The First Day of Speech and Language Therapy!

A positive therapeutic rapport is the key to a positive outcome in therapy. When we meet with children for the initial session (and ongoing), one of our top priorities is to build rapport. Why is it that our TALK clients are so quick to adopt our treatment recommendations? At TALK, we value trust and rapport building, which is demonstrated by our clients’ progress treatment plan after treatment plan, and the connections they build with their therapists.

So what makes for a great session?  There are many ingredients that go into building a positive rapport with a child, which starts even before we ever meet the child.  We reference the client history form to learn what their preferred toys, characters, and activities are, or if they have a pet, and making sure to have their favorites ready or ask about at the beginning of the very first session when we create a comfortable and warm environment where a child knows they will have fun.

In order to establish trust and rapport, it’s important to connect no matter the age. We often connect through sharing fun facts or stories about ourselves and showing mutual attentiveness, while bringing the focus back to our client.

You may ask how we build rapport with a toddler. FUN TOYS and ensuring our kids are having a positive experience. The first session is a bonding session – laughing, smiling, and having fun! We convey warmth through our tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions. When our clients get excited about something, WE get excited with them too! After each subsequent session, we reengage our clients and check in with parents/caregivers to keep the whole team motivated for ongoing therapy.

There are many activities to facilitate the rapport building process and getting clients engaged in therapy. We use preferred toys, games, videos, songs or other supportive reinforcements. For example, if the client is really into crafts, we may use beads and have the client earn beads as they follow structured tasks throughout diagnostic therapy to add to a necklace. As an alternative, we may use animals, stickers, bubbles, etc.

Initial rapport building helps carry over for future sessions. These crucial foundations and relationship building allow our sessions at TALK to be that much more successful and productive. If you are interested in having your child receive speech and language services at TALK, contact us via https://talkbayarea.com or call us at 650-344-9961 for our Burlingame location or 925-725-4632 for our Danville location!

Working to improve communication skills is challenging, but we are here to make that process productive AND fun!