5 Questions to Ask Your Child’s Speech Therapist
When you meet with your child’s speech therapist, you may wonder what questions to ask her or him. We share 5 questions to ask your child’s speech therapist. The answers to these questions may give you important information you can use to help your child’s skill development. We share questions that lead to more parental help at home.
For example, we talk about different questions that may lead to better support at home and in the community. Every one of these questions may lead to answers that help build your parent toolkit and give you insight into your child’s needs.
We also include links to other posts that give more detail on the different ways you may help your child at home. All of our posts are written by a licensed and certified speech therapist.
5. Can My Child Practice Skills in the Community?
By asking your child’s speech therapist about skills used in the community, you get more opportunities to develop their skills. But what does this question mean to a speech therapist? When you ask your child’s SLP this question, they will think of the ways that your child can use the skills they learned are are learning in other settings. This may help your child build and expand on their skills, especially language.
For a child with vocabulary needs, you may practice new words in during enriching activities. For example, you may practice words about sea life at the aquarium. Or, you might talk about different types of foods and food-related action words in the kitchen.
There are many ways to expand on your child’s skills in different places. By asking your speech therapist for suggestions, they may give you ways to practice these skills outside of the therapy room and help those skills generalize.
How a Speech Therapist Helps Your Child Generalize Skills
4. Does My Child Need Help in Any Other Areas?
This important question helps bring focus to other areas of need. You may be focused on one area in which you child struggles, while another area may need the same attention.
It may be tricky to know, even as a parent, what those challenges may be. Some difficulties, especially in grammar or vocabulary, may only appear following a comprehensive evaluation.
The evaluation tools that your child’s speech therapist uses are highly sensitive and can detect challenges in many areas. By asking your child’s SLP these questions, you get the chance to help them develop all of their skills.
It can be challenging to ask this question, as it may mean learning about more areas of need than initially thought. However, it is important to ask, since knowing the answer equips you with the understanding you need to get your child additional help.
3. Are There Resources My Child’s Speech Therapist Can Share with Me?
Some parents may be unaware of extra resources that may be used in the home. These materials may include support for language and speech skills. This question is especially useful if your child has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and needs support getting their wants and needs met.
Children with ASD and who struggle with language may get their skills supported at home with visuals. These visuals typically are custom-made by your speech therapist and are personalized to your child’s needs.
However, many other areas of communication also may be supported through resources at home. And resources may include a variety of items, such as:
- Visuals for language skills
- Visual schedules and reward charts
- Videos with explanations and practice examples
- Phonological awareness worksheets
2. How Can I Support My Child’s Skills at Home?
This direct question helps you get the information you need to help your child at home. It may feel like enough that your child receives speech therapy from a licensed speech therapist – and that may be enough. However, there may be additional ways that you can help support your child’s speech and language skills at home.
By asking your child’s speech therapist about supports at home, you get the opportunity to help in additional ways. Sometimes, even with intensive therapy, your child may need additional at-home support. This all depends on your child’s areas of need and progress in therapy.
Should I Practice Speech Therapy Skills at Home?
Ask you child’s speech therapist how you can support them at home. Your child’s SLP may recommend that no support should be provided at home at this time. They may also suggest that some practice be included at home.
Importantly, skills should only be practiced at home if directly recommended by a speech therapist guiding the process. The reason for this is that skills can be trained incorrectly, leading to more difficulties, not less. However, support that is recommended can give your child another opportunity to expand on their skills and learn new skills at home.
1. What Supports Help My Child the Most?
This important question may help you learn valuable information about your child’s needs. While many parents may ask about practicing skills at home, they may not ask about what supports help the most.
In every goal that your child has, they likely receive special support that helps them get closer to meeting their goals. While your speech therapist may or may not recommend using the support yourself, understanding what it is can help you know how your child learns best.
These supports may be visual, verbal, tactile or gestural. There are other types of supports as well. It is likely that some of these cues are more effective than others, depending on your child’s learning style.
If a Speech Therapist Uses These, How Do They Help Me?
How Can I Contact a Speech Therapist?
We shared 5 questions for you to ask your child’s speech therapist, but what if your child still needs speech therapy?
You can contact a speech therapist by searching Google, using an SLP directory, or by booking a free consultation below.
When you contact a licensed speech therapist, they will first provide an evaluation to find out how to best support your child. Part of the assessment is learning about what supports help them the most.
The evaluation also lets SLPs create a treatment plan so you can see exactly what goals your child is working on. After the evaluation, if speech therapy is recommended, your child begins their therapy sessions.
If your child struggles with communication, you are welcome to contact us to get your free consultation and learn more about speech therapy services.
