I recently read an informative article over at Apraxia-KIDS that discusses reasons why children refuse speech therapy. The author suggested instead of asking “Why do children refuse speech therapy?”, the focus should have been on what we need to do that that the child wants to learn. The article emphasizes that if a child is not participating, we must re-evaluate our teaching methods to facilitate and reinforce learning behavior.
Here are 5 key pointers to look at when understanding why do children refuse speech therapy:
- Motivation is key – are we using strong reinforcers which will help the child enjoy the learning? Are the reinforcers correspond to the desired outcome and responses?
- Do we reinforce the learning on the child regularly enough especially at the beginning?
- Have we considered the feasibility of a particular skill for the child? Are there existing conditions (i.e.: apraxia) that might prevent the child from attaining success on the required skill and hence, demotivates them?
- How effective are the prompting methods we use? Different children will thrive or struggle with different prompting methods. Understanding the child’s learning history helps to determine the best prompting strategy for the child.
- Does the child have a strong support system to help reinforce the learning behavior? The parents, caregiver, nanny, or anyone in the child’s close circle should work with the therapist in reinforcing the child to adult’s requests and to follow through with learning instructions.
In summary, there are two important factors to dig deeper into when a child is refusing any teaching situation. Firstly, it is the variables involved in the teaching situation. Secondly, understanding the learning history of the child. Often times it is the teaching that is the problem, not the teacher, and certainly, not the child.
You can check out the full article here.
For new speech therapy ideas and inspirations, please check out my free Digital SLP podcast to share insight and tips on implementing your speech therapy sessions. For fun and interactive speech therapy materials that students and SLPs both will adore, check out what the Digital SLP® membership site has to offer or sign up for our free trial now.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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