keep track of that one person’s needs can be difficult to meet, especially if those needs are hard to understand, or maybe escalated, or there’s not a lot of good information out there. But online therapy really kind of paves the way. And I love the word connection because that’s really what it’s all about. It’s the whole idea that there’s a person in there. They might have a diagnosis, they might have special needs, they might have an IEP, lots of things and information can be packed into that. But really those are all just layers that surround the person in there.
Andrea:
So connecting with students really begins by keeping that fact in mind. They have things that they like and things that they don’t like, things that they’re comfortable with and things that they’re not comfortable with. Things that make them laugh and things that make them afraid. And so finding out about all those things is really the first step.
Lindsey:
That’s great, right? People are people, and we all have special interests, we all have a way that we connect. But it can be really challenging to find that connection at first. So what might be an activity that you like to do with students to really find out what their interests are?
Andrea:
One of the things that I’ve learned is that people tend to communicate best and most comfortably when they’re doing something that they enjoy. So I always like to start out by playing games. I have kind of a virtual game cupboard students can click on links and things that they think are interesting. And one of the simplest things that I like to start with is to have students create their own avatar.
Andrea:
It can be really useful to be able to see how they see themselves and what types of things they would add to a virtual image of themselves. Sometimes they try to make it look exactly like them, but not always. Sometimes you’ll see things like, “Oh, I wish I could have purple hair.” We’ll put it on your avatar. “Or wouldn’t it be cool if I had these funny sunglasses?” Put it on your avatar. And so it’s a great way to help them explore themselves. And I just get to watch.
Lindsey:
I love that. That is such a great idea. So if they’re creating their own avatar, what program or website do you typically have access to that students can do this, or do they just use a whiteboard and just draw a picture of themselves?
Andrea:
Sometimes they do, but there is a really great website that I like called avatarmaker.com and it has a sister website. There’s a link to it that you can create an avatar for your pet as well. And that’s a really fun one. A lot of my students are really, really close with animals. And so being able to create an avatar for their pet is something they enjoy a lot too.
Lindsey:
Excellent. So avatarmaker.com.
Andrea:
Yeah.
Lindsey:
Fantastic. So wonderful that we’ve got that resource. That’s fantastic. So then tell me, with the avatar, and then you’re having them discuss their strengths and weaknesses and things that they enjoy that really does help build rapport, and then also those interests. I really like that. Tell me, how can evidence based practices be adapted to the online setting and integrated with students in their daily lives?
Andrea:
I love this topic because a lot of people have been studying and working to figure out what is autism all about and how does it work in the brain? And what does it look like on the outside with a person that you might have in your life? And so for many years, researchers have been building a collection of what we call evidence based practices. Basically, ways that we can help individuals with autism learn about themselves and how to interact with the world in healthy ways.
Andrea:
And so there is quite a list. There’s, I think, 40 or 50 out there. And so one of the questions that often comes up when we’re talking about online therapy is, “Well, all of these things were created for a traditional in-person setting. You’re sitting right there with a student and you can hand them things and walk across the room and manipulate objects in the environment. How does that work in the online setting?”
Andrea:
Well, let’s take a look at some of these. There are several on this list, thank you for pulling that up, that can be used in any setting. A physical setting or online. Even something like exercise. You can see here behind me, I’ve got kind of some space open in this room. It would be easy to do a few light exercises, even something simple like reach your arms up above your head and put them down again. And there are lots of websites online that are dedicated to helping kids getting active and moving, and many of them include fun characters and music. GoNoodle is one that I use a lot. And so something like exercise can absolutely be adapted to online use. This is particularly important right now during this time of social distancing, because when we get exercise, it floods our brain with endorphins. And when we are moving around, it helps our blood circulate better. It helps us think better. It helps us feel better. It helps us participate with each other better.
Andrea:
So absolutely finding ways to interact with online tools to get exercise is a great thing to do. I won’t go through every single thing on this list, but it is useful to know that every single thing that you see there on the left is something that can be adapted for online use by connecting with websites, videos, or just by having a conversation, like you and I are, the same way that it would be in a classroom.
Lindsey:
That’s fantastic. These resources are amazing. And just so everybody who’s watching and that you know, these resources will be available after the show. So make sure that you find them on the therapist hub. You’ll be able to download this slide and take a look and see what other resources that you can incorporate into your sessions as well. Andrea, is there a favorite one that you might have on there? You talked a lot about that movement exercise. I love GoNoodle. That’s fantastic. What’s one more that you feel like is one we should really hone in on?
Andrea:
One of the ones that I use pretty much every session, every day is video modeling. So if you pull up my second slide. I had a backup prepared. There are several different websites out there that offer pre made social skills and emotional self-regulation learning videos. The one that I like to use is Everyday Speech. So shout out to my fabulous Everyday Speech creators because they are absolutely my lifeline. Video modeling is a fabulous tool that can help people on the autism spectrum to understand what’s going on in a social situation, what other people might be thinking, and then to help connect the dots between what we see on the outside, a person’s facial expression, their tone of voice, their body language, their words, and their actions connecting all of those pieces of the puzzle, to what that person might be thinking and feeling.
Andrea:
And then we can put all those clues together, interactively, myself and the student, in order to figure out what might be a good choice for behavior next. And in this graphic that I’ve included on my slide, there are even opportunities to explore multiple decision-making paths. So when a student thinks to themselves, “Well, if I say this in this situation, what will happen?” The video can explore that as well as its alternative. And it helps a student to understand how to be better prepared for the way people will respond to them, and also what they might be able to do to have a successful outcome.
Andrea:
So here on this slide are just a few various examples of evidence based practices, but video modeling can be a really, really useful one.
Lindsey:
I love that. And a lot of our therapists definitely have Everyday Speech memberships. It’s a great resource for them as well. I love that. On one of the games, the flip ones, that’s from a smart notebook. We use that activity often in our sessions as well. The video modeling is so important with these students to really see. So I really like that you do that. Now, if the students are more advanced, then maybe they’re ready for the next stage. So incorporating those skills in more of a group setting, how do you tackle groups in the virtual setting?
Andrea:
It works. It can work really, really well. It’s important to find a good match of participants, a similar age, developmental level, and skills that we’re all working on together. It can also be really helpful if you know a little bit about their interests ahead of time so you can kind of pave the way for them to connect with each other and not just to connect with me as the therapist. But once we’re able to have more sophisticated conversations. On the previous slide, there was an example of a problem solving outline, and just a little quick shout out to a social support webinar that I will be releasing on this problem solving steps that are included on that slide. So everyone can be on the lookout for that. It can be a really useful tool to follow an outline like that together that has links to outside resources, videos, and games. And it gives the students the opportunity to experiment with how those problem solving steps might look and how one person might come up with different solutions to a potential problem than another person can.
Andrea:
And so then they can actually practice that problem solving process together. Well, what would you do in this situation and why? Oh, well, that really doesn’t work for me. I would do this. And many times we can find that there is more than one right way to do most things. Building that kind of perspective can be really, really valuable to people who are on the autism spectrum.
Lindsey:
Oh, that’s fantastic. I love that they get to see someone that’s a similar age peer also giving examples, and then they can learn from each other about what works in their area, what doesn’t work. Groups are also fantastic ways to build those social skills if they are in rural areas. So would you say you like to ask schools to add group sessions for them if they don’t have access to enrichment opportunities in their area?
Andrea:
Absolutely. Many times when a student first begins online therapy, there’s a period when individual therapy can be the best choice because they’re learning all of this for the first time and getting familiar with online just as an environment. But after a while, once they’ve started to learn a lot of these skills one-on-one and it gets to the point where they can answer any question you throw at them. Yes, I know how to start a conversation. Yes, I know the steps in friendship building. Yes, I know how to resolve conflicts. Okay. Let’s try you out with an actual real person, and many times in rural communities, those opportunities are limited.
Andrea:
And right now, during social distancing, they’re limited for all of us. So it would be great to have a place where all students could have a virtual recess to practice skills and connect with each other as people in a way that feels safe and comfortable for them. They’re in their homes and they still get to make friends. It’s kind of a win.
Lindsey:
No, that’s so true. That you bring that up to that level of comfort, is so necessary. So even though we’re in a virtual setting, we have this protection. It’s like a barrier because we’re still in something that is not foreign to us. So it’s comfortable for us when we are entering into a foreign situation such as social settings. So that’s definitely something that can work in our benefit in the virtual setting as well. So I love the idea of running groups.
Lindsey:
But I know that sometimes groups can be a little bit challenging managing behaviors. And then you where you with multiple people that might struggle in social settings. So what’s one or two tips that you are like, “You have to have this in your session,” or something to make sure that if it goes a little off topic, how do we get it back? So what’s one of the tips that you can recommend for running groups?
Andrea:
Absolutely. This is true for individuals and groups, but particularly useful in groups. I remember when I was in grad school and I had a really, really insightful experienced professor, and we were troubleshooting and saying, “What do you do for this situation? And what do you do if the student has this problem? Or is exhibiting that behavior?” And eventually we all ran out of ideas. And it was this really uncomfortable moment because that happens in real life. There are these stressful moments, as a therapist, when this isn’t going the way I thought. They’re not cooperating. They’re not coming along with me. And I try this and I try this and I try this and I don’t know what to do and I’m stuck.
Andrea:
Well guess what? That feeling is a universal feeling. All humans feel that way. I’m stuck and I don’t know what to do. So the answer is kind of counterintuitive, but it’s simple, and it works. Be in the moment. You work with what you have right in front of you. And if a student is melting down, make an observation about that. You’re very upset right now. And if I do that in the session in a group, it shows the other members of the group that they can do that too. That instead of trying to shove aside this uncomfortable moment, we’re just going to be part of it and accept that it’s happening.
Andrea:
And that is one of the huge advantages that we have in online therapy because in a physical environment, in a classroom, in a grocery store, in a shopping mall, at a birthday party, there are so many reasons for that uncomfortable feeling to be exponentially magnified. And we want to shove it aside. We want to shut it down. We want to make it not happen because it’s so awkward. But in the online therapy room, this is what we’re here for. We’re here to learn what to do when we have that uncomfortable feeling and we don’t know what to do. So stay in the moment and empathize.
Lindsey:
That’s fantastic. Making that emotional awareness connection is so important. And so it happens, like you said, in group, when someone’s put on the spot, it can happen in the grocery store. So a lot of the things that we get to do in our virtual setting is collaborate with the parents and the family and the learning coaches. So what kind of tips do you give them to help them understand and build upon this emotional awareness when they’re actually in their homes outside of session?
Andrea:
That tip for empathizing is a great one to share with parents. As a parent myself, we can all sympathize with that moment where we just feel so frazzled and I have things to do. So being able to share that with parents can be really useful too. There’s a wonderful Facebook page and also a website called Teach Through Love that offers really practical words to say in stressful moments like that and what a child is likely to hear and understand when you phrase things different ways. So I always share that one with parents and that has been really useful.
Andrea:
But my other secret weapon in helping parents manage some of the complicated situations that arise with special needs children, is to talk to them about their own self-care. Very often parents are kind of beleaguered with all the many things that are involved in caring for special needs children. And they kind of tend to put themselves last. And the simple truth is, you can’t serve from an empty vessel. If you’re not getting enough sleep, if you’re not drinking enough water, if you’re not getting whatever that thing is that fills your cup back up, it’s going to be empty. And then there’s nothing left for anyone else. So I connect a lot with parents over self-care and ask them, “What are you doing to take care of you so that you can keep running this magnificent show that you’re doing?”
Lindsey:
No, that’s fantastic. Self-care is so as well. And yeah, we do. We do tend to sacrifice our needs for the good of others. And so we want to do that as well, because like you said, you can’t pour from an empty cup. So very, very true. Well, that’s fantastic. I have one more question in regards to working with students that are on the spectrum, specifically when they perseverate on topics of interest. And if this happens in session or in a group setting, you might have to handle it differently. So what kind of tip can you provide to our therapists to manage these perseveration of topics?
Andrea:
That is a great question. This is something that happens a lot. I learned a tip once that the best way to change something that you want to change is to notice it and keep track of it. So I created a simple little graphic system in which there was a symbol on a page, a virtual workbook page, for every time that a student would interrupt or talk over me or not allow me to participate in the conversation.
Andrea:
And so the student could then kind of visually see how much of the conversation they were contributing to versus how much I was contributing to. And then when there came a good stopping point, I would reflect on that with them and say, “How many people are in this conversation? Does it seem fair that only one person should have all of the time? Now let’s reverse it. And imagine that this was me doing all of this talking and you only got this one little blip and I talked over you.” Being able to turn the tables and share perspective that way can be really valuable in kind of a pressure free, error free environment, where they’re not going to get in trouble. We’re just noticing things here. And the more we notice that, “Oh, I interrupted again. Oh, I interrupted again. Oh, I interrupted again.” That can help them realize and become more aware of themselves and their own habits.
Andrea:
Another trick that I like to do is when a topic of conversation is really important to a student and they keep interrupting in order to inject to that topic, I have a place on their workbook page where I’ll write that down so we don’t forget it. Very often, it’s important and they don’t want to lose it, and if they engage in somebody else’s turn, it falls out of their brain. So I have a place to keep it and it helps them feel more secure, we can come back to it later when it’s their turn again.
Lindsey:
I love that. Those are great ideas. All about being aware. Aware of your emotions, aware of how you’re feeling, aware of how you’re spending your time, monopolizing someone’s time. Definitely a whole idea of awareness is something that we really do need to focus on. And then being aware of our self-care and making sure that we are taking care of ourselves as well. So I think this transitions, not only to students on the spectrum, but to every student, every person, every human. So I think that those are really great tips that we could all implement into our lives.
Lindsey:
So Andrea, thank you so much for giving us great tips on how to work with students in rural areas, how to work with students that are on the spectrum, and tackling some group situations. Are there any closing thoughts or any other information or tidbits that you’d like to share before we close out our show?
Andrea:
As I’ve been doing this job for a little while and working in online therapy, I do just want to emphasize how marvelous it is that we have this opportunity to connect with people far and wide, and to be able to know each other on this personal level, rather than just managing the behavioral situations that come up every day.
Andrea:
So if I could leave one parting thought with everybody out there in our television audience, it’s to make this effort and also in conjunction with the Be Kind First to see the things about the people in our lives that make us people. Ultimately, there’s a person in there. And if you’re having a problem with someone in your life, try to connect to who they are as a person first and the rest will follow.
Lindsey:
That is wonderful. Thank you so much, Andrea. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us on our show.
Andrea:
Thanks so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
Lindsey:
Well, Facebook, I hope you enjoyed today’s show. We made it through our technical difficulties. So just a few things to remember in regards to our support sessions. Go to Global Teletherapy’s website and register for the free webinars. And also remember to Be Kind First, and hashtag that so we know what you are doing to Be Kind First. We want to support everyone, build a sense of community as well. So thank you all for joining our show. We’ll see you next week.
