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At-home Activities to Support Speech Development in Children

Class­rooms across the region are oper­at­ing remote­ly, as schools have closed for the aca­d­e­m­ic year. For some fam­i­lies, this change extends beyond the class­room and impacts how their chil­dren receive sup­port ser­vices, such as speech ther­a­py, through their schools. With May being Bet­ter Hear­ing and Speech Month, Tana Mag­gart, speech ther­a­pist at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG), offers some tips for par­ents and care­givers to sup­port their young children.

Back-to-School Tip #1: Communication is the key to navigating changes

It’s safe to say 2020 has been one of the strangest years in our kids’ lives — their school year shift­ed abrupt­ly in March, their par­ents became their teach­ers, and then every­thing that requires pants was can­celed! They can’t see their friends, they have to wear masks when they leave the house, and now plans and dif­fi­cult deci­sions are being made about the new school year. Adults are strug­gling to cope with all these events, so you can be sure that kids are hav­ing a hard time too. But they don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly tell us that with words — they show us with their behav­iors. Whin­ing, cry­ing, clingy behav­ior, trou­ble falling asleep, reduced or increased appetite, out­bursts, and oth­er behav­ioral con­cerns are all pos­si­ble indi­ca­tors that kids are hav­ing a hard time with changes in their lives. Hope­ful­ly, for all of us, things will start to set­tle down and return to some­thing clos­er to nor­mal soon. But talk­ing with your kids about what is hap­pen­ing is the most impor­tant thing you can do to help them through the tough stuff. That sounds eas­i­er than it is, so here are some tips for get­ting started.

Back-to-School Tip #2: In-person or online? Make the best decision for your family

Fam­i­lies are fac­ing tough deci­sions right now: Should our kids go back to school or par­tic­i­pate in remote learn­ing? Many schools are offer­ing the option of in-per­son learn­ing or online learn­ing for the 2020 – 2021 school year due to the con­tin­ued threat of COVID-19. Attend­ing school is gen­er­al­ly good for the aca­d­e­m­ic, social, and emo­tion­al well­be­ing of chil­dren. But for many, the phys­i­cal health risk of attend­ing school in per­son this fall out­weighs those ben­e­fits. There are advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages to both options, so how does one decide what is best for their child? Here are some things to consider.

Back-to-School Tip #3: Ease your family back toward normalcy with small steps

After sev­er­al months of our activ­i­ties being restrict­ed to home, get­ting back to ​“nor­mal” (Is that even a thing any­more?) may be anx­i­ety-pro­vok­ing for some. While some kid­dos respond fine to the ​“cold turkey” method of just jump­ing right back into a rou­tine, oth­ers will need their re-entry to be more grad­ual. Meal­times, bed­times, even hygiene sched­ules may be out of sync after such a long break from school.

Back-to-School Tip #4: Reestablish your family’s sleep routine

“Back to School” are words many par­ents have been wait­ing to hear for months! As the sum­mer days pass us by though, many par­ents have noticed that this extend­ed break from school has real­ly done a num­ber on kids’ sleep sched­ules — they’re stay­ing up late or all night and sleep­ing well into the day. Clear­ly, this sched­ule is going to make the first week of school an extra sleepy chal­lenge for stu­dents, teach­ers, and par­ents! Here are some tips for get­ting your school-age child’s sleep sched­ule back on track.