Tips for Talking to Parents About Speech and Language Concerns

As the new year approaches—potentially along with a new round of referrals—it’s a good time to prepare for new students who have yet to be identified for speech and language issues. Maybe it’s a new transfer student or a student receiving multi-tiered systems of support or one on a “watch” list. Handling new referrals involves one particularly sensitive task—planning those conversations with parents about their child. We must strike a careful balance of stating facts, giving our clinical opinion and remaining empathetic to the parent and their perspective. Explaining Language Skill Development to Parents Using a House-Building Analogy My 4 Favorite Tips to Involve Parents in Treatment Help Parents Replace Screen Time With Talking I find the following tips useful in handling these potentially challenging conversations: Phrase your concerns as questions. “Ms. Smith, have you noticed Janie has difficulty using the personal pronoun ‘I’ in sentences? She usually says, ‘Me want cookie.’ Have you noticed this at home?” Phrasing concerns as questions provides two benefits: It keeps concerns a two-way conversation and helps parents not get defensive. Nine times out of 10, parents will say, “Oh yeah, I’ve noticed that.” Let them know you are listening. Use “I hear you. I understand.” Sometimes people just want to be heard, and sometimes our job is to just listen. Let the caregiver speak. You don’t have to agree with them, but remind t...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs