Questions about Therapy Sessions
Do you work with individual children or do you work with more than one child at a time?
Therapy sessions are usually given on an individual basis unless it is beneficial to the child to share the activities with a peer.
Sometimes parents may ask for their child to be considered for a shared session in order to share the costs of speech and language therapy. I am happy to arrange this if there is another child who has a similar difficulty and who is a similar age.
Children who have pragmatic language or social thinking difficulties will usually attend in a group but may also be considered for individual sessions with the close involvement of parents and / or teachers.
How long does each session last?
Each session is one hour and includes both direct and indirect therapy. Direct therapy describes activities where the therapist is working with your child and indirect therapy describes how the therapist will discuss the therapy tasks with you and help you to plan follow up tasks at home or at school.
The chat about how to follow up the therapy tasks with activities at home/school forms an important part of the therapy session. Supporting parents and school staff who are working with your child is equally important as the direct therapy with your child. Parents who are enabled to be the language coach for their child are more effective in helping their child to progress.
As well as the amazing support you receive in your child's therapy session, the therapist will also be spending at least half an hour preparing games and activities. These are designed or selected especially for your child's interests and their needs. It may be a lotto, a board game or a set of cards to use in a motivating game. Parents and schools can keep these games that have been designed for them. Toys and games can also be loaned to parents and schools. It is my experience that a child will often ask for their 'game' at home, meaning that therapy is seen as a fun time for you to share.
In between therapy sessions you will have access to advice by telephone or email. Once I have accepted your child into my care, ideas for therapy will emerge for their therapy throughout the time between their sessions. Therapy is an ongoing relationship between the therapist and the parent or school member of staff. I will often receive updates in the week and welcome positive celebrations of achievement as well as questions asking for the next step.
Do I need to be present with my child at his/her speech and language therapy session?
Some parents have work commitments and cannot attend their child’s speech and language therapy session. In these cases an appointment is made for your child at their nursery or school. Sometimes a school will provide a teaching assistant who will attend your child’s session so that the teaching staff can learn how to support your child’s speech and language needs.
Parents are encouraged to attend their child’s session so that they can learn how to help their child improve their speech and / or language skills. The therapist will demonstrate a task so that parents will be able to duplicate the activity at home.
Will my child enjoy therapy?
Yes. I plan the therapy sessions so that each task is based on a game and generally for the younger child, they do not realise that they are working! When a child is slightly older, they may be more aware of their difficulties and know why they attend for therapy. The tasks remain fun but have a work ethic attached to them with lots of positive feedback for effort as well as for success.
A child needs to enjoy their sessions but also they need to trust the therapist to help them when they find things a bit tricky. Parents usually tell me that their child says that they will be able to do it when they see Mrs Roder. Some children refer to me as Jenny and others take the American model and call me Miss Jenny.