Is Home Practice hard to fit in to your busy lifestyle? Is your child not enjoying it?

Practice is essential to the uptake, maintenance and generalisation of any skill you are trying to learn. Practice = Progress. When speech practice occurs at home, the skill learnt in your sessions begin to ‘stick’.

However, sometimes home practice can be hard to follow through with. Here are some tips to help:

Find a time in your day

To follow through with daily home practice it is a good idea to set a short amount of non-negotiable time in your day dedicated to home practice. This daily routine keeps you accountable and allows you to focus on what the goal is. Small bursts of practice each day is more beneficial than an hour of practice the day before your next therapy appointment.

Set an alarm

If you are like me and forgetfulness is a challenge, try setting an alarm on your phone for a reminder to do speech practice. You can make it fun for your child and use their favourite song as the alarm tone.

Celebrate the small wins

Home Practice can be challenging. However, it becomes easier when it is enjoyable. Celebrating every goal related success during practice or throughout the day can provide your child with motivation and excitement so that the hard work is worth it. Celebrating may look like a quick high five, a sticker, a reward after the completion of practice, or a game in the middle of practice for a break and reward for hard work.  

Get moving

A simple way to inspire excitement and motivation for home practice is to incorporate the tasks into movement games. Movement stimulates the brain and promotes a healthy lifestyle. Here are some movement games: 

• Go on a scavenger hunt (e.g., find the target words that your child needs for speech production practice).
• Complete an obstacle Course (e.g., model the use of prepositions “I’m balancing ON the pillow”)

Let your child be the teacher

Flip your roles during home practice. Children tend to love being the teacher as they feel in control. It also gives the parent the opportunity to model the correct answers. For example, if you’re practicing /s/ sounds, your child can show you the picture cards and you model the correct use. 

Home practice is challenging

Speech Pathologists allocate home practice to build the skill and allow it to be transferred to natural contexts. Collaborate with your Speech Pathologist for support in providing the best amount of home practice that is realistic to your lifestyle.