While there are so many recognised and experienced Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) at almost every recognised speech therapy clinic in Kolkata to help you out with the speech disorders of your child, one important thing to keep in mind is that you as a parent has a lot of responsibilities! You are the best teacher of your child!
How to do Speech Therapy at Home!
There are certain tips which have been proven effective and are being recommended by professional SLPs worldwide. These fun activities are not only interesting but have been fruitful as well in improving your child’s communication skills –
- Don’t have the TV on in the background while speaking with your child! Spend quality time with him or her, and make sure there are no distractions. Having a one-to-one conversation in a quiet room is a good idea. Keep the child focussed and engaging.
- Make the conversation funny and playful. Skilled SLPs at any recognised speech therapy clinic in Kolkata suggest that, while teaching something, you can try doing it in a rhythmic sing-song way – this will make things interesting and easily comprehensive for the child.
- Teach your child how to use gestures. Gestures allow a child to express themselves better with the help of hand movements. Sometimes, a child might fall short of appropriate words, and therefore might find it difficult to explain certain things. So, even though your child can speak, if not well, but quite better – you must combine using gestures along with speech in your teaching sessions. There are studies which have shown that there is a good correlation between gestures and speech – and that the use of gestures have proved to be quite effective. For example – while expressing something ‘more’ or ‘big’ use hand gestures by imaging out a massive thing. This will make the child correlate the meaning of words and phrases with these hand gestures. This trick is frequently used by professional SLPs at almost every recognised speech therapy clinic in Kolkata.
- Spend 40 minutes per day just playing with your kid! Be it indoor or outdoor, just make sure that your child is happy and is in all smiles and laughters! Laughter and play is the best medicine!
- Make pictorial and colourful magnets and place them on your refrigerator. Add all your child’s favourite things in the magnets, such as his or her favourite food, book, toy, object, hobby, etc. Whenever your child is unable to express himself or herself, he or she will take the concerned magnet and give it to you.
- Put some things out of your child’s reach! This trick is recommended by many well known SLPs at any renowned speech therapy clinic in Kolkata. Do this with something which you know your child will definitely want and ask for if gone missing. Be it his drawing book, his favourite toy, or an interesting story book that he/she has been reading recently, hide it from your child, and make him or her actually come to you and take you by your hand to get you the thing. He or she might even come to you with a magnet from the refrigerator or might use gestures to indicate what he/she wants. This will enhance the comprehension as well as the communication skills of your kid.
- Praise your child’s efforts! Praising encourages the child, and makes him or her realise that whatever he or she is doing is becoming fruitful. This makes the child optimistic. It increases the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence, and will also make them independent in the long run. This will have a profound effect on your child’s success in his or her future endeavours!
However, one thing to keep in mind, is that these are just some tips that you can try at home. These cannot and should not replace any therapy performed by certified Speech Language Therapists at any recognised speech therapy clinic in Kolkata.