This is a very common question we get asked when we start talking about “graduation” with our families we see. To us, graduation means that direct ongoing therapy is no longer necessary at this time. This can be an exciting and scary time for families. They are excited that the hard work they have put in has worked! Also, they are scared because the continual support of the therapist is no longer there While I wish I could say “No! Never again!”, that is not always the case, and we truly cannot predict the future! Though that would be lovely! There is not a straightforward answer to this question. There are multiple factors that impact whether a child will need additional therapy. Here are some of the factors that come into play:
-Type of therapy child was seen for:
Children are in speech therapy for a variety of reasons. If a child is in therapy for only sound errors and graduates without any other language difficulties, there is a better chance that they will not need additional therapy! On the other hand, if a child was in for early language or “late talking” and begins to talk, they may need additional support with sounds later on if they have difficulty with those as their language develops. Also, with feeding, a child may begin to eat a variety of foods and show increased skills for mealtimes, but could have some setbacks as they get older with limiting foods again or could show some difficulty in another area of speech/language.
-The age at “graduation”:
We see children of all ages for therapy. When we have younger children that are working on language “graduate”, they may need additional support with sounds later on or sometimes other areas of speech/feeding. There are so many more skills for them to continue to learn over time. For speech, the younger child isn’t expected to be able to make all the sounds we do as adults. We look at whether a child is comparable to their same aged peers when talking about graduation and seeing if the child continues to develop like his/her peers without the support of therapy. Older children who are working on just sounds and make those corrections will likely not need additional therapy if they graduate!
-Additional supports and continued practice at home.
One of our favorite sayings that we have is “we are always practicing our speech!” This means that whenever our children are talking or communicating, they are “practicing”! Whether they are practicing correctly is another thing. We have found that when families continue to practice the strategies we have given them throughout therapy, there is less of a chance they will need additional therapy down the road. There are times that we will refer to or recommend another discipline (Occupational Therapy, ENT, dentists, orthodontists, etc.) at time of graduation as well. There are times that after these specialists are followed up with, some children need to come back for additional therapy, but not always!
Again, I would love to be able to say that at the time of “graduation” that a child will NEVER need therapy again, but it is just too complicated of an answer! There are too many variables that play into their development and continued growth. The therapist that is working with a child is comparing their skills to peers of their age and that determines if graduation is appropriate at that time. Feel free to ask your therapist about questions you have with graduation. These are just general variables that we are considering for kids!
-Amber-