Child-led speech therapy is meaningful, engaging, and fun. Here are tips from SLP experts on how to implement child-led speech therapy in your sessions.

Why use child-led speech therapy?


 Child-led speech therapy is meaningful, <a
 href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/speech-therapy-behavior-management?"
 >engaging</a
 >, effective and fun!



 In child-led (or child-directed) speech therapy, the child plays according to
 their own interests, and the speech-language pathologist interacts around this
 play using therapeutic goal-oriented interventions.



 For speech-therapists who typically come prepared to fully direct their SLP
 sessions, the idea of child-led sessions can feel intimidating. With that in
 mind, we&rsquo;ve gathered some of our favorite tips from SLP experts in the
 field on how to best implement child-led speech therapy in your sessions with
 students.


<h2>Child-Led Speech Therapy Tips</h2>

<ol style="padding-left:20px;">
 <li>
 To best support retention and <a
 href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/embracing-struggle-a-path-to-growth-and-learning?"
 >learning</a
 >, focus on how the play can create lasting memories:
 &ldquo;With play-based therapy, you can really capture a child&rsquo;s
 attention and make memories that will extend beyond the therapy session.
 These memorable moments support learning and retention and are essential
 when treatment sessions are infrequent&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/planning-a-play-based-therapy-session/full/"
 target="_blank"
 >Meredith Poore Harold, PhD, CCC-SLP, ASHA Wire</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Let the child select a play activity that is of interest to them: &ldquo;Children often feel more involved when they choose an activity.
 Just like adults, toddlers remember more when they enjoy something&rdquo;
 (<a
 href="https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/using-a-childs-interests-to-teach-goals-in-early-intervention/full/"
 target="_blank"
 >Julie Erdmann, MS, CCC-SLP, AHSA Wire</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Join the child in play as you use techniques to support speech and
 language growth: &ldquo;Use strategies, techniques and language input to support the
 child&rsquo;s progress toward their communication goals&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuU4-dZCvU"
 target="_blank"
 >Leanne Sherred, MS, CCC-SLP, President, CCO, Expressable</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Do your best to resist over-directing therapy. &ldquo;Avoid
 commands such as, &lsquo;Say this&rsquo; during the session. When we put too
 many demands on students, it takes away from the &lsquo;play&rsquo; aspect
 of therapy. Instead, give 5-10 second wait times after modeling a word or
 phrase to see if the child initiates a question or a comment&rdquo; (Felice
 Clark, MS, CCC-SLP, The Dabbling Speechie).
 </li>
 <li>
 Encourage symbolic play (using objects to represent other objects like a
 block as a phone): &ldquo;Language itself is symbolic since signs, gestures, and words
 represent ideas, objects, or relationships. Early symbolic play helps
 children understand that objects can be used to represent another object.
 Development of symbolic play often correlates with development of language:
 children often start to use single words when they begin using one object to
 represent another, and they may begin combining words when they combine two
 symbolic play actions (<a
 href="https://nesca-newton.com/the-importance-of-play-in-speech-language-therapy/"
 target="_blank"
 >Abigael Gray, MS, CCC-SLP, NESCA Speech-Language Pathologist</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Within the child-led play session, stay focused on targeting specific SLP
 goals: &ldquo;Effective play therapy would include planning ahead to keep in mind
 specific goals being targeted, including: pragmatic language (i.e., joint
 attention, eye contact, turn-taking); figurative language (i.e., symbolism,
 non-literal language); expressive language (i.e., models for increasing
 spontaneous productions through auditory bombardment); receptive language
 (i.e., object ID, following directions)&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://www.lispeech.com/play-therapy-for-speech-language-intervention/"
 >Ashley DiGregorio M.A., CF-SLP, TSSLD, Suffolk Center for Speech</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Set up an array of choices for play opportunities, including:
 &ldquo;pretend play, building activities, picture searches, memory matching,
 Go Fish, hide and seek, drawing, coloring, crafts, songs, nursery rhymes,
 <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/fidget-use-in-speech-therapy?"
 >toys</a
 >, tongue twisters, I Spy, card games, barrier games, readers theatre,
 sequencing cards, board games and story telling&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://www.forbrain.com/speech-therapy-for-kids/activities/"
 target="_blank"
 >Natalie Fitzgerald, MS, CCC-SLP, Forbrain</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Meet the child where they are with play: &ldquo;If the
 child is still in the exploratory phase, try modeling constructive play and
 functional play to begin showing how objects go together. Once the child has
 some early play skills, get creative and add additional prompts or a new way
 to play&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://playworkschicago.com/toddlers-speech-therapist-playing-child/"
 target="_blank"
 >Jessica Delos Reyes, MA, CCC-SLP, Playworks</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Use play to build positive experiences around communication: &ldquo;Play-based activities ensure that working towards communication
 goals is a positive experience. The more positive and successful children
 feel in a speech-language session, the more likely they will want to try
 using their emerging skills in other contexts, such as the school, the
 library, and extracurricular activities&rdquo; (<a
 href="https://www.northamptonspeechtherapy.com/home/breanne-s-articles-1/why-play/"
 target="_blank"
 >Breanne D. Schwartz, SLP, Northampton Speech Therapy</a
 >).
 </li>
 <li>
 Don&rsquo;t forget to take data: &ldquo;Keep a datasheet
 next to you. If you know what your required target is before the child comes
 into the room, you can keep track of how many times they are getting the
 target response correct, what sort of feedback they are needing, etc.&rdquo;
 (<a
 href="https://www.speechpathology.com/ask-the-experts/collecting-data-during-play-based-2371"
 target="_blank"
 >Meredith Poore Harold, PhD, CCC-SLP</a
 >).
 </li>
</ol>


 Have fun implementing child-led, play-based sessions in your speech therapy
 practice! To learn where your specialized skills are needed helping kids in
 exciting locations across the country, check out our
 <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/education"
 >school speech therapist jobs</a
 >
 now.

Cross Country

10 Tips for Fun & Engaging Child Speech Therapy Sessions

Child-led Speech Therapy Sessions

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