Parents & Professionals As Partners

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By Alanna Dutra, M.A., CCC-SLPAs speech-language pathologists, when working with families of young children with language delays, it is important to take the parents perspective and show understanding of their natural worry about their child’s prognosis or expected improvements. Often parents may already feel frustrated, or even defeated, in their own efforts to assist their child. Frequently these parents turn to speech-language pathologists for answers and support.Although speech-language pathologists are an important component to an intervention team, the greatest gains are seen when parents and professionals work together. Speech-language pathologists identify effective strategies to help overcome communication delays or disorders and begin intervention. However, the pathologists’ time with the children is often limited to a single session per week. When parents carry over and continue to use the strategies provided in therapy, their children have many more opportunities to practice new skill sets and refine behaviors, leading to better outcomes. One effective way to do this is to incorporate parent training into the end of every treatment session, allowing parents to understand what was done in therapy and how to continue working on these skills throughout the week.Another effective intervention approach involving parents and professionals as partners is the Hanen Centre’s It Takes Two to Talk® Program, which Communication Works recently had the opportunity to host. Over the course of this program, parents are taught various ways to capitalize on everyday opportunities in order to support their child’s developing language skills. Speech-language pathologists work with parents during the It Takes Two to Talk® trainings to help them recognize the ways in which their child may already be communicating, identify strategies to respond effectively to these bids for interaction, and learn to extend these exchanges. An important part of this is to observe the child and follow his or her lead, ensuring a motivating situation that lays the foundation to connect and communicate.When a therapist succeeds in making a connection with a child, it is an extremely positive step, but when a parent can make that connection, it is FANTASTIC! Our goal is to empower parents to make these connections and support them in their journey to help their child communicate at his or her highest level.