The Best Way To Help Your Speech Delayed Child

The most helpful thing you can do at home for your speech delayed child is to make them feel as good as possible about their speech and themselves. Accept whatever you child says and if it is right, you can praise him. If it is wrong, do not continually ask him to correct it. If you occasionally ask him to try to correct it, accept whatever comes out, and praise him for a good try.

Do not force him to “use your words”. Remember that he does not have a consistent voluntary control over his speech and he may not be able to say a word correctly even though he wants to and he said it correctly yesterday or even ten minutes ago. If you can understand your child, you can repeat what he has just said so that he can hear how it should sound and so that he knows that you understand him, so you can help him feel he is an effective communicator.

You are not your child’s speech therapist. It is not necessary to endlessly drill your child with speech therapy exercises. This will only frustrate you and your child. Some simple homework under the guidance of a speech professional may be necessary for progress.

Your child needs your love, acceptance and patience. You cannot make him correct his speech by pressuring or correcting him. To fully recover your child needs your support. With proper and consistent intervention, there is no reason why your child will not achieve normal speech.

You need the strength to hang in there and keep going. The days can get long and frustrating. One of the best things we did was network with other parents of special needs children. You have something to bond over and share ideas with what has worked for you. Check in your community if there are playgroups or parent support groups for parents of differently-abled children. n