Is homework between sessions important?

The last thing that any speech pathologist wants to do is add pressure to your busy life as a parent. One of the most important things that we do to support you and your child is listen to your individual needs, and work with your family in a way that suits you. That’s why we understand that the suggestion of speech homework may not always be embraced, but there is an important reason we recommend it.

Working on your child’s speech goals outside of therapy can expand their learning and significantly speed up their progress - in fact, we often see more change happen in the time between sessions than in the sessions themselves! There is an important differentiation to make though:

·       Speech homework should reinforce and maintain the skills your child has already learned in their therapy sessions, with the goal of generalising these skills to their everyday speech.

·       Speech homework should never aim to teach your child a new skill or ask you to take on the role of a speech pathologist. It should also never over-focus on the new skill, especially if it is still hard as this can make a child feel like they are failing.

We’ve put together some quick tips to help you continue working on goals outside of therapy:

1.     Chat to your child’s speech pathologist at the end of each session, so we can review what we did and how your child performed. This is when we will discuss what home practice is appropriate between sessions.

2.     Write a short and simple statement with your child as a commitment for the week, this will help their understanding of what to do: “I will practice [the week’s goal e.g., saying my target R- words] while [when, where, or how e.g., driving in the car with mum.]”

3.     Following on from the above example, the car is a great time to get some practice in! Use any down time you have when travelling to get some easy practice in.

4.     Give specific praise – in therapy sessions we don’t just say “good job” but really focus on where the child has performed well e.g., “Wow that /s/ sound sounded so clear!”. Praising exactly what they did well helps them to keep doing it well.

5.     Incorporate games - try printing out your child’s target words and making them into a game of Memory.

6.     Use books - ask your child to look at pictures and point out as many ‘R’ sounds as they can; ask them to repeat back parts of the story to practice their comprehension skills; or talk about how different characters may be feeling to develop their vocabulary when describing emotions.

7.     Keep speech homework and academic work separate, using different motivators. A simple sticker chart is a great way to track daily homework and empower your child to keep practicing.

Another important thing to note is that your speech pathologist will only assign homework at the right time for your child, and with clear instructions on how to practice at home. If you’re ever unsure about what you’re meant to be working on then chat to your speech therapist to make things clearer, even if it’s just for some ideas on how make speech homework more fun - believe us, we always have heaps of ideas for speech games up our sleeves!

Lauren Barber (2021)