Autism Speech Therapy:  Finding Activities that Work Best for Your Child

Looking for autism speech therapy ideas to help your child at home? Here are a few tips on where to start to find out exactly which activities are best for her.

If you’ve read my article on why practicing speech with your child every day at home is very important, you know that doing this can speed up her progress. Click here if you haven’t seen that article.

The first question that may come to your mind is,


Where Do I Start?

Speech graphic

If you are ready to give your child this extra help, the best way to learn where to begin is to sit in on her sessions with the speech therapist, if at all possible.

Before I did this, I needed some guidance, too. Observing our therapist gave me an education in speech therapy.

But it wasn’t an education in speech therapy for just anyone.  It was an education in speech therapy tailored for my son. 

And that’s exactly what I needed.

If you have other small children with you, or if there is some other reason this isn’t possible, try to watch her therapy sessions from an observation room. Many if not most therapists have a room next door to the therapy room just for this purpose.

Even if you can observe only occasionally, this will help you know better how to work with your child at home. 

But the more you can see what her therapist does, the better.


Why Should I Observe My Child's Speech Therapy?

  • You will learn what types of activities the therapist uses to reach the goals.

  • You will be able to learn first-hand how you can effectively carry out these activities with your child.
  • If you are sitting in, you can ask questions at the end of the session. (Note: Please do not interrupt the session to ask questions.)

Autism Speech Therapy Ideas I Learned From Our Therapist

natural conversationThe ability to have a conversation is usually the goal.

Here are just some of the techniques I have learned by observing my son's therapy.

  • Helpful ways to encourage natural conversation or interaction
  • How to turn any game into therapy
  • Ways to use reinforcement or rewards for good work
  • What types of activities work best for my son
  • Know-how of when and how far to push him to achieve a goal or to complete a task
  • Speech therapy ideas I can use at home with my child
  • How to present activities in an effective and encouraging way

I often pattern my activities at home by what our therapist does during C's time with her each week. The therapist also writes new goals for him every six months which I get a copy of to consult at home. I can use these goals as guidelines for activities I should be doing with him.

The autism speech therapy ideas you’ll be getting as you observe your child’s sessions will be tailored to meet his needs. Once you’ve seen what his therapist is doing each week, you’ll have a better idea of how to pick out even more activities to meet his goals.


What If My Child Doesn't Get Speech Therapy?

I realize there are probably some children with autism who don’t get speech training. Therapy can be quite expensive if your child doesn't receive services at school.

If this describes your situation, then that’s all the more reason that this site can help you, too.

Whether your child gets professional speech therapy or not, the ideas on this site can help to boost your child’s results. I welcome you to come back here since we have more autism speech therapy ideas for you to find.

You can give your child a lot of help on your own even without a professional speech therapist.

You can also check out this Speech Therapy Guide for Parents of Children With Autism by teach.com. If you can't get a professional therapist to help you, then the next best thing is to learn on your own how to help your child.

With so many resources available on the web, you can do this, Mom and Dad!

And as they rightly state on their site, you are well-qualified to teach your child and to give her the help she needs, because you know her better than anyone else. So I encourage you not to give up!

If you would like to receive tips and updates about autism learning, scroll up to the top of this page and join our newsletter.

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