In today's podcast episode, we continue the conversation of encouraging parent involvement in speech therapy for toddlers. Today's topic? Managing tasks for parent involvement.
When we expect parents to implement strategies beyond speech therapy sessions, we must keep the tasks manageable. This leads us to the question: "What is manageable?"
The word manageable is pretty abstract. It means different things to different people. Some thrive with a list of items to do, while others try to get through the day. It's important to keep this in mind when deciding what actions you will put into place for the parents and caregivers of the little ones on your caseload.
For example, if you meet a mom with 3 children under the age of 3- their list of "achievable home goals" will likely play out differently than an only child with a stay at home mom. The overall goal of increasing or enhancing functional communication and language development will be the same- you will use different strategies.
Let's talk about 3 ways you can encourage parent involvement
Some examples of activities for parent involvement include:
Start by implementing small tasks and gradually work toward more steps.
Encouraging parent involvement isn't a quick process. Like our speech therapy with toddlers, parent involvement will take a lot of trial and error, brainstorming different ideas, and encouraging open communication about what is working vs what isn't. Be flexible with your strategies and empathetic to parent situations. When you begin to truly see things from the parent's perspective and try to fit what you're doing into their routine... I promise they'll notice and buy in with your actions.
Like this episode? Please share it with your SLPs and co-workers!