My office & treatment room has changed completely since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a quick “virtual tour” of the changes I made.
This is my view of the room. You can see the tape on the floor where I’ve measured 3 feet of social distancing (recommended for smaller children). The children usually sit at this table, on the green chair, or on the floor.
This is the opposite side of the room from the first picture. I usually sit on the cushion near the other tape on the floor. I have all my disinfecting and PPE supplies in the gray and green cubbies just to the side of the cushion. You can also see my air purifier (with UV-C) just to the right of the cushion.
This is next to the area where the kids usually sit (in the first photo). Parents usually sit on these white chairs (usually used for older/taller patients) or on the green chair in the first photo. The green tape extends all the way to the other wall in the room to keep the kids distanced from the toy & game shelves – this is intended to keep the children from touching any toys that they haven’t already chosen to play with, but I still find myself spot-disinfecting for the children with especially long arms and good balance. You can also see the bubble machine I bought on the top-left of the shelves. I haven’t seen any research on whether COVID-19 is spread through bubbles, but I got a machine just in case. I also put the first aid kit on these shelves so they’re equally as accessible to me and parents.
Here’s a close-up of my toys and games so you can see what I’m using. The curtain on the bottom-right hand corner covers the bins that have toys/materials that are reserved for individual clients (so I can disinfect them monthly instead of between each patient who touches them). The kids’ current favorites are Diggity Dog, Doggy Bags, and the Lil’ Woodzeez car, camper, and airplane.
This is what’s on the other side of the toy/game shelves: my telehealth desk! I keep my laptop at an angle so the camera is at eye-level (which is better for the patients) and bought a “silent” keyboard and mouse (so my typing doesn’t get distracting for the kids). I also got an external microphone so the kids can hear me better and headphones so I can hear the kids better. I only use the ring light on the rare occasion we have a gloomy day.
Here’s a close-up of my treatment resources and materials so you can see what I’m using. My most frequently used references are the Zones of Regulation and No-Drama Discipline. My most frequently used materials are the SCIP (Sound Contrasts in Phonology) cards (which I’m sorry to say are only available via an app that doesn’t allow printing or the CDs on eBay), articulation minis from Speech Tree co., and Super Duper cards for irregular past-tense verbs and irregular plurals.
Here’s how my patients see the room while we’re on a teleheealth call. I’m usually screensharing so this view will be cropped and small on their screen.
