{"id":8943,"date":"2014-10-29T16:12:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=8943"},"modified":"2014-10-29T18:00:54","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T01:00:54","slug":"helping-my-child-with-speech-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/parents-corner\/helping-my-child-with-speech-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping my Child with Speech Therapy: Private or School-Based"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent blog post, \u201cI Think my Child Needs Speech Therapy \u2013 Now What?<\/a>\u201d, I outlined the process of securing speech and language therapy services for your child. But let\u2019s say your child has just begun or has been in therapy for some time? What then? Do you find yourself wondering, “how should I be helping my child with speech therapy?” This post is dedicated to providing tips for parents on how to maximize the services they are already receiving. Whether your child is receiving school-based or private therapy, there are many things a parent can do to empower themselves and ultimately, to make therapy more efficient.<\/p>\n

[Photo: skyseeker<\/a>, CC]<\/span><\/p>\n

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Helping my Child with Speech Therapy<\/h2>\n

\"Helping<\/a>Over the last year in my practice, several parents have asked,<\/p>\n

Will\u00a0I make my child\u2019s speech or language challenge worse by helping?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By asking this question, these parents are showing that they want to help, but are not properly empowered partners in the therapy process … yet. First I tell them that there is very little they can do to make their child\u2019s speech challenge worse. In fact, almost everything they do, given even minimal guidance from a speech-language pathologist (SLP) can be enormously helpful to their child. In addition, I would tell parents to be wary of any SLP that would suggest that they not get immediately involved in their child\u2019s therapy because \u201cthey might do it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should parents get involved? I always advocate retaining the services of a licensed SLP but sometimes it can take time to find the right professional, especially with school-based therapy. It all comes down really to a cost-benefit analysis. What are the benefits or parent involvement? And, do the possible benefits outweigh the possible costs of parent involvement? To illustrate why I believe it is such a \u201cno brainer\u201d to encourage parent involvement at every step of the process, let\u2019s have a quick look at a decision-matrix focused on this exact question.<\/p>\n