Speech is important for every child. When a child falls behind their peers in this category, it can become tricky for them to communicate effectively with others, influencing many points of their lives. If you suspect that extra help is needed to get your child speaking fluently, you’ll want to contact a speech pathologist.
While all pathologists will say that they are the best in the business, this obviously can’t be true for every one of them. Fortunately, there are traits that only the best speech pathologists have. Here are the qualities you’re going to want in a speech pathologist when you hire them.
If you suspect that extra help is needed to get your child speaking properly, you’ll want to contact a speech pathologist.
Punctual
When you work with a speech pathologist, you want them to be on time every day. They should start their sessions at a predictable and consistent time. If they are late, they should offer make-up time to accommodate for the time lost from that session. Understand that this only applies if the speech pathologist is late. If you are the one who is late, there’s a chance that you won’t get to make up the time you lost. Of course, this varies depending on which speech pathologist you hire.
Uses Many Different Motivators
A speech pathologist who is highly skilled in their profession will try to engage your child in a variety of ways. To help your pathologist know what motivators to use, you can help them by letting them know what your child enjoys. Talk to them about your child’s favorite hobbies, toys, and colors are, among other things. An expert speech pathologist will be able to take this information and use it to find a way to encourage your child throughout each session.
Professional
Professionalism comes with many meanings. Some commonly accepted characteristics of a professional speech pathologist include showing respect to their clients, keeping information private at the client’s disclosure, and maintaining a professional relationship with their clients, meaning they don’t try to become “friends” with the people with which they work. A “therapy” is different from a family or friend relationship. If they don’t seek to become closer friends with you, don’t let this get you down. They just want to remain as neutral as possible to minimize any biases or favoritism from clouding their judgment when working with clients.
The Connections Therapy Center
The Connections Therapy Center serves families of children and adolescents with disabilities and special needs. We are a team of experts in the fields of pediatric speech, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and behavioral sciences. As a team, we offer intensive hands-on therapy for children and adolescents, as well as informative and useful resources for families. If you are interested in learning more about what we can do to help your family, visit us online or give us a call at (301) 577-4333. Want to get more information on how to help your child thrive? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.