6 Reasons for Parental Involvement in Speech and Language Intervention

Having worked for several years now as a speech-language pathologist with the pediatric population in a variety of settings, I can say that I’ve experienced and observed a plethora of treatment styles and philosophies. One that never made much sense to me was the policy of requiring parents to remain in the waiting room rather than asking them to come back and attend treatment sessions with their child, especially a very young child.

As a parent, you know your child better than anyone else; you are your child’s biggest asset. You spend more time with them than anyone else, you know their strengths, you’ve seen their difficulties, and you share in all their highs and lows. The presence of such a close relationship makes receiving a diagnosis of whatever kind – whether it be a language delay, an articulation disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, or autism – something that not only affects the child, but also affects the parents and the entire family unit.

Some parents might be tempted to rely on a therapist to “fix” the speech problem; however, this is not the most effective path to rapid progress. When the therapist and parent collaborate, research has shown that outcomes significantly improve. Anecdotally, I can say that I have witnessed the most explosive progress and fulfilling outcomes when parents take an active role in their child’s speech and language therapy journey.

Outlined below are just six of the benefits of parental involvement in speech and language intervention:

1. IMPROVED CARRYOVER OF SKILLS

Most children who receive speech therapy attend 2-3 sessions per week at a maximum. 1-2 hours of therapy per week constitute a minuscule fraction of time when compared to the 168 hours in a week and won’t be highly effective if those are the only times the child practices the targeted skills. Therapy becomes much more beneficial when the child has ample opportunities to practice at home as well, rather than just a couple days a week for a relatively short amount of time each day. Within a shorter timeframe, children will begin to use their newfound skills in a multitude of environments rather than merely in the therapy room.

2. QUICKER MASTERY OF SKILLS

Sometimes parent involvement comes in the form of completing “homework” or “home practice” outside of therapy sessions. Your child’s therapist might give you flashcards or worksheets to do with your child. This form of involvement is structured and provides the child with increased opportunities to practice newly acquired skills. For example: A child with a speech sound disorder who is working on the /s/ sound has nearly mastered producing /s/ in single words like ‘sun’ and ‘sit’. He is now working with his therapist on producing /s/ in phrases and sentences. A possible at-home exercise could be to practice production of /s/ in single words using a printed worksheet to further solidify the skill previously acquired in therapy sessions. As the saying goes, practice makes permanent.

3. CONSISTENT REINFORCEMENT

Children benefit from consistent reinforcement to master their newly acquired speech and language skills. As noted above, 2 or 3 short sessions per week will not provide an optimal amount of reinforcement for skill acquisition. When parents have a solid understanding of their child’s goals and how they are being addressed in therapy sessions, they will be better able to address those same goals at home and reinforce the skills that their child is building. This could look as simple as modeling basic phrases and signs for their child during daily routines – phrases such as “more milk?” while modeling the ASL sign for “more”.

4. INCREASED UNDERSTANDING

Another advantage of active parent involvement in speech and language intervention is the increased understanding the therapist gains of the child. Again, parents know their child better than anyone else and can provide invaluable insight into their child’s preferences and behaviors. For example, some children have sensory preferences and differences which, when not understood, can make it challenging for them to attend to anything other than getting their sensory needs met. Parents often know what will support their child’s attention and learning best.

5. INVALUABLE FEEDBACK

Oftentimes parents observe their child’s frustration in communication situations that would be impossible for the speech therapist to witness. The speech therapist sees the child a few times, usually in the same environment, every week. Parents can provide feedback to the therapist regarding what specifically frustrated the child on an occasion and conversely, what fueled success in various contexts.

6. EMPOWERMENT

Lastly, involving parents and families in therapy empowers them to effectively advocate for their child’s needs at school and in the community.  Through active participation, parents gain familiarity with their child’s goals, progress, and supports they continue to require, and can in turn, better communicate this information to teachers, babysitters, other therapists, and other family members.

If your child is already receiving speech therapy and you as the parent haven’t been involved up to this point, it may be worth asking if there is practice you can do at home or if you could sit in on sessions so that you have a better understanding of what your child is working on. It may prove to be just as beneficial for the therapist as it will be for you and your child.