Emily Coursen
M.S. CCC-SLP
October 22, 2024
Parents play a critical role in their child’s speech therapy journey, and it is essential that they are an active participant in their child’s goals and progress. A study done by The Division of Early Childhood of The Council for Exceptional Children showed that “for children with speech sound disorder (SSD), who comprise a large proportion of SLPs’ caseloads worldwide, completing home practice can increase the amount of intervention received and improve outcomes.” The practice they complete at home may be just as important as the weekly therapy session itself! Parents can help their children meet their goals by integrating home practice into their child’s daily life to ensure the carryover of skills and generalization.
Digital Homework
The homework feature of Speech Blubs Pro allows clinicians to assign and track homework with parental involvement. Before Speech Blubs Pro, I would send home word lists, worksheets, or activities and have no clue if the student was really completing them at home. This made it difficult to track home progress. Sometimes, the physical homework would get lost and the parent would never even know they were supposed to complete it. Now, with digital homework on Speech Blubs Pro, the app is linked to the student’s app and displays on the clinician’s app whether or not the homework was completed for that week. The homework feature also makes it easy for students to complete it with their parents’ help or independently.
Parent-Friendly Features
Speech Blubs displays students’ target words and homework in a clear, user-friendly way that is easy for parents to navigate quickly. The app is great for busy, on-the-go parents; they can supervise homework time without having to directly facilitate and take more time out of their busy after-school schedules to fit in speech homework. Parents also like the idea that Speech Blubs is a positive, educational screen time. The child enjoys playing games and the fun elements of the app, while parents feel good knowing that practice is getting done and their child is engaging in healthy screen time.
Testimonial from a parent
One parent I’ve worked with is a busy dad to three children who is constantly on the go with after-school activities, sports, and family events. After numerous attempts to find an efficient way for them to squeeze in home practice of their speech sounds, I began using Speech Blubs Pro and assigning speech sound homework to the child’s profile. During the week after school, Dad would have her complete the homework independently while being close by to facilitate if needed. He reported great success with homework, and the client’s speech sounds improved quicker!
Speech Blubs Pro empowers parents to play an active role in their child’s progress with user-friendly homework features. It also helps parents to better direct questions and concerns that arise throughout their child’s therapy journey by allowing them to see their child practicing and getting a better sense of what is working and what isn’t. Creating an open environment for parents to participate, ask questions, and generally learn about what we SLPs are teaching in therapy sessions will help parents continue that teaching in the home environment.
Resources:
Parents’ Experiences of Completing Home Practice for Speech Sound Disorders
