Work! The Secret to Achieving Speech Sounds Quicker
Want to Achieve your speech sounds quicker?
The secret to achieving speech sounds quicker is really too obvious to be considered a secret. It is work. Plain and simple work.
There is good news though. All the work does not have to be done by the Speech Language Pathologist. A parent who learns to effectively work with their child at home will be a huge factor in speeding up the therapy process. The reason for parents being a huge speed boost to speech therapy lies in the fact they can work with their kids every day, maybe even 2x a day for short sessions. A SLP might get one or two sessions a week if lucky. A well trained parent will get more work done each week.
But I'm worried I'm not doing it right!
Some non-Speech Language Pathologist are intimidated by working on speech therapy homework drills. A big fear is that they are making things worse by practicing incorrectly. I assure you there is nothing a parent can do that can not be undone. I actually get excited when I see I parent has practiced something that causes the speech to be a little off. This tells me that something occurred at home. That I can work with. It is when nothing gets done at home that I struggle with. The absolute worst thing a parent can do is do nothing.
Consider this: Your child may be saying their speech sound incorrectly hundreds of times a day. Even if a parent is practicing incorrectly, they are already saying the sound incorrectly in conversation anyway. There is a likelihood that the sound the parent is practicing is an improvement over the incorrect sound. When it comes to speech homework there is no harm in trying but there is harm in doing nothing.
What work is best done by a Speech Language Pathologist?
Some work is best left to the speech language pathologist. Assessing speech sounds and choosing speech therapy targets is the speech language pathologists domain. Developing sound stimulability so that the child can consistently produce sound correctly in isolation is also best left to the professionals. Once a child is producing their speech therapy target drills accurately in their sessions, then it becomes the best time for parents to get involved with their home work program. This is when big gains can be made. At this point a Speech Language Pathologist and your child can use all the help they can get!!! Do you want to learn how to best support you child? Download the 20 best tips for speech practice.