“I work full time. How will I find the time to take my child to private speech
therapy?”
“I feel like a chauffeur driving to all our after-school activities. We can’t fit one
more thing in.”
“We spend so much time running around.”
We often hear about the challenges of taking your child to speech therapy,
but there’s good news! You can have someone bring speech language
therapy to you.
To help you find out if this can work out for you, here are some advantages of
speech therapy at home:
1. Allows for Individual Attention
Speech therapy at home provides the direct attention and support that your
child needs and deserves. Your child will have the therapist’s undivided
attention, helping your child progress faster with increased practice
opportunities.
With speech sounds, motor memory is crucial. Research shows the more
speech sound trials the better. Progress is related to the number of correct
repetitions of the motor movement. With individual attention, your child will
get the repetition and consistency they need.
2. Establishes a Natural Environment
It may seem obvious but children and young adults are more comfortable in
their home, making these individuals more available for learning. Eliminating
the stress of getting to speech therapy may make all the difference in your
child’s ability to participate fully in speech therapy.
The sessions can also be tailored to your child’s interests by finding fun and
unique ways to increase speech repetitions. Does your child love hockey or
jumping on the trampoline? Therapy sessions can be designed to engage
and entertain your child — all while learning. And because these sessions
were designed in your own home, your child will be able to do these same
activities to practice their speech and language skills outside of the therapy
session.
Research shows that “children learn through participating in their everyday
activities and meaningful experiences with their family and caregivers.”
(Wood, ASHA Leader, 2008)
3. Enables Parent Communication
Signing up for speech therapy at home allows you or other family members
to participate in sessions to learn first-hand how to prompt and model for
your child. This will help them progress. Develop a relationship with your
speech therapist so that you can learn best practices to build speech and
language into your everyday activities, including mealtime, reading, or driving
in the car.
After each session, you can learn about your child’s progress. Having the
speech therapist pinpoint what was easy versus what was hard as well as
specific instructions will help your child during the week with their speech
and language skills. Reinforcing correct speech and language skills can be
difficult but practice should still be easy and fun. Your feedback is essential to
ensuring that the plan is tweaked as needed for your child and your family’s
weekly routines.
4. Promotes Generalization
Oftentimes in speech therapy, children and young adults may be able to
master their goals and objectives in the speech room, but they have a hard
time translating them to the outside world. One of the most difficult parts of
speech therapy is getting your child to use their skills in everyday life and not
just when they are at the speech language therapist. Speech therapy at
home can eliminate this difficulty because your child is already starting out in
their natural environment.
5. Offers Convenience
Life is hard! Letting a therapist come to your home can make it a little easier.
You can even be working from home while your child is being provided
speech therapy, which allows even less of a disruption to your already busy
day.
In cases of illness or weather, an at-home speech therapist may be able to
switch quickly to virtual sessions for older children who can handle it. This
prevents cancellations and ensures your child is receiving consistent therapy.
Use these tips for an impactful speech therapy experience for both your child
and for you. Contact Achieve Independence for a free consultation. We’ll
help take the stress out of speech therapy.
● Call/text us today at 860-470-6291
● Email us : [email protected]