Keeping Positive with a Negative Budget
Earlier this week, I wrote a post entitled,
Surviving the Financial Crunch to address the increasing financial woes that are plaguing not only our country, but now our industry as well. I am facing it first hand in the county where I live and work. In addition to my own personal and professional experiences, I recently received an email from a blog reader asking the following:
"I was reading some more of your blogs and just had a question for you. I need to use PECS with so many of my kids and do not have the resources. My company will not pay for Boardmaker or the printing costs of all the pictures. My boss recommends having the parents do the "work" with producing the pictures, but several of my clients do not even have computers or printers. Basically, time and cost involved are difficult obstacles for me. (We are not paid for extraneous time we spend doing things for our clients and families.)
So, in response, here are some helpful and inexpensive ways for therapists to gain access to pictures that can be used for therapy:
If you would like to incorporate pictures into your therapy plan and expand the child's communication repertoire, but do not have access to Boardmaker, here are some additional ways to access pictures:
- Cut out pictures from old magazines and catalogs—Cooking Magazines and ones like Parents and Cookie are helpful and full of pictures related to children and child-centered activities.
- Use the internet—You can Google what you are looking for and Google Images will supply pictures. You will still need to print them but will save the cost of buying a picture program.
- Explain to families what you want/need to do to help their child. You never know if they would be willing to participate and/or have a friend or family member who could help out.
- Purchase Boardmaker on your own (you could then use it in your own home) OR see if fellow coworkers would be willing to split the cost with you and purchase it for your office computer. The Boardmaker program costs about $300 and most likely you could use it as a work-related tax write-off.
- If laminating is also a cost issue, try reusable clear plastic pockets and/or photo albums from a dollar store to house your pictures. You can also glue your pictures onto cardboard, which will help to give them some strength and durability!
Do you have other ideas on how to cut therapy costs? Please write in and tell us!