Considerations for a Speech Therapy Home Program

In establishing home programs and activities therapists need to consider the following:

1. Practice on a daily basis is the most efficient/effective way to improve articulation, language, feeding or communication goals.

2. Because families of children with special needs are busy and experience significant stress, therapy activities to be carried out at home should be simple, time efficient, cost efficient, and motivating for the child. In addition to regular daily activities, families of children with special needs often have physician appointments, and other therapy appointments. Caregivers are much more likely to provide the child with practice at home or school if techniques are simple, detailed and quick.

3. Children must be motivated by treatment activities provided with your home programs. If the activities are not perceived as “fun,” children will not engage in the activity, and the practice will not occur, as it will become burdensome for caregivers.

Fun Therapy Activity

Looking for a fun new activity to elicit language from your child or your clients? Children love searching for things and this activity lets them do just that! Fill a plastic container with raw elbow macaroni and puzzle pieces or small objects and let the hunt begin. Language opportunities are vast with this simple activity and children stay engaged because they are having so much fun. We use this activity for a range of language skill targets, from basic object labeling to more complex object categorization. As an added bonus, this activity is also great for children with sensory processing difficulties - great tactile input from the macaroni.