If you’re ready for your child to begin speech therapy virtually, but you’re wondering what that looks like, this article is for you! There are several simple things that parents can do to make sure their child has a successful speech therapy session, and several ways to gauge if the session was successful.
What you can do:
Make sure you have a good internet connection. This is the most important thing for a therapist to be able to connect with your child, for your child to keep interest, and for teaching and practicing to occur. Any child or therapist can become confused if the picture continues to freeze or the sound cuts in and out, and everyone involved can become frustrated if the meeting needs to be restarted many times. Both the child and the therapist need a strong internet connection for a successful session.
Limit background noise and distractions. Make sure the TV is off, that other people aren’t interrupting, and that your child has a comfy place to sit. This sets your child up to concentrate on the therapy session and do their best!
Ask questions and update the therapist. As the parent, feel free to chime in if you have questions, if you’ve noticed improvements, or if you want to share anything else you’ve noticed with your speech therapist. We want to know, and we’re here to help!
What you can expect:
Building a relationship. The therapist should introduce themselves and learn a little bit about your child during the first session, and continue to check in at the start of every session. This is called “Building rapport,” and it’s very important to foster a safe and fun environment for learning and attempting new skills!
Every session will likely be different. The therapist will engage your child with games, activities, videos, or any other tools they have to make speech therapy a fun experience. Behind the scenes, the therapist is assessing skills, changing difficulty levels based on your child’s abilities, and making sure they’re holding your child’s attention. In-home items, such as toys, markers, or playdoh, might be used as well!
Was that a successful session?
Your child practiced a skill, or learned a new one. Whether it was working on speech sounds or finding the main idea of a story, every therapy session will focus on a skill that needs practice. It isn’t like sitting down to watch a video - there should be back-and-forth interactions between the therapist and your child, or, between yourself and the therapist if a parent coaching model is being used.
You see progress. Whether you’re listening in on a session or having an interaction with your child a few days later - you may notice that skill they worked on! While this may not happen after the first session, you should see progress in your child’s speech therapy goals. If you aren't sure about your child’s goals or their progress, always ask the SLP! We can tell you what we’ve noticed and any growth we’ve noted.
Your child walks away happy. Speech therapy should be engaging, something that keeps their interest, and enjoyable - even though learning and practicing is taking place. Kids typically find a speech therapy session to be rewarding and fun. The best way to tell if your child had a great session is to see them smiling at the end!
Virtual speech therapy is a great way to connect your child with a therapist who can help improve their communication skills. Research shows that kids make great progress with virtual speech therapy sessions. Connecting virtually with a click of a button ensures that things like distance or scheduling difficulties won’t stop the progress your child can make!
I hope you enjoyed this “funtastic” blog post!
~Amanda Sherman, MS CCC- SLP
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