TOP 5 BEST WAYS TO KEEP SPEECH-LANGUAGE PROGRESS IN BETWEEN SESSIONS:
Speech Therapy sessions are usually 30 minutes once or a couple of times a week. However, that progress can be kept in between sessions. There is always more you can do at home to help maintain and improve your speech. With that in mind, outside of school-based services and private sessions let's talk about what we can do. The weekends and time in between school and therapy mean time off to relax and enjoy quality time with friends and family. However, that does not have to mean a pause in SLP therapy! Below are 5 things you can do with your child to maintain their progress in speech therapy in between each session!
1. READ READ READ!:
Reading improves both expressive and receptive language skills. Adding reading into a child’s daily routine is a must! This can mean reading a short book before bed or during the day. If your child does not read yet, as a parent you can read to them. While you are reading to your child point and name pictures throughout the book. This helps build your child's vocabulary as well. An easy and engaging way to get your child to read is to make a reading list! Set a goal and pick out books and how much time your child will dedicate to reading daily.
2. STAY SOCIAL:
Staying social and interacting with other people is the best way to practice social pragmatic skills. Social pragmatic skills are things like a simple greeting: Hello! How are you? This can help a child learn conversational skills like turn-taking. The weekend could limit a child's social interactions since they are not going to school or therapy. It is very important to try to create as many social opportunities as possible for your child. Camps are a great way to engage your child. If camps are not an option, weekly outings with your child can provide the social opportunities they need.
3. PLAYTIME:
Play is a great way to build speech-language skills. Different children will need different levels of help depending on their development. Cause and effect toys are great for younger children. For example, your child uses the toy, and then the toy has a response like playing a sound or music. Those. Manipulative toys are toys like a puzzle and legos or other building types of toys. A child with fine motor challenges would benefit from using a puzzle with knob handle pieces. There are also representation toys that represent real-life things like a play car or animal. Representational toys are a great way to build vocabulary and practice speech while having fun! Playtime can even mean screen time. A child can practice speech-language skills on apps. Some of our favorite apps for this purpose are articulation station, Splingo, and Speech Tutor. This way your child can get some practice while playing a fun game on a device like an IPad or IPhone!
4. PRACTICE SPEECH WORDS: