Bringing Home The PipSpeak Experience

Sometimes, while parents are watching their kid and me have fun with words and sounds, they’re getting worried about how to carry over the lessons into their everyday lives. One of the most common questions that clients and parents ask me is how to make speech practice fun and effective so that goals become lessons, and lessons become ingrained as habits. In other words, they want to know how to bring the Pip Speak experience home.

My first piece of advice is: Don't get hung up on it. I know, it’s easier said than done, but your kid is in tune with you, and if you’re anxious or stressed, it will be hard for you both to enjoy the experience. As the great Mary Poppins once said “for every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Just find the fun and snap! The job’s a game!”

Secondly: Communicate. Seems obvious-- that’s why we’re all here, right?

Well, yes, but don’t forget to devote some attention to what your kid is trying to say, and not just how they’re saying it. Conversely, don’t forget the importance of communicating your faith in them, and your love. It’s more important, in the long run, for your kid to feel confident in their relationship with you than for them to perfectly pronounce every ‘R’.

Third: Games, books, and toys keep the activity fun and motivating, but feel free to use them in ways that would make game-instruction-writers squirm (don’t worry, they’ll never know). You can be disciplined about spending time on learning goals while throwing away the rulebook on the materials you’re using. Does your kid like to craft? Do that! Does your kid like science experiments? Bring on the baking soda and vinegar! Whatever your kid is excited about—do that. I want speech therapy to be a way for you to bond, and not something that comes between you.