118: From Surviving to Thriving as an SLP with Barbara Fernandes

Do you use gaming and technology in speech therapy?    One of the keys to getting students more engaged in their speech therapy sessions is utilizing their interests, and for many kids, that’s gaming and technology. A lot of SLPs are wary about incorporating those though because they don’t want to give children too much screen time. However, there is a difference between playing games or watching YouTube and participating in speech therapy on a screen.    In this episode of SLP Coffee Talk, I sat down with Barbara Fernandes to talk about her app, Speech & Language Academy, and why it is so beneficial in the speech classroom.    Barbara Fernandes, founder, and CEO of Smarty Ears is well known for her innovative and breakthrough product development for speech and communication disorders. For over a decade, Barbara has translated science into user-friendly and powerful technology to support individuals with communication disorders. Barbara transformed an entire industry to adopt mobile technologies through the design and development of over sixty mobile applications and an entire symbol library: Smarty Symbols.    As the founder of Smarty Symbols, Barbara also created the most inclusive, diverse, and comprehensive symbol library and developed a powerful new technology that is disrupting the special education field by providing a platform for custom visual support creation. Smarty Symbols has been adopted as the symbol of choice in many other technologies developed in the field.   Make sure to tune in to learn more about her app, how it works, and why you should start using it in your therapy practice today.    Full show notes available at www.speechtimefun.com/118   Resources Mentioned:  Check out Speech & Language Academy: https://speechandlanguageacademy.com/ Get 20% OFF Speech & Language Academy with promo code: SLPCoffeeTalk Check out the Smarty Ears website: https://www.smartyearsapps.com/ Follow Barbara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geekbarbara/   Where We Can Connect:  Follow the Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slp-coffee-talk/id1497341007 Follow Hallie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speechtimefun Follow Hallie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeechTimeFun/ Follow Hallie on Pinterest: Subscribe today and get access to my secret podcast filled with my juicy secrets for planning with ease for secondary speech students. 6 quick episodes that you can quickly listen to and feel refreshed and inspired! https://speechtimefun.com/secondarysecrets