When others don’t “believe” in speech therapy…
“Why do they need early intervention? Won’t they just talk eventually?”
This is a sentiment that is all too common, but I will say there is now more education, resources, and advocacy out in the world for speech therapy & its benefits!
But what do we do as SLPs if parents of our clients do not “buy in” to the idea of speech therapy & the importance of early intervention?
It’s difficult because on the one hand, we are not salesmen. We are not trying to sell a product. On the other hand, we do have an ethical responsibility to educate them on the benefits of speech therapy for their child so that they can carry over the strategies we use.
- I think it’s crucial that we advocate & educate consistently. We have to continue to show up for the sessions and point out when strategies are effective and that proof is in the pudding.
- If we need to print out research articles, make visuals, provide handouts, etc., then we just do it.
- Our goal is to increase communication skills for children to one day advocate for themselves & that needs to be the focus. This is a team effort that needs to be communicated to families as well.
Trust me, I understand the frustration that can come with feeling like you can’t make as much as an impact as you’d like. Keep going, stay focused on the goal at hand, & advocate advocate advocate.
—
If you want to learn more about this topic in detail, my course Early Intervention: The Essentials Course is now available. I go into detail about how to navigate through difficult conversations with parents & how to deal with all of the common scenarios that us EI SLPs experience on a daily basis.
As always, I’m here if you want to chat!
With love & joy,
Tiffany (@talkteaspeech)
