By Kylee Hopper
You’ve just worked out that your child needs help with their speech. You go to a doctor, get a referral and sigh a sigh of relief, ‘YES! Now they can get the help they need!’. You pat yourself on your back for a job well done. You know early intervention is key and you are hoping that this therapy will help your poor frustrated child from lashing out because they are struggling to communicate.
You call your local speech therapist only to be told, ‘sorry our books are closed’ or ‘the next available appointment is in 6-12 months time’. You call another and another and another, only to be told the same thing.
But early intervention is paramount right!? Isn’t this what we have been told? What will these delays mean for your child? How is it going to affect them in the long term? What can you do in the meantime? What support is available while you wait? All these questions and more run through your mind. You are frustrated, angry, upset and disappointed. The support you were so desperately seeking just isn’t available.
Every day you see your child struggle with emotional regulation, social-emotional skills, social skills such a taking turns, communication or poor attention span. This situation is incredibly tough for you and your child. How can you be proactive? What can you do in the meantime to help and support your child while you wait?
You are frustrated, angry, upset and disappointed. The support you were so desperately seeking just isn’t available.
Fun, educational and therapeutic resources do exist to assist you and your child while you are on a wait list for therapy. Resources that are tried and tested by Speech Therapists and used in their clinics. Resources that have proven results from parent run case studies, used in homes, childcare centres, schools, special education departments and that have seen success with thousands of children Australia wide.
This fun, interactive, educational resource has been designed with clear, bright activities so as not to overwhelm young children, has a variety of themed activities to peak children’s interest and keep task motivation and engagement high, helping to stretch and encourage growth in attention span. It has a fantastic sensory component to it with sound and touch of velcro pieces which are moved from one side and place onto the activity on the other side of the book, thus supporting fine motor skills, pincer grasp, both hands working together and crossing the midline.
