Whether you child is just starting therapy or has been working with their therapist for a while, there are some universal truths when it comes to expectations and how to get the best results for your child. Below are seven things you should know about your child’s Speech, Language, & Feeding Therapy from a Speech, Language (& Feeding) Therapist (SLT) .
1. ‘Wait and See’ is Not a Good Plan
Children develop rapidly in the early years, and when a child is behind with their communication, the gap widens quickly. This can lead to frustration for the child and difficulty learning other skills. Sometimes children who seem behind with their communication skills are actually within a range of typical development, and there is no cause for concern. However, don’t make assumptions about your child catching up or try to guess where their skills fall based on internet searches, speak with a SLT about your child’s specific skills to determine whether or not an assessment is indicated.
When it comes to feeding, children who struggle from early on are at risk of developing negative food associations that last a lifetime. It is always recommended that you speak with a paediatric feeding therapist if your child struggles with feeding. They can help you decide if an assessment is needed, discuss whether other areas of health and development may be contributing to your child’s feeding difficulties, and recommend appropriate strategies to support positive feeding and mealtime skills.
2. Communication and Feeding Therapy are Relationship-Based
Every child is an individual and in order to provide you and your child with the best support, your SLT needs to build a relationship with your child and get to know their personality, learning style, and specific needs. This relationship building starts during the initial assessment and continues over the course of each therapy session.
During the initial few sessions, your SLT will focus on enjoyable interactions with your child so your child can trust that speech, language and feeding therapy is fun. Once a trusting relationship is established, your child will more easily learn communication and feeding skills from their SLT (and you!).
3. Therapy Takes Time
As wonderful as it is when you see quick progress, keep in mind it takes time for children to learn and internalise new skills. Change is usually gradual and relies on consistency and practise. Remember, a child’s development is not linear so, as with all areas of development, your child will demonstrate ups and downs as they are learning their new communication and feeding skills.
4. You (and your child) Need to do Your Homework
When learning to play a musical instrument, you would not expect to improve without regular, daily practise. In fact, if you did not pick up your instrument between lessons, you would not be surprised when you had made no progress.
The same is true for speech, language and feeding therapy. Regular practise with the homework activities your SLT gives you between sessions is the best way to achieve the results you and your child want.
5. More Than Play
Although during sessions it may look like your SLT is simply playing with your child, everything we do has a purpose. Children learn through play; so speech, language and feeding therapy needs to be fun while targeting the specific areas with which your child needs support. If you are not sure what the purpose is of an activity your SLT is doing, please ask!
6. An Empty Bag
Many people imagine a SLT arriving at their home or their child’s school with a bag of games and toys; however, in many instances using your child’s regular home and school toys is best.
The reason behind this is that in a therapy session, we want your child to learn meaningful skills that they can use in their daily life. Learning how to name pictures in their SLT’s book or ask for their SLT’s puzzle pieces is not meaningful in your child’s day-to-day life where they don’t have access to those toys. However, when we use books and puzzles your child regularly has access to at home and school, learning how to use words with those toys is meaningful for your child.
7. More Than Speech!
Speech & Language Therapists support children with more than speech delays. We work with children in their homes and schools as well as in hospitals and in the community and can help with many areas of development and learning including:
- Breast and Bottle Feeding
- Cup Drinking
- Weaning and Transitioning to Textured Foods
- Biting, Chewing and Swallowing Problems
- Picky and Fussy Eating
- Difficulty Participating in Mealtimes (Stressful Family Mealtimes)
- Early Development
- Attention and Listening
- Play and Interaction Skills
- Social Communication
- Early Communication Skills and Late Talking
- Understanding Language
- Following Directions and Answering Questions
- Understanding and Using Developmentally Appropriate Vocabulary
- Understanding and Using Developmentally Appropriate Sentence Structure and Grammatical Concepts
- Executive Dysfunction
- Speech Sound Errors and Phonological Patterns / Unclear Speech
- Stuttering / Stammering
- Selective Mutism
If you would like more information about children’s communication or feeding , please get in touch. Follow us on Facebook for more speech, language and feeding tips, and sign up for South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy’s newsletter if you would like new posts sent directly to your inbox.