{"id":137,"date":"2020-05-25T17:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T21:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/?p=137"},"modified":"2020-05-25T17:40:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T21:40:05","slug":"parents-are-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/2020\/05\/25\/parents-are-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents are important!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dear Parents.  Thank you for your involvment in your child&#8217;s at home speech therapy and education!  Your support make all the difference in the world to the success of your child&#8217;s efforts.  By now you understand far better than ever what it takes to make the changes in growth and development to help your child be successful!  The following in an excerpt from Leanne Sherred, M.S. CCC-SLP, President and Founder of\u00a0&#8220;Expresssable,&#8221; an online speech therapy practice.  She highlights that reading books, modeling words, taking turns, showing interest in the same objects (joint attention) and giving choices to elicit words are all strategies that nurture your child&#8217;s communication and skill development.  <strong><em>You are so important <\/em><\/strong>to your child&#8217;s speech and language development.  Your interest and engagement with them is something they will appreciate for the rest of their lives:)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;<strong>Why Parental Involvement is So Important<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As you know, one of the most powerful tools children have to improve their speech and language problems is also the most accessible: their parents. There\u2019s a growing clinical consensus that speech and language outcomes are better when parents and guardians are more involved in therapy. When parents play an essential role in their child\u2019s intervention \u2013 as opposed to being passive observers \u2013 children make considerably more progress towards their speech and language therapy goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some parents, reinforcing this point, and making sure it\u2019s applied in the real world, takes some work on our end. It may be tempting for parents to fully rely on us to \u201cfix\u201d the problem. And I understand! Parents are living hectic lives, and when their child is diagnosed with a speech or language problem, they enter a new and unfamiliar world that can at times feel intimidating and overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are some tips SLPs can use to engage parents and help them understand their unique role in their child\u2019s therapy..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>No one Knows Their Child Better:<\/strong>&nbsp;We can never replace a parent\u2019s intuitive connection with their child. They know your child\u2019s personality and temperament best, This makes parents the ideal teacher! They can take our clinical recommendations and treatment plans and tailor them even further to their child\u2019s preferred learning style.<\/li><li><strong>Every Moment is a Learning Moment:<\/strong>&nbsp;Make sure parents understand that speech and language therapy aren\u2019t restricted to the classroom or clinic. It doesn\u2019t even require a desk or chair. Parents should be reinforcing best practices consistently throughout the day \u2013 during bath-time, play-time, trips to the grocery store, the dinner table \u2013 you name it!<\/li><li><strong>Practice Makes Perfect:<\/strong>&nbsp;Whether a child is learning to pronounce a letter or sound, improve their voice characteristics, or comprehend simple sentences, teaching must be practiced and reinforced routinely. While we often only get an hour or two of a child\u2019s time per week, parents have the advantage of spending ample time with their children \u2013 especially now!<\/li><li><strong>Speaking With Those That Matter:<\/strong>&nbsp;When children see a therapist, they gain valuable knowledge, but when they speak with their parents on a daily basis, they\u2019re able to put that new knowledge into practice. This allows parents to be keenly aware of progress they\u2019re making. Did they use a new vocabulary word? Or respond to a word instead of a gesture? This is progress we need to know about to further refine and tailor their treatment plan.<\/li><li><strong>Comforting Environment:<\/strong>&nbsp;Many children learn best in an environment they\u2019re most familiar and comfortable. Working with your child at home, in an environment that\u2019s familiar, is a stress-free way to test the new skills they\u2019ve learned at therapy.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arm Parents with At-Home Exercises<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Parents often ask me for suggestions of fun games and at-home exercises to integrate speech therapy practice into their daily lives. Just as putting cheese on broccoli helps kids consume their vegetables (it works for me!), engaging activities can make the practice of repetition, corrections, and cues more enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, there are many valuable blogs and resources out there that I regularly turn to for help. Some of these include the Speech Therapy Ideas, Home Speech Home, and Mommy Speech Therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve also created an instructional YouTube video series with a range of videos that teach parents common techniques to improve their child\u2019s language development. These videos provide helpful tips and strategies for making speech therapy a natural part of everyday life, and cover topics such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AIVhCDKL9U8&amp;t=1s\">Modeling Words<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-pYIuECn0Z8&amp;t=14s\">Joint Attention<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TbvICEfmW9w&amp;t=65s\">Using Choices<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CRy1DgBmo9Y\">Reading to Toddlers<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=haXKapNn56M\">Teaching Children How to Take Turns<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\">Dear Parents. Thank you for your involvment in your child&#8217;s at home speech therapy and education! Your support make all the difference in the world to the success of your child&#8217;s efforts. By now you understand far better than ever what it takes to make the changes in growth and development to help your child be successful! The following in&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/2020\/05\/25\/parents-are-important\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1064,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","xfolkentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1064"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/mrselaswad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}