Make Today Independence Day from Articulation Delays
Summer is a great time to work on articulation skills. Kids have more time and flexibility to work on their errored speech sounds and practicing over the summer prevents loss of skills they may have been developing during school speech therapy. Some students may not qualify for speech services by their school district, but private speech therapy at home over the summer is a great option to begin erasing speech errors!
Working on articulation through teletherapy is a great option. Kids can quickly log in from home after camp or before heading to the beach or pool. In addition to our own experiences improving articulation skills here at Seagull Speech, there are also a number of studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of articulation therapy online.
But what about HOW to provide effective articulation therapy through telepractice. Does therapy need to be carried out any differently via telehealth speech therapy? Historically, we have provided therapy the same as we would have done traditionally “in person”, with very good results. This has been confirmed in a recent panel discussion I attended regarding telehealth speech therapy.
One panelist, a university professor with an interest in pediatric speech sound disorders and treating them via teletherapy, provided her research on this area. This professor questioned if treatment methods via teletherapy are similar to that of traditional in-person therapy.
Based on this professor’s research, it was concluded that traditional in-person therapy and telehealth speech therapy both require similar treatment techniques. For best results for preschool and school aged children with speech sound disorders, the following is recommended:
20-40 minute sessions
Twice per week
75-100 sound practices per session
12-16 weeks of speech sound therapy
Here at Seagull Speech, we have a multitude of fun activities to target speech sounds. From literacy based therapy (reading books and subsequent activities), to a variety of games, songs, coloring, and more, boredom is rare!