The holiday season is upon us! With it comes a variety of opportunities and challenges in the world of speech-language therapy. The holidays are usually filled with excitement, changes in routines, and many new sensory experiences that can both motivate and overwhelm the children you work with. As an SLP, it’s important to navigate this time of year thoughtfully in order to best support your clients and their families. Consider these helpful tips for preparing for the holidays in speech therapy!
Special Considerations While Preparing for the Holidays in Speech Therapy
Before jumping straight into lesson planning for holiday speech therapy sessions, think about the unique backgrounds of the families you serve.
Make sure you address holidays in a way that feels appropriate to you and reflects the wishes of the families you work with. Don’t try to “teach” a holiday you know nothing about. Don’t only highlight more mainstream holidays either.
Be mindful of embracing diversity in your speech room, and ask your clients and their caregivers about special holiday traditions they participate in at home.
Benefits of the Holiday Season in Speech Therapy
The holidays are a great opportunity to work on a wide range of speech and language goals with your students. This time of year also has great benefits that you can capitalize on to aid in your teaching:
- Student motivation is high
- Natural reinforcement occurs
- Social communication opportunities
Student Motivation is High
The holiday season is usually an exciting and highly engaging time for children. They are more likely to be motivated to participate in learning activities when you incorporate holiday-related themes into speech sessions.
Natural Reinforcement Occurs
Many holiday-related activities are also discussed and prepared for at home. It’s easier for children to connect to their speech and language goals outside the speech room when similar activities occur in multiple places.
Reinforcement comes naturally!
Social Communication Opportunities
The holidays also provide easy opportunities for practicing social communication skills like greeting others, participating in conversations, and answering questions!
Use this great freebie for social communication practice during the holidays: You Say at the Holidays.
Tips for Preparing for the Holidays in Speech Therapy
Focus on building caregiver connections, integrating meaningful home activities, and having realistic expectations as you work with your children and their families.
As an Amazon affiliate, I may receive a small commission when you use the links in my post. There is no increase in the price you pay!
Build Caregiver Connections
The holidays are a wonderful opportunity to connect with families and offer support as it can be an overwhelming and busy time of year. Consider sharing toy recommendations, tips about navigating sensory overwhelm, and the benefits of using social stories.
Toy Recommendations
With many different holidays, gift-giving is a special part of the season. Offer toy recommendations to families to encourage language skills and positive interactions between caregivers and children, such as:
- Interactive books
- Age-appropriate puzzles
- Games
- Learning toys
*Check out even more toy ideas in my Amazon Storefront!
Tips about Navigating Sensory Overwhelm
Holidays can also be a time of great sensory overwhelm for some children. The bright lights, loud music, and busy stores can be hard for children to process but are often unavoidable.
Share strategies with families to help their children manage sensory overwhelm like:
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Creating a quiet space
- Having fidgets on hand
Helping caregivers be prepared for some of these situations can benefit everyone’s mental health!
Benefits of Using Social Stories
Social stories can also be helpful for families to use with their children in unfamiliar situations like lighting the menorah, singing Christmas carols, or attending a crowded community parade.
Caregivers can create their own or use done-for-you versions like this social story for students who stutter.
*To learn more ways to build strong relationships with caregivers, check out this low-cost professional development webinar called “Connecting with Caregivers”.
Meaningful Home Activities
The holidays often mean more family members are around the house! Usually, these people are eager to interact with the child and willing to offer speech and language support.
Give primary caregivers ideas for meaningful home activities their child can do with these family members, such as:
- Making a gingerbread house with a grandparent
- Creating a Kwanza unity cup with an aunt
- Building a snowman with an uncle
- Reading a favorite holiday book with grandparents
- Assisting a grandparent with a traditional Christmas dish
These interactions foster positive relationships for children and decrease caregiver burnout!
Be Realistic with Your Expectations
Finally, don’t forget to be realistic too! Many children won’t show as much progress during this time of year because they are integrating so many other aspects into their lives.
Even when students aren’t showing the same level of speech or language progress as they have been, they are still growing in other ways as they manage new experiences, interact with different people, and participate in important family traditions. Remember the whole child, not just their speech and language skills!
Preparing for the holidays in speech therapy can be a rewarding experience for you, the children, and the families you work with. Embrace this season as a time to build stronger connections, promote speech and language development, and celebrate diversity!
Try these products with a holiday theme:
Zingo for Seasonal Vocabulary (a speech hack)
Speech & Language Christmas Theme Bundle
You may also be interested in reading:
6 Ways an SLP Can Support Caregivers of Special Needs Children During the Holidays
6 EASY Ways to Make Speech Homework a Habit in the New Year
5 EFFECTIVE Ways for SLPs to Promote Practice During School Breaks
