Parental Involvement in Preschool Speech Therapy
Motivated, skilled parents can be an invaluable part of a preschooler's speech therapy program. The trend in speech therapy today is to leverage the particular advantages that a trained parent has to offer for more effective and efficient speech correction in this age group. Some of the advantages parent-implemented language interventions include are better opportunities to use language in meaningful exchanges and being able to help preschoolers to apply developing communication skills to the situations encountered in a typical day.
-
Enhanced Milieu Teaching
-
As described by Ann P. Kaiser, Ph.D., of the Vanderbilt University Department of Special Education, enhanced milieu teaching is a set of ̶0;naturalistic, conversation-based intervention̶1; strategies that integrate speech therapy with the ordinary flow of life. These interventions have less of a clinical or therapeutic feel to them and are often seamlessly merged with daily activities. That is why parental training and involvement are vital parts of implementing these strategies. These techniques are used throughout the day, in ordinary conversations and situations.
Teaching Parents To Coach
-
Parents and preschoolers communicate throughout the day, during daily routines and play. These are ideal situations for practical and functional language skills development. Parents are trained in coaching strategies that encourage preschoolers to communicate and techniques that strengthen and expand those language skills. Strategies include arranging situations that encourage a preschooler to ask for something. One technique is called ̶0;inadequate portion.̶1; If a child usually drinks a full cup of milk with his snack cookies, just give half a cup, so he will ask for more.
Putting Strategies to Work
-
During the course of the average day, parents put these strategies and techniques to work in a broad range of naturally occurring situations. Parents model the language they want their preschoolers to learn. They adjust their own language down, using shorter words and sentences to encourage their preschoolers to imitate them. If words are long and sentence structures complex, imitation is less likely. Speech-prompting techniques, ranging from the non-verbal to open questions to modeling can become almost second nature. Throughout the day, language use is encouraged and supported.
Positive Results
-
Vanderbilt University researchers did a meta-analysis of 18 studies on the effectiveness of parent-implemented speech interventions. Published in 2011, in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, the meta-analysis revealed positive results. Parental involvement in preschool speech therapy via parent-implemented strategies and techniques resulted in significant improvements in both expressive and receptive language skills for children with and without cognitive disabilities. Interactions between parent and child through the normal course of a day, using techniques to encourage and support language skill development, proved to be effective in increasing communication abilities.
-
-
For many children, sports is an enjoyable and fun activity. It is enjoyable for them when they hear encouraging words from their parents. However, many children are pushed too hard by parents in competitive sports at a young age. Being pressured at s
-
01 of 08 Playdates Make playdates and be part of a playgroup. Give your child lots of chances to learn cooperative play. Remember, though, that it's a learning process that takes time. 02 of 08 Interact With All
-
While some children make friends as naturally as they run or skip, other children need support and adult guidance. Unfortunately, it is rarely as simple as passing down the "10 Rules for Making Friends." Rather, parents need to provide age-
