At All Care Therapies, we believe in the powerful combination of online speech therapy and parental support. When these two factors come together, your child’s potential becomes limitless.
As a parent, it’s important to understand that your child will benefit much from the encouragement and guidance you provide after a speech therapy session has ended. Luckily, there are plenty of fun and engaging activities that the entire family can enjoy together to help your little one’s speech and language development.
Not only do we provide online speech therapy services, we also provide parents/guardians with additional at-home practices games and video clips to help their child successfully reach their speech therapy goals.
Below we’ve outlined a number of fantastic tips and activities to get the most out speech therapy.
8 Tips for At Home Speech Therapy Practice
1. The Power of Play
The power and value of play in a child’s speech development can never be overlooked. While they are playing with toys and games, take the time to sit with them and model how the toy is used while using an animated voice to highlight its different parts.
2. The Power of Words
Your daily interactions with your child are absolutely important to their growth. Make sure to talk clearly, appropriately model any words they may be having problems with, and use visual cues to help them in their understanding. Clear, simple, and consistent speech is the way to go. Also, make sure to give them some time to respond.
3. Let Your Child Speak For Themselves
Rather than limiting your child’s opportunity to express their needs, provide them the opportunity to speak for themselves. Instead of asking, “Do you want this or that,” let them use their own words to let you know what they want/need.
4. Active Listening
As a parent, it can be very easy to get caught up in the hoopla of the day and not have a full conversation with your child. Instead, show them that you are being an active listener by asking them questions that relate to the conversation they are having with you. Also, make sure to give them the opportunity to talk about things that interest them.
5. Read, Read, and Read Some More
Reading is an essential element of speech and language development. It’s never too early to start reading to your child. Start off with simple books that repeat words and phrases (rhyming is great for speech development). Even reading the same book over and over can help them exercise their language skills.
As they grow, offer them more “challenging” books that require them to answer simple questions that go beyond just yes and no answers. You can also make the readings as dramatic or whimsical as possible. Make loud dramatic sounds to grab their attention.
6. Fun Time with Flash Cards
There are plenty of free flashcards that you can find online or purchase that can provide children with plenty of practice. Focus on flashcards that have sounds they may have difficulty with. To really draw your child in, consider adding some type of reward for getting a certain amount of sounds/words correct. For instance, sugar-free gum can help to strengthen their jaws without causing cavities.
7. Mirror, Mirror On the Wall
Modeling is an important piece of any speech therapy program and parents can get in on the fun by helping their children learn how to properly pronounciate by using a mirror. Choose a few words that are challenging them and demonstrate by moving your mouth slowly as you say the word to say them. Then, let your child speak in front of a mirror so they can see how to move their mouth to make certain sounds.
Get silly and include plenty of onomatopoeias like buzz, moo, roar, and meow.
8. Sing Along
Children love to sing and allowing them to belt out their favorite (parent approved) hits can encourage them to learn new words, practice active listening and memory, and improve their ability to express themselves verbally.
All Care Therapies is here for all your online speech therapy needs. We are ready to help improve your child’s communication skills.
If you believe your child could benefit from online speech therapy services, do not hesitate to contact All Care Therapies today at 877-757-8353. Our experienced and caring team of online speech-language therapists can discuss a personalized plan to help your child unlock their full potential.
