What should I expect speech therapy to look like? Here at Family Chatterbox, we believe that play is the best way for children to learn. If your child is not having fun, the chance of absorbing, retaining, and being able to use the information/skills that the therapist is teaching, is low. Children learn naturally through play, and this is how they learn best. Speech therapy with Family Chatterbox focuses strongly on learning the functional skills that your child needs through playing. Whether it is requesting a turn on the playground, asking a friend for their name, or telling mom or dad that they’re hungry/tired/upset, Family Chatterbox believes they all can be accomplished through play. More on play based therapy to come in future blog posts.
A speech therapy session typically lasts for 60 minutes, and is play based. Many of my families feel nervous when they hear that their child may have to “sit and attend” for a full hour, but this is never a problem during play centered therapy. We bend and flex to find what the child is interested in doing, and then partner with them to address their speech/language goals. Some parents choose to sit in on the entire duration of the session, while other parents come in during the last 15 to 20 minutes of the session to hear about the weekly “homework”.
Weekly “homework” is essential to making gains in your child’s therapy. Imagine taking them to piano lessons once a week for an hour, and during their lesson was the only time that they had practiced the piano. This would make for slow progress and “mastery” of different piano pieces. The same logic applies for Speech/Language skills. The more we can practice the skills thought-out the week, the more solid the skills will be and the quicker the instructor is able to move the lesson along.
This is a brief overview of what a speech/language therapy session may look like and the components of it. Please feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have, and make sure to check out our next blog post for a more detailed explanation of “play” therapy, how it looks, and why it works!
-Kasey-