How to Incorporate Speech Therapy into Daily Routines
If you’re a parent of a child undergoing speech therapy, you may be wondering how to support your child’s speech development between appointments and incorporate speech therapy into daily routines. While your child may be seeing their speech and language pathologist once or twice per week for an hour or less, there are things you can do between sessions to make the most of the benefits of speech therapy.
Parental involvement can make a major difference in your child’s speech therapy progress and how quickly they meet their communication goals. Speech therapists are restricted by the time they can spend with children, as well as the ways in which they can work with each child. Parents and caregivers, however, are present every day and during important and meaningful moments. They are familiar and comfortable conversation partners, allowing them to maximize natural learning opportunities in a variety of environments and contexts.
By including speech therapy techniques, exercises, and approaches in everyday routines, speech therapy progress can continue and progress instead of being limited to scheduled appointments each week.
If you are ready to get your child started with speech therapy or simply want to learn more about our services, schedule your free introductory call with us today!
Connect with Your Child’s Speech Therapist
The best way to determine how to support your child’s speech development between speech therapy appointments is to connect with your child’s therapist. Speaking with your child’s speech therapist will help to inform you about the specific aspects of speech being targeted and the particular goals your child is working towards. They will also be able to provide you with feedback, strategies, and techniques to implement at home to ensure you are working on the specific skills that are focused on during appointments.
Your child’s speech therapist can provide lots of important and helpful information that is unique and specific to your child’s challenges, goals, and abilities. You may find it beneficial to listen in on speech therapy appointments to gain a full understanding of what is being worked on each week and how you can support their development at home.
If you are ready to set your child up with a qualified speech therapist, we would love to hear from you. Connect with us by scheduling your free introductory call today!
At-Home Speech Therapy Strategies
While your child’s speech therapist can provide specific strategies that are unique to your child and their development, many techniques and exercises can be used in daily routines to encourage and promote your child’s speech therapy progress at home, including:
Reading with your Child: Sharing a love of reading and storytelling with your child is an ideal way to work on your child’s receptive and expressive language skills. Whether you look at a picture book together and describe the pictures or take turns reading aloud, there are many creative ways to share the joy of reading and improve communication and literacy skills. This practice sets them up for academic success in the future and provides opportunities to discuss certain concepts and categories, such as animals, shapes, seasons, etc.
Discuss Daily Activities: By talking to your child about daily activities, you introduce language that is related to familiar and routine events. Try describing or narrating what you are doing, naming objects as you use them, or talking about things you see on a car ride. Pointing out certain colors, sounds, shapes, and numbers as you see them is also beneficial to speech development.
Schedule Time for Home Practice: Most speech therapists will provide “homework” or specific exercises or drills to practice at home between sessions. This homework might include a word list, sentences to practice, a worksheet, or a game that focuses on the specific skills your child is working on. It is important to dedicate time to homework and practicing at home to ensure it fits into your schedule and doesn’t get missed. Help your child by finding them a quiet place to practice that is free of distractions and encourage them to be engaged by making it as fun as possible. The more at-home speech therapy practice feels like play, the more effective and efficient it will be. You can also incorporate practice into routine activities, such as meal times or time in the car. These daily tasks have built-in conversation opportunities which can be used to further your child’s progress.
Create Language Opportunities: Encourage your child to communicate by asking them simple questions, matching their enthusiasm when they show interest in something, or expanding on an idea or thought they’ve expressed. You can also create “communication temptations,” which will encourage your child to communicate verbally. An example of a communication temptation is placing a desired object out of reach and encouraging them to ask for it.
Help Your Child When Needed: Listening to and acknowledging your child when they communicate is highly important, even if it is difficult to understand what they are saying. Do your best to consistently encourage your child to use the communication skills they have while also helping them by modeling language skills they don’t yet have. Interpret what you think your child is trying to communicate, and then demonstrate to them the words and language they should be using. This practice helps to promote language learning and reduces frustrations related to limited communication abilities.
Practice Recasting: Recasting is a method of modeling correct language in which you repeat what your child has communicated to you using precise and correct grammar, pronunciation, and language. By subtly correcting their errors through modeling, you provide your child with a clear example of how they should communicate. An example of recasting is if your child says, “Her has the toy,” you would recast the phrase and say, “Yes, she has the toy!”
Keep it Short and Simple: If your child is struggling with language development, it can be helpful to keep sentences short and use simple vocabulary. When language skills are limited, it is important to encourage your child to use as much meaningful and appropriate language as possible. You can also emphasize the production of specific words (such as verbs and nouns) to help your child understand how to express themself, even with limited abilities.
Getting Your Child Started with Speech Therapy
While the above strategies can support ongoing professional speech therapy, they are not replacements for speech therapy itself. If you are concerned about your child’s communication skills and development, it is important to consult with a qualified speech therapist as soon as possible. Get your child the support they need by scheduling your free introductory call today!