How To Motivate Your Child For Speech Therapy

Many children work with a speech-language pathologist to address various speech and language concerns, such as language and speech disorders. What working with a speech therapist looks like can vary from child to child. For example, kids may attend speech therapy in individual or group sessions. Regardless, getting children to practice techniques at home or engage in speech therapy sessions can be difficult.

So, how can you motivate children to attend and participate in speech therapy or practice throughout the week? In this article, we'll review tips parents can use to motivate children for speech therapy and how Joon can help.

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Tips For Motivating Your Child In Speech Therapy

Whether you're hoping to find ways to help kids stay interested in speech therapy or during practice at home, there are things you can do. Here are some ways to keep kids engaged in speech therapy, work on their speech homework, and meet their speech goal(s). First, let's talk about how Joon can help.

Try Joon to Motivate Your Child

Joon is an excellent way to help your child focus, stick to routines, and finish tasks - including going to speech therapy or practicing at home. Designed for children ages 6-12+ with ADHD and related disorders, Joon is a to-do app that doubles as a game. Here's how it works:

First, parents sign up with the Joon Parent App and make a personalized task list for their children. You can add unlimited tasks, such as going to speech therapy, finishing homework assigned by a speech therapist, or other activities, like household chores. Kids use a separate app called Joon Pet Game. When kids complete items on their task lists, they get rewards that enable them to move forward in the game and take care of a virtual pet. 

90% of kids who use Joon complete all their tasks. Even better, the app is rated an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars in the App Store, with more than 4k reviews.

Click here to try Joon for free.

Incorporate music or videos

For many kids - especially those with attention difficulties - finding the right activities to use in session or during practice is key. Incorporating songs and videos can help your child feel interested in lessons, and many parents and speech therapists have discovered that this works well for kids. Look for songs and online videos that can help your child achieve their goals, such as those that feature words and sounds they're working on.

Reward good work

Reward systems are an excellent way to increase motivation in children, but different rewards can be more ideal than others depending on your child's age and personality.

Younger children often respond well to using a sticker chart or another similar way to track progress. Older children often benefit more from token systems that allow them to build up to exciting, age-appropriate rewards, like a trip to the arcade, a new game, or a clothing item.

Don't discount the impact of verbal praise. Positive comments can go a long way! When your child is engaged in the process, praise their effort, good behavior, and hard work.

Include games and activities

Making things fun is a great way to get children to work on their speech therapy plan both in session and at home. Not only are there many natural opportunities to practice speech in daily life activities but there are also plenty of ways to take the words or sounds a child needs to learn and incorporate them into games.

Examples of games and activities to use include but aren't limited to:

• I Spy. I Spy is a great option because you can play this anywhere! If your child's working on a specific sound (e.g., the "s" sound), you can play a modified version where you try to find things that start with a specific letter.
• Hopscotch with words (write a word in the boxes of the hopscotch you draw on a sidewalk and have a child say the words aloud to practice speech sounds as they play).
• Board games. Many classic board and card games can be used to help kids practice.
• Reading street signs aloud during a car ride.

Often, if you speak with your child's speech therapist, they'll be able to give you ideas for fun and effective games to play to practice with kids while out of session.

Figure out a time of day that works best

Some kids will feel calmer and more ready to learn at different times of the day. Think of your child's current schedule and whether it might affect their motivation. For example, if speech therapy is after school when a child is tired, could morning sessions work better?

Consider other factors that might affect a child's learning. Let's say that your child takes ADHD medication. If so, it might be necessary to schedule therapy sessions while the medication is active rather than later in the day once it has worn off.

This same rule can be used when you practice at home. While at home, some parents also find that practicing in short bursts (ten to fifteen-minute intervals twice a day) works better than trying to fit it all in at once.

Add movement 

Movement may help your child stay engaged in speech therapy exercises and learn or focus better. This may be especially true if your child is someone who generally finds it challenging to sit still. Here are a couple of things you can try:

• Movement-based activities (e.g., games that require hand or body movement, practicing words while on a walk)
• Letting kids fidget (providing an exercise ball, letting kids walk around as they please, offering fidget toys)

Speech-language pathologists may find it helpful to incorporate movement into sessions, and parents helping their kids practice at home can do the same.

Takeaway 

Like with most things, speech therapy sessions take time. If your child's struggling to stay motivated for speech therapy or practice time, use these tips to encourage motivation and help make things more fun. Reward systems and praise, planning sessions for the right time each week, and using games to help kids learn are all examples of what can help increase motivation in and outside of sessions. Talk with your child's speech-language pathologist regularly and discuss ways to work on your child's goals at home.