What are BOOM cards?
To help explain this, Speech Language Therapist (SLP), Brianna Puentes, M.S., CCC-SLP, is going to explain what they are and why she, as an experienced and qualified SLP, uses them in her therapy & education settings.
In early 2020, news of COVID-19 was sweeping through the world just as quickly as the virus itself. Teachers, therapists and other education professionals all over the world scrambled to morph into virtual teachers and tele-therapists. We didn’t learn any of this in college, I kept finding myself thinking. As a speech-language pathologist (SLP), most of our therapy happens through play. How was I going to teach my students through a computer screen?! I had a lot of learning to do and felt completely overwhelmed. One weekend, I hunkered down and dove into researching virtual learning activities. Of everything I discovered, BOOM CARDS felt like my golden ticket!
Maybe you’re finding yourself asking: “What are BOOM Cards?!” BOOM Cards are interactive task cards/activities, all housed on the Boom Learning platform. You access them online via a computer or mobile device. All you need is Internet access and a free BOOM Learning account. There is a store full of decks that target every educational, speech, and language skill under the sun! Or, alternatively, you can create your own decks to suit your particular needs.
Some of our teaching schedules include 100% virtual learning, some are 100% brick-and-mortar, and some necesitate a blend of the two. Whatever your teaching situation, BOOM Cards are a tool you should add to your toolbox today! In this post, I’m going to highlight the benefits of using BOOM Cards in your virtual learning/teletherapy sessions, as well as why I believe BOOM Learning is an evergreen resource.
Here are 10 reasons you should be using BOOM cards for virtual learning & teletherapy
1. Interactive
The game-like features you can build into a BOOM deck keep students engaged and motivated to participate in activities. Each deck is different, but features that can be incorporated into them include things such as drag-and-drop, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, hide-and-seek, text responses and more. Just browse the BOOM Store and you’ll quickly see the plethora of different decks available which cater to a wide range of educational needs.
This speech deck targets the “K” sound in words. My students practice each word that starts with the “K” sound 5 times and then are allowed to drag the item into the shopping cart.
2. Self-grading
Both the student and the educator receive instant feedback on accuracy. Correct responses earn a green-circled answer and “ding!” sound, while incorrect responses garner a red-circled answer and “whoops!” sound. My students think the “whoops!” is funny and are eager to try again.
Most decks will not allow students to continue without selecting the correct answer. The BOOM Learning platform even allows teachers to track students’ scores in real time. As an SLP, score-tracking is not a feature that I use, as I complete each deck with the student while cueing them for the correct answers and correct speech production. However, I do always appreciate the visual and auditory feedback!
3. Paperless
The days of printing, laminating, and cutting out activities are over! This saves you precious time, money, and it’s good for the planet! All of the decks you purchase or create are housed on the BOOM Learning platform in your very own BOOM library forever. There’s never a need to download anything.
4. Clutter-free
No physical materials means no storage and no clutter! As mentioned, all of your decks live in your BOOM Learning library and are accessible anywhere you have Internet access.
Within your BOOM library, you can organize your decks into folders any way you’d like. As an SLP, I have folders such as early language, stuttering, and apraxia.
5. Clean
Simply wipe down your tablet between uses, use them with your projector or Smartboard, or use them in virtual learning sessions.
Since there are no tangible items associated with BOOM Cards, there is nothing to clean. With all of the extra sanitizing we’re doing to adhere to COVID-19 precautions, I’m always grateful for one less item to clean!
6. Ideal for vitual learning & teletherapy
All you need to do is share your screen so the students can view the deck you’ve chosen.
Some virtual learning platforms even allow teachers to assign students mouse control so they can drag around the objects on the cards and make selections for themselves.
7. Versatile
BOOM Cards are easy to pair with other games and activities. For example, I sometimes pair my speech sound decks with a game like Candyland as a reinforcer for my younger students. However, many decks can work as standalone games/activities with built-in reinforcers.
8. Instantly accessible
When you purchase or create a deck, it’s instantly added to your BOOM Learning library! You don’t have to wait for shipping or take the time to print/laminate/cut before using.
9. Quickly assign decks to your students
You can set up a virtual class within your BOOM Learning account and provide each student with their very own login. Then you can assign decks as needed to each student individually.
If you have students who are not part of your virtual class or who otherwise don’t have access to a BOOM Learning account, you can create what’s called a Fast Pin. Just go to your BOOM Library, find the deck you want to assign, then click the blue Action button and Fast Pin. It will automatically generate a link that you can then send to the parent or student. A Fast Pin can be used by anyone to access that deck for 14 days, at which point the link expires! You can create a new Fast Pin at any time.
10. Cost-effective
I believe that BOOM Cards are significantly less expensive than their tangible counterparts. As a BOOM seller, most of my decks, for example, are priced at $1 or $2.
I use a lot of photo cards in speech therapy. Comparable decks of paper photo cards are $15 each plus shipping. Opting for BOOM Cards over physical materials quickly leads to major savings!
There are even thousands of FREE decks in the BOOM Store–just search for what you need!
So now that we’ve highlighted the many benefits of using Boom Cards, the next question educators ask is, “Are they just a fad? Will educators stop using them once the pandemic is over?” My answer is a resounding “No!” Boom Cards are evergreen and here’s why:
3 reasons why BOOM Cards are here to stay
1. Virtual learning and tele-therapy will remain as options
Even with the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines, it will be a long time, if at all, before life goes back to normal. I anticipate that virtual learning and teletherapy will remain as options for families for years to come.
Even though our office is back up-and-running, several of my students and families have chosen to continue teletherapy services. They are enjoying the flexibility, time saved without the commute, and peace of mind knowing that they are avoiding exposure.
As an SLP, a 2017 study provided insights into the benefits of telehealth in our field. Researchers found that teletherapy is a promising method for treating children with speech and language difficulties, that both teletherapy and in-person participants made significant improvements, and that SLPs and students reported high levels of satisfaction with teletherapy (Wales, Skinner, et al.).
Another study found that children made similar progress in teletherapy versus in-person therapy and that parents overwhelmingly supported teletherapy as a service delivery model (Grogran-Johnson, Alvares, Rowan, Creaghead, 2010).
2. Teachers and SLPs have invested considerable money in these activities
While BOOM Learning does not release metrics for their annual sales, I would not be surprised if millions of dollars were spent in the BOOM Store in 2020 alone. Judging by the activity in the BOOM Store, educators have invested a lot of money in BOOM decks and bundles (a bundle is a collection of individual decks sold as one).
I don’t believe that someone who has invested even $20 in the BOOM Store is going to abandon those purchased activities and let them go to waste.
BOOM users understand how easy, efficient, and cost-effective it is to use BOOM Cards (a BOOM card is an individual page or card. A Deck is comprised of multiple cards)!
3. BOOM Cards still work in face-to-face settings/sessions
You don’t need to be virtual to use BOOM Cards! I use activities on my iPad all day long. My students love the iPad and beg for BOOM time! They enjoy the interactive, game-like features and I like how much work we are able to get done. It’s a win-win!
Plus, it’s so easy to simply wipe the iPad down with a disinfectant wipe between my students–much easier than cleaning all the tiny pieces that go with my games and toys.
My teacher friends project BOOM Cards onto their SmartBoards and complete the activities as a class. With technology being the wave of the future, BOOM Cards have solidified their spot in classrooms and therapy rooms across the world.
Conclusion
In all of my “Booming” over the past 9 months, I found one final feature that has me hooked. You can create (and sell!) your own BOOM decks! All you need is a $35 “Professional” BOOM Learning account to get started. I quickly recouped my costs and even earned a massive profit in my first month of selling! I love the flexibility of being able to create activities that are exactly what I need for my students…and the extra cash every month!
I truly believe that BOOM Cards have changed the way we will facilitate virtual learning and teletherapy for years to come.
Have you tried BOOM Cards yet? What are your favorite features? What’s the best deck you’ve found? Comment below and let’s discuss!
Brianna Puentes
M.S., CCC-SLP
Hello! I’m Bri, a pediatric speech-language pathologist based in a children’s hospital. My caseload consists of children ages 1-18 with a variety of complex communication needs. I strive to create functional, engaging BOOM Cards for speech therapy using real photographs. I also enjoy teaching fellow educators how to create, market, and sell their own BOOM Cards through my ‘Booming Side-Biz’ course.
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