manifest magic
Flash back to late March of 2020. Pediatric therapists and teachers across the country were just receiving word that our jobs were transitioning to an online format. We, much like many pediatric therapists in the world, had never conducted an online session in our career. Just thinking back to the self-doubt we experienced in those initial weeks is enough to make us shudder. Are we able to do this? Do we have the training for this? Will our kids make progress?
In those first 30 days, we spent an hour each night talking to one another on the phone. We shared many clients together as an OT/SLP duo and we were both struggling to convince families that teletherapy was an equal alternative to our in-person sessions. We were also struggling to convince ourselves of the same thing.
We were both losing clients. Families weren’t buying in. We felt exhausted, defeated, and lost.
After a week of too many no-show sessions to count and several rough therapy attempts, Serena started to search for ways to make a Zoom call more engaging. She quickly discovered that Zoom had a feature called “virtual backgrounds” and tried to apply them in her sessions. After her initial attempt, she discovered that her dinosaur of a computer wasn’t able to utilize backgrounds. After 30 minutes of googling how to make an old computer have this feature, she learned about Zoom’s green screen option. With a green screen, even the oldest computers could utilize virtual backgrounds. She didn’t own a green screen or know where to find one, but she did have 200 sheets of green construction paper. In a fit of desperation, she scotch-taped each paper one by one to a wall in her guest bedroom. She tried the virtual background feature again, and this time – it worked! For the first time since COVID-19 uprooted our lives, she felt excitement and enthusiasm. With the magic of the green screen, objects could fly, new worlds could be explored, and imagination could run wild.
After a weekend of tinkering with green screen ideas, Serena tried the new method with her clients first thing that Monday morning. The difference in engagement with her clients was night and day. At the day’s end, she promptly called Kylie to share this new discovery. Kylie gave it a shot with her clients the following day. From that moment on, we were both sold on the magic of green screen.
That week, Serena shared a video of herself using the green screen feature in a teletherapy group on Facebook. Within an hour of posting, thousands of messages flooded her inbox. Many other therapists were experiencing the same feeling of defeat that we had. They desperately wanted to know how to make this “magic” happen.
This enthusiasm from other therapists led us to create a Facebook group dedicated to Green Screen Distance Learning. The group grew by hundreds at first, and then by thousands within weeks.
Momentum for Green Screen Distance Learning was mounting. We would brainstorm ideas to share with the group, and upload videos each week. As the group grew, so did the necessity for accessible resources. This teletherapy delivery model was at once mesmerizing and overwhelming for beginners. On a Saturday afternoon, we called each other and came to the same realization: we can help.
Over the next week, PlaySpark was born. We had a vision to create a distance learning kit for beginners that contained all the essentials for getting started. Our vision had one additional element – we would share free digital resources for all. We filmed an in-depth YouTube tutorial and shared it with the group along with our first free background series.
Thousands of therapists watched the video and felt inspired to get started. One by one, therapists and educators began to share their own videos of successful Green Screen ideas. Sharing free resources is now standard practice for the group. Today, over one thousand free resources are available.
The magic of this movement in distance learning extends far beyond the edges of a screen. We were originally amazed at the magic of the technical capabilities of the green screen, but what has proven to be far more magical is the collaboration among therapists and educators across the globe. In perhaps the most trying time of our careers, we have manifested magic together.
Kylie Jeffrey is a pediatric Occupational Therapist.
Serena Murison is pediatric Speech Language Pathologist.
