Whether you are seeking speech therapy for yourself or a loved one, there are a few things you should be aware of. Here’s the lowdown on how speech therapy works, what to expect, and what you can do to receive the best outcomes from our team of therapists.
1. It is beneficial to retain an open mind.
When it comes to speech treatment, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s highly personalized, which is a wonderful thing because we all learn differently!
Your speech therapist may advise you to try games, drills, or even role-playing. It is critical to be open to learning and experimenting with various evidence-based treatment methods.
2. Speech therapy is time-consuming.
We all want immediate gratification. When it comes to speech treatment, however, there is no miracle pill. The speed with which you see results is determined by various factors, including the difficulty of the task and how frequently you practice the abilities you’re learning.
The truth is that improvement can only be made by hard work, perseverance, and consistency, both in and out of speech therapy sessions. We would expect to see dramatic results after just one or two sessions, yet changes can be modest.
As a speech-language pathologist, I may notice changes such as improved turn-taking or sustained eye contact where there was none previously. I understand that it is easier said than done, but speech therapy works if you persist with it!
3. Be wary of claims that appear to be too wonderful to be true.
With the touch of a mouse, you may find a plethora of products, programs, and people claiming that this vitamin, diet, educational program, or software would help you enhance your communication skills quickly! However, for speech therapy to be effective, an examination by a certified speech-language pathologist is required. That way, the correct diagnosis may be made, and the appropriate evidence-based treatment plan can be developed and implemented.
4. You must complete your homework.
Assume you wanted to learn to play the guitar. So you go to a 30-minute lesson, but you don’t pick up the guitar until the following weekly lesson. It wouldn’t surprise me if you hadn’t made any progress—or even if you had forgotten part of what you’d learned.
Consider doing this week after week. It would quickly become a waste of everyone’s time and energy, and you would probably feel frustrated. How can this be avoided in speech therapy?
By completing the home practice assignments assigned to you by your speech therapist in-between visits. You might have the best speech-language pathologist in the world, but if no practice is done outside of sessions, improvement will be slow.
