“I see how you do it but I just can’t teach him at home!” Kirsten said to me at the beginning of a speech therapy session for Leonard.
“I read your blogs too, and I must say I have to stop and try to digest all the guidelines and tips about getting your child to talk to you,” she said with an sheepish smile
My heart goes out to her because her comments told me she tried! “Kirsten, you are in good company,” I smiled, “so many parents feel the same way, and some are probably worried or embarrassed about it.”
“What I would really like parents to know is that the speech therapist may make it look simple, and when I explain it I obviously try to summarize it so that it is simple to understand- but simple does not always mean easy.
Michael Jackson makes it look simple. Cirque de Soleil makes it look simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy!
I know it’s not easy because- if it is easy, you would already be doing it!”
Just very quickly, here are the 2 main pitfalls I see when parents are attempting to teach their child to talk:
- It’s easy to just jump to your child’s help; support from a speech therapist will help you spot opportunities to teach, and get your child involved.
His toy car drops off the table while he’s playing, for example, and it’s so natural to pick it up and hand it back to him. It takes awareness and practice to utilize that as an opportunity for him to learn to have a say in getting his toy back.
2. When a child is not talking, it’s easy for parents to ‘fixate’ on ‘get him to talk, get him to talk’.
Again- if it were easy for him to talk, he would already be doing it! Your child likely needs to start somewhere easier and work his way towards talking. It may be just getting the lip movements right, or it may be just learning to pay attention to you and have eye contact as you are demonstrating how to say the word.
A speech therapist will support you and your child to practise at the right level so that you can achieve success step by step.
If you find it difficult to learn new habits of teaching, it gives you an idea how difficult it is for your child to learn new habits of communicating, doesn’t it?
I strongly recommend that parents get support in learning how to teach your child to talk because it calls for professional speech therapy know-how.
As with many things in life, success is about getting pointed in the right direction, and moving steadily until you reach your goal.
Seek out a speech therapist that is able to give you the level of support you need.
To your success!
“Ordinary things done consistently yield Extraordinary Results.” – Alex Mandossian