Welcome to Non-Stop Therapy! I am excited to share updates and strategies with all of you to help YOU help your child to improve their communication and interaction skills. Check back often for updates to the blog.
The goal of this blog is to offer easy tips and strategies that can be implemented in short bursts while you are “doing what you are already doing.”
A little about myself.
I have been a practicing speech language pathologist for over 23 years. I am also raising two wonderful boys who both required the services of a speech language pathologist to improve either communication or feeding skills. It was very upsetting as a mother and SLP that my children were delayed in their development for various reasons. I have experience being on both sides of the fence and know just how hard it is to “fit it all in.” I had constant feelings of guilt that I never did enough for them.
After taking a step back, I began to apply the principles learned in Early Intervention, embedding strategies into everyday routines. This was the only way I was able to implement the strategies necessary to propel my children forward in a positive direction and in a timely manner.
Think about the predictable routine each and every day.
It might look a little like this…
- 7:00 am Wake up, get dressed, eat and start your day
- 10:00am Snack
- 12:00pm Lunch/Nap
- 3:00 pm Snack
- 5:00 pm Dinner
- 7:00 pm Bathtime/Books
- 7:45/8 pm Bedtime
Peppered throughout the day could be a visit to the library, playdate, school, or any number of things that families do on a regular basis, whether the child stays at home with their parent or attends daycare.
We will be breaking down the day over the next few blog entries with ideas for language/speech development without regard to diagnosis during each of the routines.
Short bursts of interaction during any of the routines above can make a huge impact on your child’s development.
For example, during a ten minute snack break, rather than handing your child a cup or tray of snacks, offer them a choice of two snacks. Require them to make a choice either verbally or with a gesture, but the simple act of requiring some level of communication prior to allowing access to the snack demonstrates a positive reinforcement for the use of communication. “If I make a choice I will get what I want.”
Require your child to make multiple requests during snack…”more”, “two cheerios”, “mmmm (for more)”, or a sign for more depending on their communicative level. You can discuss the shape of the snack, the texture, how it looks/feels, tastes. You can also discuss how it makes you feel or make silly faces for your child to imitate while having a snack. Snack time is great for vocabulary development, articulation attempts, social interaction, imitation and motor planning.
Start here…a little can certainly be a lot!