When My Child Goes for Therapy:
Following the assessment, if therapy or follow-up is indicated, you and your Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) will discuss and agree on specific goals. Therapy goals are important. They make sure that your child can progress in their speech and language development.
Parents play a key role in their child’s progress in therapy. The SLP works with the child and parent, as a team. Therefore it is important that you plan to attend and participate in every session. Learn more about your role in speech and language therapy.
By learning specific skills and strategies, you will be able to help your child at home. Your child will have opportunities to practice his speech and language throughout the day, and not only in therapy sessions with the SLP. Your participation will help you learn how to provide the best models for speech and language learning at home.
Your child may receive many different types of therapy/services during their involvement with tykeTALK.
These can include:
- Parent /caregiver education groups
Parent groups provide a combination of skill development for parents, in combination with sessions for the parent and child together. - Programs for home and/or your child’s child care provider
- Direct therapy sessions either individually or in a group
- Often children can benefit more from working with a small group of children and their parents.
- For children who require more individual attention, we may provide individual therapy, for a number of weeks, depending on your child’s needs.
- Monitoring of your child’s progress through reassessment or periodic consultation in person or by telephone
Therapy/services may be given directly by an SLP who is registered by the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario or by a trained assistant, who is supervised by an SLP.
How often and how long sessions will be will change depending on the needs of your child. For example, your child may receive a block of individual or group sessions, followed by a period of home programming. Sessions can occur from weekly to every few months. Your child’s needs and best interests are always one of the major factors in determining the most appropriate treatment option.
We emphasize the importance of parents bringing their child consistently to therapy. That is because we know that parent support is critical to speech and language development and to progress in therapy. We also know that parents spend the greatest amount of time with their children. That is why we encourage parents to be active participants in therapy.
Children typically thrive and enjoy coming to speech and language therapy sessions. They are fun. Sessions are planned according to goals that you and your SLP developed together. The goals address what is most appropriate for your child’s stage of development and specific needs. Therapy always includes a lot of play and games that help your child to be successful in a fun way. To learn more about the value of play for language development, click on Language and Play.
Your partnership with your SLP is important. You know your child’s needs better than anyone. Feel free to ask your SLP questions and to provide suggestions at any time.
Therapy services are also available in French.
