Physical, occupational, and speech therapy provide invaluable assistance to clients facing a wide array of challenges. While these services are typically best offered in a clinical setting, incorporating therapeutic exercises into a client’s natural environment can significantly expedite their recovery. However, parents or caregivers who are not professional therapists may find it daunting to assist the child or client effectively. Fortunately, there are ways to create visual aids and printouts that can empower parents or caregivers to continue the treatment process at home. In this blog post, we’ll delve into various tips and techniques for crafting visually stimulating resources that bolster client progress and aid in their recovery.

Why Use Visual Aids?

Visual aids can help clients understand and remember various concepts. For parents and caregivers, visual aids can help explain different exercises, techniques, or equipment used in physical, occupational, or speech therapy. They are useful tools for making therapy more fun, interactive, and engaging. Additionally, visual aids can be excellent reminders for parents or caregivers to practice different activities at home as recommended by the therapist.

But that’s not all. Visual aids are an opportunity to improve your client interactions. You can show your clients how to easily navigate their client portal, make the most of teletherapy services, or operate connected devices. This will provide them with valuable assistance. In case you frequently come across clients asking the same questions, it might be a good idea to create a visual aid for your office or give them a helpful printout to take home.

Your visual aids can also be added to your website and social media to give your practice a little branding boost.

 

6 Tips for Creating Visual Resources

Here are some tips for creating effective visual resources for physical, occupational, or speech therapy:

1.  Keep it Simple: When creating visual aids, keep the design simple and easy to understand. Use large, colorful images and minimal text to help clients focus on the main message. Don’t hesitate to ask around the office: would you be able to follow this document?

2.  Use Pictures: Pictures are powerful visual aids that can help clients understand complex concepts. Using pictures of toys, animals, or favorite characters can make therapy fun and engaging for children.

Do make sure the pictures are easy to read. If the motion is complicated, it might be easier to use multiple pictures instead of a complex diagram. Remember: you’ve been practicing for years. What’s intuitive to you may be obscure to your clients.

Another thing to keep in mind? Colors. If you only print in black and white, make sure the images look clear.

3.  Incorporate Repetition: Repeat visual aids throughout therapy sessions to help reinforce concepts taught. Repetition can help clients, especially children, remember critical information better. The goal is to create long-lasting good habits.

4.  Make it Interactive: Interactive visual aids encourage children to participate actively in therapy sessions. Using stickers, Velcro, or bingo chips can make exercises more enjoyable and interactive for children. Similarly, for adults, the concept of gamification serves as a powerful motivator in achieving their goals. Even something as simple as a magnetic checkmark or a satisfying “done” stamp can significantly enhance a client’s sense of accomplishment.

5.  Use Video: Video is an excellent tool for creating visual aids. Recording therapy sessions can help parents and caregivers practice therapy exercises correctly at home. You can send links or add QR codes to printouts to help clients follow along.

6. Branding: Your resources are a way to stand out, so be sure to incorporate your colors and logo. And if you see someone else promoting them online, you can ask them to mention your practice.

Types of Visual Resources

Visual resources used in therapy are often specific to the type of therapy required. Here are some examples:

Physical Therapy

For physical therapy, visual aids can include images showing the proper form for exercises, diagrams of muscle groups and their functions, and photos of equipment or tools used for different exercises. Additionally, visual aids can include videos of stretches or therapeutic activities.

Occupational Therapy

Using visual aids in occupational therapy can help clients understand how to manage everyday activities. Examples of visual aids include pictures of different household tasks, such as cleaning, cooking, or folding laundry, and pictures of different exercises that help promote the proper use of hands and fingers.

For some clients, you might want to have images showing how to accomplish a task effectively with a disability or re-learn a skill.

Speech Therapy

In speech therapy, visual aids can include pictures of objects or animals to help children practice phonics, letters, or word recognition. Additionally, videos and images of mouth movements can be used to help children learn to form certain speech sounds or syllables.

Want an easy way to get started? Download these HEP templates. They’re editable PowerPoint slides you can edit.

How to Create Visual Aids

There are a lot of options available to create these resources. If you have the budget, it would be wise to consider enlisting the services of skilled freelancers or talented artists to bring them to life. These professionals possess the expertise to make your resources look refined and impeccably designed. Moreover, they can assist you in maintaining consistent branding guidelines. By finding an artist who is well-versed in your specific field, they can create visually appealing images that effortlessly communicate your message to clients.

If you don’t have the budget, don’t despair. There are a number of tools out there, ranging from web accessible for complete beginners to open-source software for artists with a little know-how.

Canva is intuitive, easy to use, and offers a lot of free templates you can freely tweak. Be careful, though, a lot of their nice graphics and options are for premium users only, so you might have to choose more basic options. Still, from videos to infographics and everything in between, chances are Canva can help you create what you need.

VistaCreate also offers free tools, with an affordable “Pro” plan. They also offer a lot of different templates and branding kits, with an interface that may remind you of Canva. And if you need to order print versions, you can order them from VistaPrint.

There are others, like Adobe Express, or, for people with more knowledge, software like GIMP or Krita. These may be less intuitive and easy to use, but they have a large library of tutorials and more robust capabilities.

You can also shoot photos and videos on your phone if you lack good free references. Make sure to have proper lighting, stay within the frame, and maintain a professional quality throughout.

Visual aids play an important role in helping clients with physical, occupational, or speech challenges understand and remember different concepts. These resources can also help parents or caregivers continue therapy at home, providing better care and outcomes for children. Creating visual resources for therapy requires a degree of creativity, but it is worth the effort to help clients get the most out of therapy sessions. By incorporating the tips and techniques listed above and tailoring visual aids to the specific needs of each child, parents and caregivers can create an effective visual aid strategy that helps improve therapy outcomes.