How Can I Help My Child’s Speech at Home?
Help your child’s speech at home today by using a few speech therapy strategies. Help your child’s speech improve by providing slow and clear models and plenty of examples.
Also, make sure your face is visible to your child when speaking. While simple, these steps can help your child’s speech at home by providing rich opportunities to hear correct models.
We talk about how to best follow these steps and how they help supplement speech therapy services. When you think about helping your child’s speech, you may notice many different challenges. While challenging at times to know how to begin, these parent tips can help make it easier. You can help your child’s speech at home by providing clear models. We talk about what these are and how to use them.
Getting Started Helping Your Child’s Speech at Home
Parents may think that they need their kids to repeat everything they say, but this is not the case. When your child hears your speech, they get examples of how speech sounds are made. They also learn to make these sounds as well. In this post, we talk about ways you can give your child excellent speech models.
While this may seem passive, your child hears these sounds and it supports their speech sound development. Receiving strong examples of speech in words, phrases and sentences, gives your child another way to hear what correct speech sounds like
Important to Know
Providing speech models is a way to support speech sound development; however, your child’s speech difficulties require the treatment of a licensed speech therapist, if a delay or disorder is present. If your child’s speech sounds develop in a typical way, you can also use these strategies to support their use of speech.
Giving Speech Sound Models
When speaking to your child at home, you can provide important models and ‘cues’ to help her understand how to make speech sounds. When you make the sound or word, we call this a verbal model.
While it is the responsibility of a licensed speech therapist to correct these sounds, you can provide plenty of models at home to support your child’s development. When you model your sounds and words, speak slowly and clearly, and make sure each sound is articulated.
Providing emphasis on each sound made by articulating it well, gives your child a strong example. For these tips, your child only need hear the sounds. A speech therapist will support their ability to produce the sounds and share with you how else you can help at home.
Sharing Important Information with Your Child’s Speech Specialist
You should feel comfortable about speaking with your speech therapist. Therapy happens for a limited amount of time every week. By practicing these strategies and listening to the suggestions of your speech specialist, you provide your child with much-needed support.
How Often Do I Model Speech Sounds?
You can give speech models occasionally and especially during play. You want your child to hear natural speech so, importantly, you don’t need to over-exaggerate your speech at all times.
By giving frequent examples of precise, slower speech, your child gets to hear how to make these sounds. While you say speech sounds slower and more clearly, it is also important that your speech sounds natural.
When you model speech sounds, you say the sound on its own, such as ‘b’ for ‘ball.’ Another example is in syllables, such as in ‘ba’ for ‘ball,’ and as whole words. Depending on your child’s development, you may also model phrases. For example, use phrases such as in ‘a ball’ or whole sentences, like in ‘I kick a ball.’
Where Do I Model Speech Sounds and Words?
Practicing speech sound models may take place in many different places. You can practice saying speech sounds for your child in the same places you practice language strategies. Think about where your child’s routine and what the enjoy doing. A great time to practice these models is during play. You can emphasize the sounds your child needs to hear during their favorite games.
For example, if you are practicing giving models of the ‘r’ sound, like in ‘robot,’ you might play a game with cars, robots or other toys and use that sound.
One example of modeling the ‘r’ sound in games is to play with a robot toy, game or app and when you say ‘robot,’ focus on the ‘r’ in the beginning and make sure it is pronounced slightly slowly and clearly.
What Else to Know about your child’s speech at home
You can practice modeling speech sounds in many different places. Think about which activities give you may opportunities to say those sounds your child needs help with. If your child experiences language challenges, share speech models in the same activity you model language. By modeling correct speech and language in fun activities, you make play-time a speech and language rich opportunity for your child.
Important to Remember
Also remember that when saying these speech sounds to your child, that they have no expectation to repeat what you say. That is the work of a licensed speech therapist. Importantly, only a pediatric speech-language pathologist should be working on correcting those sound errors.
To ask your child to make the sounds without ongoing speech therapy services or the support of a speech and language specialist, may worsen the speech challenges. Always consult with your child’s therapist before having your child repeat your sounds at home.
Giving Visual Cues for Your Child’s Speech at Home
Giving your child visual cues for speech sounds supports how they understand the way sounds are made. To give a visual cue, make sure that your face is clearly visible when you model speech sounds to your child.
The way our mouth moves when we make sounds gives important information about how the sounds are made. This is especially true for sounds made in the front of the mouth, like ‘b’,’ ‘m,’ ‘p,’ ‘v,’ ‘f’ and ‘th,’ as well as many others.
How These Cues Can Help
When your child sees how you make these sounds, they get more information to practice making them on their own. While these exercises may appear passive, as your child is just listening and watching, she will still learn and gain a better understanding of the sounds and words you practice.
To give a visual cue, simply make sure that your face and mouth are visible to your child while giving speech sound models. For example, when you practice saying ‘robot,’ check to see that your child is watching you make the sounds. You don’t need to provide a visual cue with every model, but they should be included occasionally.
Using Multimedia to Support Speech Sounds
By using multimedia, such as early-learning videos and apps, your child can get many more opportunities. Videos and apps provide kids with chances to hear how speech sounds are made correctly.
Search for child-friendly videos on YouTube and other sites to find videos that focus on making speech sounds. Usually, these sites pair the sound with letters, another great way to build speech and literacy skills.
If you have an iPAD, search for child-friendly apps that focus on letters or speech sounds. The app should pronounce each letter’s sound when pressed. This opportunity helps your child explore different letter-forms and sounds.
When Should I Begin Speech Therapy Services?
Begin speech therapy services for your child when you feel concerned about her speech. Only a licensed speech therapist can diagnose and treat speech sound disorders. It is up to a speech specialist to tell whether your child has a speech sound delay or disorder. A speech specialist also can determine if the sound errors are expected for their age.
It is important to never wait and see. When concerned, speak with a pediatric speech-language pathologist to learn how to best support your child.
Speech challenges frequently happen along with language difficulties. For this reason, make sure that you get your child a full and complete speech and language evaluation. Language challenges may not be easily visible and can only be checked by a language therapist with diagnostic tools.
With these tips and speech therapy, your child will get the most opportunities to make progress.
