Welcome to another week in the Speech Therapy Makeover series! I’m challenging myself to “make over” some traditional therapy tasks so they will be more person-centered (functional, meaningful, and relevant for the people we work with). We know that person-centered care offers the best results across the board for outcomes, patient satisfaction, and efficiency of meeting goals.
Speech Therapy Makeover Task: Worksheets for “homework”
Psst: If you missed other “Makeover” ideas, check out Naming Furniture, Card Games, Therapist-Centered Goals, and Taboo for Conversation Partner Training!
The Challenge: There is a long-standing tradition of giving worksheet homework in our field. However, workbook activities can be overstructured, and improvement with workbooks doesn’t always correlate to improving everyday life. In addition, this sort of homework leads the people we treat to think that success is about the speech therapy room (like turning homework in for school), when in reality we want the collaborative focus to be success in everyday life. Let’s add a dose of activity and participation to a home program!
Person-Centered Ideas: Language or thinking goals should relate to an activity/participation for the people we see. Consider adding activity/participation to part of the “Home Program” routine. After all, real life improvement is the goal! Use your therapy session to practice skills or strategies, and then always identify how the Person will use that practice until the next session.
*Comprehension:”Today we saw that it really helped you understand when you repeated information back to me on the phone. What phone calls could you try that with this week?”
*Expression: “The Script we practiced to talk about the basketball game was so much easier after practicing 3 times! I want you to practice it for 10 minutes a day. Then who are you going to talk to about basketball?”
*Memory: “It really helped you to use the checklist we created to complete your checkbook balance. What day do you plan to practice that this week? Who could double-check your work?”
*Attention: “You know we are working on paying attention without getting distracted, for 10 minutes at a time. You mentioned that setting the table has been difficult for this reason. How many days this week do you want to try it again now that we practiced in therapy?”
*Problem-Solving: “With Goal-Plan-Do-Review, you improved with reading your medication labels to find the dose. Who can practice this with you at home? What strategies are you going to continue to use?”
*Motor Speech: “We practiced slowing down and making marks where you need to pause for your lessons. Your job this week is to make these notes on your own for the lessons you are teaching the following week.”
Really, the possibilities are endless with home programs that strengthen the skills and strategies for an activity that matters to the unique individuals we treat. Be sure to set up some sort of tracking system so you can get information and data about how your speech therapy sessions are helping in real-life contexts.
Thanks for reading! If you would like more person-centered therapy ideas, please check out my Shop. Be sure to follow on Facebook , Pinterest, Instagram or sign up for email updates to receive the series right in your inbox. If you have any ideas of speech therapy tasks you think need a “makeover”, email me at [email protected].