What our parents say they wish they knew before they started speech:
- Your pediatrician might tell you to wait and see, but if you feel something isn’t right, have your child evaluated by a speech language pathologist. It is easier to close a smaller gap than a larger one.
- Don’t wait on the school system to pick your child up for speech. If it isn’t impacting their education and academic performance, the school is not required to provide services.
- Participate in therapy sessions and learn from your therapist! Be prepared as a parent to do daily speech practice with your child in a creative way. Get the whole family involved and make it fun!
- Speech therapy takes time. Every child is different and some need more time than others to reach their goals.
- There will be ups and downs along the way. Stay focused on the goal and use incentives (rewards, charts, toys, etc.) to keep your child interested.
- Don’t under-estimate the social impact your child might be dealing with if their peers and teachers can’t understand what they are saying.
- Know that you can help shape the goals for therapy. The speech therapy process is a collaborative one between families and the therapist.