Starting speech therapy is a big step for your child and your family, and it’s natural to have questions about what to expect. Whether you’re feeling excited, nervous, or a little of both, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
I am JP Alters, and I’m the Director of Speech Therapy here at Rebound Physical Therapy. Today, I want to let you know what to expect when your child receives a speech therapy evaluation.
What a Pediatric Speech Therapy Evaluation Is Like
First, I’ll break down what happens during your child’s speech therapy evaluation step by step:
- You’ll be greeted by a seasoned therapist who loves to work with families and children. Personally, I have 25 years in this field, and I enjoy working with kids because they keep me relevant and keep me in good physical activity.
- We want you to be actively engaged in the evaluation. You’ll attend the evaluation with your child, and the therapist will ask a variety of questions to better understand your child’s and your needs.
- Your child will complete a variety of formal and informal assessments to determine if a speech language deficit is present.
- The therapist will provide feedback regarding the results of the evaluation and let you know if therapy is warranted.
- If therapy is warranted, we’ll provide you with a plan of action and empowerment on what to do to help your child at home for peace of mind.
Pediatric Speech Therapy Involves a Lot of Movement and Play
Your therapist will use a variety of movement and play-based activities to support understanding of concepts and retention of information. If I have kids with articulation challenges, sitting for 30 minutes can be really difficult for a kid that’s five years old. So I incorporate movement to make therapy more engaging for children.
For example, I actually like to do bear crawls in my therapy sessions. I’ll bear crawl with them while we work on our words. I’ll give feedback, and then we bear crawl to another location. In this way, I’m keeping their brain actively engaged at the same time that they’re working on their speech sounds, and I find you get a big bang for your buck doing that.
Your child’s therapist will also provide functional home-based activities in an exercise program to facilitate ongoing education beyond the treatment session, and that is vital for any kid to remediate quickly.
How Long Will Your Child Need to Attend Speech Therapy?
I get this question a lot, and the answer is that every child is different. Honestly, I’ve had kids that come in and it only takes a few months and boom, they’re done. And then there are some kids that it just takes longer.
But honestly, consistent therapy attendance and active participation in the therapy is how we make it go faster. And I’m not just talking about the child, it’s also parents getting engaged with the treatment. That engagement can be as simple as being present in the room, picking up strategies that the therapists are doing, and using those at home.
We’ll also give you caregiver education programs for you to bring home and follow to help advance your child’s skills. If you’re putting all three of those things in place—consistent attendance, parent engagement, and following the home program—your child will progress through their treatment program as quickly as possible.
Reach Out to Rebound for a Speech Therapy Screening
If you do have concerns, early invention is key to identifying or remediating those deficits. The longer that you push it off, the more ingrained those speech and language patterns become.
At Rebound, we desire to partner with you for the benefit of your child and your family. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us for a free speech screening. Give us a call at (785) 271-5533 to get started today.
