speaking of learning

Telehealth- All the time in the world? Let’s use it!

Mother and child talking to someone on a laptop

It’s tough as an adult to occupy our time when required to be at home for weeks on end. A walk or two might get the jitters out, along with numerous cups of tea to sip on to pass the day away. But, we manage, right?

With winter fast approaching, the looming thought hanging over the heads of many parents today is… What do we do with our kids to keep them occupied? How do we continue Speech Pathology whilst at home? How do we help our kids engage in therapy tasks?

At Speaking of Learning

  • we ‘do’ respect.
  • We ‘do’ praise.
  • We ‘do’ fluency.
  • We ‘do’ mistakes.
  • We ‘do’ working hard.
  • We ‘do’ language.
  • We ‘do’ LOTS of practice.
  • We ‘do’ questions.
  • We ‘do’ laughter.
  • We ‘do’ social skills.
  • We ‘do’ risk taking. We ‘do’ friendships.
  • We ‘do’ articulation.
  • We ‘do’ listening.
  • We ‘do’ learning.

And guess what? We, along with you, can do all of that, and so much more, in the comfort of our own homes!

Therapy looks vastly different to many of us currently. Instead of the usual routine of coming to clinic for face-to-face sessions, we are being asked to engage with our clients and Speech Pathologists, via webcam…Crazy times!

Let’s take the opportunity to embrace what life has thrown at us. Join us on this exciting new journey and become the Speech Pathologist in your own home! Let US help YOU, to occupy your child’s time, with meaningful activities that target therapy goals to benefit your child and help progress continue to be a reality.

So here are three practical tips for you to engage with Speech Pathology via telehealth:

  1. Ask your Speech Pathologist lots of questions - There is no such thing as a silly question! Ask for extra homework tasks, ask for more explicit instructions, ask for extra resources that you can use at home. Let US help YOU to work with your child.
     
  2. Utilise every aspect of your day - Speech Pathology work does not always have to be a sit-down activity. Do it whilst riding your bikes. Do it whilst going for a walk. Do it during ‘tv time’. Do it over the dinner table. Do it whilst making your numerous cups of tea (or hot choccy)! For more ideas on how you can incorporate speech and language skills into your daily routine, you can check out this blog post.
     
  3. Encourage your child to engage in activities with incentives. And get creative! Save your cookie baking until after you have talked about emotions in characters from the movie. Save the lollipops until the whole book has been read. Use a ‘walk in the park’ as an exciting incentive to help your child complete their list of spelling words. Move ‘TV time’ to the end of the day, after you have worked on your joint attention and turn-taking.   

Our thoughts are with parents worldwide, who desperately want their child to remain engaged in Speech Pathology, and feel like they can’t. Rest assured… You can, and you will! Together, we will.