We’re all dealing with tough stuff right now. Having a child who can’t be easily understood by others can make things even more challenging for you. Together we can start to get you some relief. To help you manage your child’s symptoms before your appointment, we wanted to share some strategies you can start using today.
Here are 3 tips to help reduce your child’s frustration:
- Allow your child to get their whole message out. Encourage them to communicate with you, even if it is not yet clear. An unwanted side effect is your child not wanting to communicate. (e.g. if constantly interrupted or often asked to repeat).
- As with learning any skill, we don’t expect immediate perfection. Your child still might be hard to understand, especially at the beginning of therapy. After your child finishes their message, repeat the part you are able to understand. For example, “You’re telling me something about the ball.” This will give your child a chance to clarify or show what they’re referring to, and continue the interaction.
- Try to model non-verbal communication such as gestures or pointing at objects/pictures while you talk so that your child knows that they can use similar strategies to help support the conversation if speech is not yet clear.
We’ve seen this be helpful for many children. It may take a little while, but it can really help! We know this is tough stuff, and we’ll be here with you every step of the way. We can’t wait to start moving forward, together. See you soon!