But do you or a loved one find yourself going home from the speech therapist’s office with the best of intentions only to lose enthusiasm after a day or two? Don’t get discouraged! This may be the first time you’ve had to do “homework” in years and you may need to (re)establish good homework habits to set yourself up for success. Here are some tips to help you get started:
Schedule a Time
Put homework on the calendar like any other important appointment. Pick a time of day when you have energy and can focus. Schedule your speech therapy exercises for that time every day to establish a habit. If your goal is an hour of practice every day, don’t feel that you have to do it all at once. You can break up homework into 20- or 30-minute chunks to help prevent mental fatigue and boredom. Remember: consistency is what matters.
Make a Plan
If your speech-language pathologist (SLP) doesn’t give you a specific set of exercises, it may be up to you to decide what you’re going to do each day and when. It’s a good idea to make a “sandwich” of difficulty. That is, start with something that’s not too challenging to warm up the brain, then move to the harder tasks, then finish up with something a bit easier to leave yourself feeling confident.
Pick a Good Spot
Find a place in your home that’s comfortable, but not too comfortable to do your work. If the couch or a recliner leaves you too relaxed, your focus may relax too. Sitting at the kitchen table or at a desk is a good idea, as it can put you into a work mindset. Of course, if sitting upright in a chair is physically uncomfortable, you won’t be able to focus on your work either.
Based on the speech therapy assessment, the objectives of the speech therapist are multiple. However, they always aim to stimulate deficient function, control it and eliminate the disorder. The Adults speech therapy in Bathurst offers the best results there.
Emotional speech therapy
It is important to reassure, especially children, who are more vulnerable. Thus, it is also the role of the speech therapist to:
give the patient the pleasure of writing (the therapist shows him what this knowledge allows: telling stories, expressing emotions, communicating at a distance, etc.), and especially reading (thanks to books that may interest them);
help the patient to fight the anxiety related to his disorders, such as stuttering ;
to restore children's confidence by helping them to recover from a situation of failure;
to make parents aware of their child's abilities, which means accepting disability without devaluation;
to bring parents, in case of particularly severe disorders, to see the interest they have to reorient their child or to make him follow a specific therapy in addition.
About the Company: Aimee Capple is a clinician who is experienced with both children and adults. She is one clinician for the entire length of your service request, someone who has been working in the local district for the past 10 years.