When we come to the summer holidays, lots of families have a break from therapy sessions, either at school or at home, but there can be a level of anxiety around maintaining practice and progress, so that valuable skills are not lost or forgotten.
Often we hear of gains and new skills following holidays when pressure drops and the environment is more relaxed; however this isn’t always the case, so here are 3 tips that may just help keep things ticking over during therapy breaks.
Tip 1: Involve the Whole Family
Parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, grandparents and family friends can all be useful when it comes to creating a supportive and inclusive therapy environment.
Try to get them involved in therapy through modelling speech and language related to your child’s current goals; tap into their creativity when it comes to fun communication games to play, and invite them to offer encouragement and praise when motivation is needed.
Tip 2: Set Realistic Goals
Now that everyone is involved, it’s time to plan goals that are realistic enough to fit in with all that the holidays are there to offer. One way of approaching goals is to think about maintaining existing skills rather than striving for something new.
Try to reinforce and practice skills in new and different contexts to really embed prior learning. Celebrate these wins as much as you would an emerging new skill – it’s just as important!
Tip 3: Be Patient and Positive
Finally, although not always easy during weeks of change to the usual routine, keeping a positive attitude and being patient with progress can really help.
Balancing therapy with time to relax and have fun will make motivation and engagement much easier in the long run. It will also mean they come back to their therapy routine after a break with a renewed enthusiasm.
By integrating these strategies, you can go some to ensuring your child continues to make progress in their speech therapy journey, even during the relaxed and carefree days of summer.
If you’d like some support over the summer break, why not join our membership? There’s so many resources and advice available so that you don’t have to go through this alone.
We’d love to see you there….Click here to get started!