Simplifying Speech Interventions During the Holiday Season
It's the busiest time of year speech friends --
The holiday season! 🎃🦃🎄🎊
And do you want to know that truly terrifies some of our clients’ parents?
Having us come in their home and offer strategies and advice they can't implement because they're even busier than they normally are.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard parents say that it’s easy for us to make recommendations or give strategies that they feel they don’t have time for in their already hectic daily routines. Now imagine putting that on top of all the hectic energy that comes with having littles during the holiday season?!
How can we fix this?
We keep it natural and make those strategies work for THEM instead of the other way around.
But….how?
Let me explain some of my strategies that I use from my years of experience working with this population 👇🏼
Observe THEIR Routines
We can’t assume that our family routines are the same as everyone else’s! Take time to observe the family and child in their natural environment doing daily routines such as meal times, play time, even getting in their car! These will give you ideas on how the family can use specific strategies or scripts that you can come up with with the family. Then, help them adapt these strategies to their holiday schedules.
Don’t Overload the Caregiver
It’s natural to want to give the caregivers/parents SO MANY STRATEGIES. We want them to be successful and the progress to be rapid! But often, this is very overwhelming, since parents are not usually SLPs and cannot possibly absorb the information to effectively implement 15 strategies at once. Take it one at a time and remember everyone is trying their best to get it all done during the busiest time of year.
Listen
Set aside time at the beginning and end of each session to ask the parents for their questions and concerns. While it’s easy to take on the role of a teacher, we want our sessions to be collaborative and for the parent to take on an active role. Many parents are overloaded already, so take the time to listen and see if there are small ways we can ease burdens such as providing visuals or simple routines (like reading 1 book before bed or in the tub) that will increase language without an overwhelming addition to their schedules.
This time of year is crazy busy and that's on top of the everyday busyness we all already deal with. Use these tips to help your parents and families continue to work on their child's speech skills even during the holiday season 🎃🦃🎄🎊
Happy speeching!
👇🏼 Save this image to Pinterest so you can refer back to it later! 👇🏼
