Are you using boom cards for social skills?
Updated 1/23
Are you looking for online social skills games to use during speech therapy sessions? Are you a teletherapist that teaches social skills in an online format? Maybe you are already using some Boom cards, but you’re wondering “what makes a quality set of Boom cards for social skills?” According to ASHA, computer-based instruction is a treatment modality for social communication instruction. We also know that device and computer-based learning are motivating for our technology-loving students! They are learning but feel like they are playing a game!
You might also like this blog post on using scaffolding to teach social skills.
Why Boom Cards for Social Skills?
Breaking down the steps to social skills is a big part of social skills instruction in our speech therapy sessions. Social skills instruction is NOT just about practicing the skills, many students need to be TAUGHT the skill or certain steps in the skill, too. If you are jumping right to practicing the skill and your students aren’t successful, consider taking a step back and focus more on the teaching aspect during your speech therapy sessions. Boom cards provide opportunities for every aspect of social skills and pragmatics instruction, from teaching the skill to practicing it.
What Makes Quality Boom Cards for Social Skills?
What makes a set of Boom cards “good?” I’ve been creating and using BOOM cards for online social skills for years and I’ve come up with a checklist of sorts. These are the items I have in mind when I create or search for Boom cards to use with my social communication students. I consider them necessary for easy navigation of a deck and social skills instruction.
Navigation Tools
Boom card users love a good home page! It makes us more efficient during our sessions when we can avoid scrolling through all the slides to get to the desired one! A method for easy backwards or forwards navigation is also helpful! These are must-haves for me as a Boom card user for any instructional topic!
Audio Directions
The majority of my students struggle with some aspect of reading so it is helpful when they can click to hear the directions as they read them. Again, this support is helpful for any instructional area of speech therapy. This makes me feel more confident that the student will successfully access and understand the deck when I assign it for homework outside of speech therapy sessions.
Authentic Clipart or Photographs
The clip art or photographs used in the deck should be appropriate to the age group that will be using it. High school students don’t like to see childish clipart but younger students often love it! Older students often find real photographs more authentic and relatable. Photographs also provide the social skills student with the visual information and social cues they need to respond to presented social scenarios in the deck during online social skills sessions.
Teaches the Skills or Steps
I think this is so important when we are teaching soft skills. There are many approaches to teaching different types of social communication so I like to include slides that teach the skill and vocabulary that will be used within the deck. This makes lesson planning a breeze! All of my boom cards for social skills start by introducing the skill using some introductory information. For example, my responsible problem solving set outlines the steps of responsible problem solving (see above). So, when you are prepping your lesson, the boom cards might be the only materials you need to teach and practice the steps to that particular social skill!
Contains Visual Supports
We all know the importance of visual supports in all areas of speech therapy! Boom cards offer multiple options for visual cues and supports. In my “connecting through conversations” deck, students can drag the grey box to be shown the response scale when they need help with rating responses. Visual supports make all the difference in online social skills training.
Knowledge Checks
How do you know your student’s current knowledge and understanding of a social skill before you teach it? I try to include a knowledge check, similar to a pretest at the start of my social skills decks for older students. Nothing too complicated that will intimidate the student, but enough to give you a general idea of how well this student understands the skill. Above, in my oversharing deck, students rate the statements about oversharing as true or false by dragging an X to the T or F box. Then, at the end, I also include a review.
Online Social Skills Games need Relatable Social Scenarios
Social situations or scenarios are the backbone of many boom cards for social skills. The scenarios should be common situations faced by your students that are relatable for them. Above, a situation about joining a group at a lunch table is presented.
Teaches the Vocabulary
I never take for granted that students completely understand the vocabulary involved in social skills. I once had a new student that had been working perspective taking for over a year but could not define the word “perspective” for me!
Tiers of Intervention and Scaffolding of Skills
A solid deck for social communication instruction offers students multiple ways to respond. They might breeze through cards where they are given response choices but need more support when presented with an open-ended activity where they type the response. Having tiers of intervention helps you see where the breakdown occurs for the student. For complicated skills, it’s also helpful to scaffold in new information, rather than present it all at once at the beginning of the deck!
Opportunities for Feedback!
Boom cards shine when it comes to opportunities for response feedback. Visual and auditory feedback are built into most decks! Boom now offers creators the chance to have students record themselves and listen back to the recording, as in the “detecting and interpreting sarcasm” deck shown above. No need for an external recording device and students hearing themselves when practicing a skill is powerful. This deck is perfect for teaching sarcasm to students with autism.
Money-saving Bundles!
Looking to save a few bucks? Check out my bundle of four sets of boom cards for social skills elementary version! I also have a middle and high school bundle of boom cards for social skills! I have many other Boom bundles in my store!
Boom cards for social skills and speech therapy? Yes! Your students will love them!! Once your boom cards are in your library, you can access them via the app on your Ipad on a supported platform. Don’t forget, Boom cards can easily be assigned via your google classroom!
Helpful Links:
All of the boom cards in this blog post, and more, are available in both my TPT and BOOM stores, linked below.
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