A few weeks ago I wrote a post about communicating with parents and how important it is. In that post I mainly focused on communication about therapy times, dates, progress, and behavior. But there is something even more important that we need to discuss with our students' caregivers. Their interests. Their family members' names. Their best friends. Their pets. Favorite TV shows. Find out everything you can about that child and what he/she sees and talks about on a daily basis. All too often I find myself grabbing the iPad to work on target articulation words and thinking to myself, how many times will this child use the word "canary" outside of this room? Not to knock the iPad apps, I love them as practice tools, but probably half of the words provided, your student won't use outside of the speech room. It's time to roll up your sleeves and do a little interviewing!
Now I frequently ask parents for an updated list of words the child says at home but has a had time pronouncing. If you can't get in touch with the parent, that's ok! Talk to the child. Working on the names of PJ Masks characters is so much more meaningful in therapy when your student pretends to be Owlette at home with her brothers! Progress will seem to happen quicker because this kids are working on words they use frequently. Not to mention, therapy will be much more fun when we are working on the names of classmates and favorite restaurants! So take the time and dig a little deeper. I promise it will be worth it!
This takes me back to a situation that happened to me a few years ago. I was talking with a parent about her child and her child's progress in speech over the year. Let's call her, "Miranda." Miranda had been in speech for about a year. We were working on the same sounds for the entire year and she had made very little progress during this time. I knew she had made little progress, but when you hear those words come out of a parent's mouth, it stings a little. Miranda had goals for the "sh" "ch" and "dz" sounds. In all honesty, I had given up on the "dz" sound for the time being because I could barely get Miranda to even imitate the sound. That was until speaking with Miranda's mother! When speaking with the parent, I learned that Miranda's family included: Jay, Javarian, Janiya, RJ, and Jackie. Oh boy! I had no idea how important working on those "dz" sounds were. No wonder her mother saw no progress when she is hearing these names produced wrong all day, everyday!
