I Hear You: Speech Therapy at Home

SLP Meeting

I had a parent teacher conference for my young son in preschool. His teacher was not too worried about him. However, his speech and language pathologist (SLP) who I met for the first time that day said that honestly there was nothing more she could do for him, and did I have any ideas for what to do?

I was dumbfounded; how would I have any idea what to do when I am not the expert here? I managed to tell her about the things our last SLP did, that my son really responds to one-on-one time especially through play, reading, and songs. She told me that although he participated in the activities he was always non-responsive. They would catch him talking with his friends, but never to the adults and especially not to her.

I asked her about what happens during these therapy sessions, and then it made sense to me why it wasn’t working out. I’m not sure about the quality of their playing since the example the SLP gave me of playing with him was sitting next to him and asking for his toy. Even more importantly, there simply wasn’t enough time. Therapy consisted of 20 minutes in a group activity, and then sometime during the week she worked with him individually for 10 minutes, and that this time could not be extended based on his IEP. 

My Shortcomings

Not going to lie, I cried for a few minutes when I got in my car. I felt alone and filled with regret in unfamiliar territory. How could I have become so relaxed in trusting the school system and run out of time like this? The things I was already consciously doing with him at home seemed like a lot for me, how would there be time for more? I thought of all the things I had been doing with my time which didn’t matter anymore if my son would not learn to speak.

I resolved to drop it all to make time to play with him.

I know my son best and I know he has a beautiful voice with lots to say, and no one will ever tell me there is nothing more.

Not Giving Up

Instead of going home, I drove to the library and found the one book they had on language development. I also picked up a copy of “The 5 Love Languages of Children” and “The Child Whisperer” since they were in the same section.

I went home and wrote down a weekly schedule that included naps, mealtimes, school, bedtime, and a list of “Speech Therapy Activities“ inspired by our time with Rachel (his first SLP):

• Sensory Bin
• Letter Craft
• Story Time
• Music Time
• Free Play
• Sign Language

Then I scoured Pinterest, saving ideas in to a Speech Therapy Pinterest board. I made a few themed lesson plan ideas to incorporate the things I know he loves so that even in free play I would have something to work on with him.

Speech and Language Progress

It’s been 3 weeks since that parent teacher conference. I don’t like to clean, so it’s been a personal challenge for me to let go because it turns out my son loves messy activities—the messier, the better! We’ve had sensory bin cupcake making, alphabet magnets on the fridge, sing-along reading days, play dough activities, coloring with markers, messy car wash activities, puzzle time, outside at the park in 30 degree weather… but we play and talk!

We’ve learned “More”, “All done,” and “bath” in sign language. I’ve watched him read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See” including sound effects word-for-word to himself without mistakes. He points to objects in our books or out when we’re about and tells me what they are.

Today for the first time ever he spoke to me clearly in full sentences, “Hey, look! It’s a star! See? Star. It’s a star!” Also today he included counting, too, while we read a bedtime story! “There’s 1, 2, 3, 4 babies- and that’s the mama dinosaur. Cute! So cute!” He didn’t want to stop reading and telling me all about what he was seeing.

I feel like there has been monumental progress in less than a month with the TIME that he needed to work one-on-one being the key. I found that if he was tugging on my arm or calling my name repeatedly that instead of saying, “One minute” or “Just wait please,” I needed to immediately stop whatever I was doing to listen and respond. Usually there was something he wanted me to see, or something he needed and I was busy. That small change has increased his trust in me, where he feels safe and knows that what he has to say is important to me.

I want to thank the Speech and Language Pathologists out there that have so generously shared their time, ideas, and resources so that Moms like me with no experience have some support. It means everything to me to be able to tell my little boy, “I hear you.”

Love,
-Kat