5 Speech Therapy Tips To Get You Through the Summer

02 Jun 5 Speech Therapy Tips To Get You Through the Summer

School’s out! It’s Summer! While this means we all get a good break, it also means children who need speech therapy won’t have access to their school’s speech therapist for the next 2 months or so. For some children, momentum built up throughout the year can be lost during the summer break if your child does not have consistent speech therapy practice. While schools are required to provide Extended School Year services for children who qualify. Thankfully parents can take steps to help maintain their children’s skills with these speech therapy tips for kids until school starts back this fall if they do not qualify for Extended School Year services.

Helpful Speech Tips for Kids this Summer

Practice the skills your child is good at. Ask your school’s speech therapist about which specific skills your child has mastered and which they need to work on. Also ask them to write down or print off some homework assignments for your child to practice during the summer and for any suggestions they may have that will help your child maintain his skills.

 5 Minutes Schedule  a regular time to practice these skills daily. A regular practice plan can help your child maintain the skills he has, but remember you don’t have to buckle down. There’s no need for piles of drill sheets everyday. Five minutes is plenty of time to practice, and if you can turn practice into a game, there won’t be any fuss about it.

Take advantage of travel time If you are going to be traveling this summer, take advantage of those long car trips or airplane rides. Play word based games like 20 questions, I Spy, or even “Let’s see who can name the most “R” words in one minute.”

Read! Reading a book is another great way to simultaneously keep your child occupied and get some speech practice in on a road trip. Before you leave, head to your local library and ask for a summer reading list. Check out books and have your child read them outloud throughout the summer.

Visit a speech therapist. Finally, the best thing you can do to keep your child’s speech and language skills up to date is by keeping regular appointments with a speech therapist. Starting this June, our speech therapist  Michelle Anne Tally will be making appointments to help children practice their speech skills while out of school. If your child will be missing out on speech therapy sessions this summer and you want more speech therapy tips for kids, call us at  662-282-4949 so we can set up an appointment for you.