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Simple Therapy Tricks to Try at Home

The Stewart Center: SIMPLE THERAPY TRICKS TO TRY AT HOME

BE A GOOD LISTENER

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ALEXANDRA NEVINS M.S., CCC-SLP

A simple and effective way to encouragecommunication with your child is to getdown to their eye level when speaking tothem. This shows your child that theyhave your full attention and you are readyto engage.

BRING THE DRAMA

JAMIE MACDONALD MOT, OTR

Use big emotions and dramatic play to help capture your child's attention and intrigue. Sing a silly song narrating an activity. Use a funny voice or puppet play to keep your child engaged.

TAKE A BREATH

HILLERY JONES M.A., LPC, ATR-BC

Deep breathing can be a signal to your brain to calm down. Encourage your child to take deep breaths by drawing on a sheet of paper with scented markers— model sniffing while taking a deep breath and ask them to try. Ask your child, "what did you smell?".

FIRST AND THEN

ABBY COOK M.S. OTR

A simple way to motivate your child to complete challenging or non-preferred tasks is to use "first/then" language with "then" as the reward for getting the job done. For example, first, brush your teeth, and then play outside.

STAY NEUTRAL

MIMI LE M.A., LMFT, LPC

Follow-through is so important toestablish trust and healthy boundariesbetween parent and child. You will alsobe modeling how to react and respond inthose moments so make sure to have acalm and neutral tone of voice and bodylanguage to match!

GET THEM TALKING

JACQUELINE CASPER M.S. CCC-SLP

Ask child-specific questions you knowthe answers to, e.g., what did you eat forlunch, what did you do today, where didyou go today, etc.

FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE

LAUREN JOHNSON M.S., CF-SLP

Focus on what the child can do instead ofoveremphasizing what they can't do. Ifyour child has trouble saying a certainsound, e.g. (f), work on that sound alone.Once it becomes easier, incorporateit into syllables (fi-fi-fi / fafa-fa)before moving on toactual words that use it(fire, fall).

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