Building Your Child’s Confidence During Therapy Sessions
Where does confidence come from, and how is it nurtured? For me, confidence comes from applying knowledge until experiences are smooth, absent of any insecurity or fear. My confidence also comes from family, friends, and mentors who accept my humanness, support me during missteps, and celebrate my wins.
So, it’s crucial that children get to practice new, challenging skills with expert guidance during speech therapy sessions. Every session flows differently. Here are some examples of recent sessions that promoted communication skills and the confidence to generalize those skills outside of skilled intervention.
A five-year-old client with an articulation delay talks very fast and is understood 60% of the time. We’ve worked together for the last two months, and they have mastered goals regarding /sh/, /ch/, /th/, and /r/ at word level. Currently, I’m targeting /s/ consonant blends and they are progressing quickly. During our last session I presented picture cues for target words, exaggerated modeling, offered gestural and verbal cues, specific feedback, and stickers for accurate productions. I consistently followed his conversational lead (laughing often), prompted communication repair when necessary, and positively reinforced slow, intelligible speech. I ended by debriefing with mom, providing word lists with helpful cues.
A three-year-old client with a language delay typically produces 1-2 word utterances. We’ve only had three sessions so far, but in our last session they enjoyed playing and reading with both parents present. During play they expressed lots of ideas with gestures and short phrases. When I paused in routine and offered an expectant facial expression they imitated recently modeled phrases or slowly produced 3-4 word phrases, demonstrating a very cute processing face. It’s clear they need extended processing time, a safe place to play and share without pressure or time constraints. I ended our session providing parents positive reinforcement for their play and communication skills, reinforcing the importance of waiting for the child to initiate and express their own ideas.
