Speech Therapy Resources
When your child is in speech therapy, you may ask yourself what you can do to support your child at home. Here are some speech therapy resources, including ideas and helpful links for home speech practice.
Speech Sound Development
If you or your pediatrician suspect that your child’s speech is delayed, don’t panic! Many young children struggle to produce speech sounds. Some of these sounds will develop without intervention but sometimes, kids need a little extra help. That’s where Speech Language Pathologists step in and can evaluate and treat your child’s speech sound errors. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) has helpful information for families, including speech sound development charts to guide your decision making. When in doubt, speak to your doctor or an SLP!
Home Speech Practice
If your child will benefit from speech therapy, I like to share ideas to practice sounds at home. The more practice your child has, the faster they will learn their sounds. Once your child can successfully produce their error sounds in words, they can start practicing at home. Below are some ideas for home speech practice:
Family Game Night
Play games to encourage speech practice
- Have your child pick a game they really enjoy playing and use that time for speech practice
- During your child’s turn, they will say their practice words 5 times
- This makes speech practice fun and takes out the boring factor.
- Have fun! This is the most important rule!
Feedback
Give your child opportunities to hear and see their speech
- Practice speech sounds in the bathroom mirror every night before bed for 5 minutes. That way your child can see their mouth to know if they are saying their sounds correctly.
- During car rides, have your child practice speech sounds and record themselves on their tablet devices so they can decide if their speech sounds right or not to develop self-awareness
Sentence Practice
Take speech to the next level by practicing sentences
- Practice sentences after mastery of words and phrases
- Have your child read aloud and encourage them to monitor their own speech. Highlight words with their error sound so they know to try hard on that word.
- Set aside 10 minutes of speech practice a day (mealtimes, car ride, etc.). Try to stick to just those times to avoid burnout.
Helpful Websites and Apps
I am constantly referring families to these online resources to help improve speech production. A website or app is not going to replace high quality speech therapy, but they can definitely help strengthen the skills your child is learning in speech therapy.
Mommy Speech Therapy is my go-to website to provide parents with word lists for their children to practice at home. There are pictures and words for almost all sound errors, and once I can get a child to be accurate during speech therapy with a particular sound, I like to provide these worksheets for carryover practice at home.
Peachie Speechie has great videos to help show kids how to say speech sounds. I love this as a resource for parents, because it’s helpful to know how to help your child and what’s happening in the mouth for a particular sound.
If your child has moved beyond simple words and you’re looking for harder words, phrases, and sentences to practice, Home Speech Home has lots of practice word sets. It’s really helpful to use these word lists instead of having to try and come up with words off the top of your head.
Last but not least is Articulation Station. This app is not cheap. In fact, it’s the opposite of cheap. But it’s absolutely fantastic. I use it in my therapy practice all the time. There is a light version, but I don’t know how many sounds it offers since I have the full version. It’s an investment, but if your child struggles with speech, especially if they have a lot of sound errors, this is a great tool.
