Why Does my Child’s SLP Keep Giving ME Homework?

If you have a child that attends speech therapy then you have likely noticed that at the end of each session YOU get homework for the week. Speech therapy is a lot like music lessons, if you only practice your instrument for 30 minutes one time per week while with the music teacher it is going to take a while to master that instrument. There is also a chance that you forgot what you learned last week.

In speech therapy we are teaching children to form new habits. Maybe your child always says /t/ for /k/ (e.g., “tid” for “kid”) and one of his goals is to accurately produce /k/. This is similar to asking you to write your name with your non-dominant hand. It Is Hard. In this example, this child’s GPS for all /t/ sounds is to reroute to /k/ and undoing that takes patience, time, and practice.

When you receive homework at the end of your child’s session, remember that what we are expecting of your kiddo is hard but the more they practice at home the faster and more automatic these different ways of speaking will be. Pam Marshalla, a seasoned SLP once said; “We must remember that some of our clients are learning something that is very hard for them, and that it is easier for them to do it the old way”

-McKenzie Rushcamp MA CCC-SLP

References: 

Pam Marshalla (2010) Carryover Techniques In Articulation and Phonological Therapy. https://pammarshalla.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Carryover_Techniques_Preview_Marshalla.pdf