Repetition and How to Build on it for Effective Growth

Repetition and How to Build on it for Effective Growth

Working with kids is always a challenge. Not in a bad way, or course. But kids, by nature, are unpredictable beings. Sometimes they are in a good mood, sometimes in a bad mood. Sometimes they are chatty, sometimes they are quiet. Sometimes they willingly separate from their parents, sometimes they want to cling. They are capricious by nature. Anyone working with kids has to be prepared for any eventuality. 

For this reason, routines are pretty important. Kids want to know what is happening, what is coming next. Often anxiety can stem from the unknown, so having a clear schedule, and either talking about it, posting pictures or words, depending on age, or both, can go a long way in easing the inner turmoil of our youngest clients.

But we also have to be flexible. I know…it’s a fine line! Stick to the schedule but also be ready to go off script if that’s where the session leads you. Know what you want to accomplish and communicate that clearly with the kids, and as much as possible, stick to the basic outline. But have contingency plans in case things start to move in another direction.

It might take time to figure out what works best for each individual child, and when you hit on that perfect combination of peaking the child’s interest and working on what you want/need to work on, be sure to use those ideas as you move forward.

That doesn’t mean that you will do the exact same thing every time you meet with them, but if you know a certain item captures their attention and their imagination, use that and then build on it, adding more complex elements. And since the child is already engaged with that particular item, game, toy, or whatever it may be, success will come more easily.

For example, say you have a child who is very interested in letters. You have great sets of alphabets in your therapy room. Pull them out. Give the child a chance to manipulate the letters, line them up in order, name them, name their color, trace them with their fingers. But you can do more! You can work on the sounds that each letter makes. You can put them together with other letters to make blends or diagraphs. You can pair them with objects that have that sound at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. You can practice forming those sounds. You can go on a hunt around the room for things that begin with that sound. You can put them together to spell simple words. You can pair them with a book and look for words that begin with them and spell them out. So from a simple desire on the child’s part to manipulate letters of the alphabet, you can capture that interest and turn it into hours of play therapy.

So why is this important and why does it work? When we use repetition, especially in speech therapy, we are building muscle memory. If we are using items that interest the child, we can increase accuracy and allow autonomy and engagement in the activity will remain high.

Here are some fun ideas to use with kids.

1. Use a favorite toy that has multiple pieces that can be added on to, and set speech goals. When the goal is reached, add on to the collection. You can build onto this activity by having the child talk about the toy, use descriptive words. For example, say you have a child who loves toy cars and trucks. Set a goal for using a target word or sound correctly. Use the “sh” sound 5 times. When they do, add another car to their collection. Ask them to describe the car. When a child has an interest like this, talking will come more naturally.

2. In daily routines, use repetitive phrases consistently and on a daily basis. Build on this by adding more descriptors so that the child can perform increasingly specific tasks.

3. Card games like memory and go fish are great, especially if your child has a high interest in them. As play progresses over time, ask the child to describe the items on the cards or count the number of hearts or any way to stretch what they are seeing and saying.

4. If they love a book, stick with it. Repetition will give them a chance to memorize certain words and phrases. Eventually you will be able to stop during the reading and have the child say the next word or line. You can build on this by coming up with alternative endings, or asking what if questions. What if The Little Blue Truck got lost? What other animals could Brown Bear and friends see? There are endless possibilities.

Repetition is really important when working with kids because we want them to speak automatically, to say the sounds correctly. We want to build that muscle memory so that they make the target sounds without even thinking about them. Repetition helps our brains build those neural pathways. We are looking for them to internalize the sounds and the ways to form them with their tongues, their teeth, and their lips.

As the saying goes, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” We don’t want to get caught up in a quest to always find new and better ways to teach. Yes, we can look around, do some research, and come up with new and innovative ideas. There is nothing wrong with that, and we should always have those things in our back pockets, ready to pull out and try. But we here are Speech and Smile have found that letting the child lead the play session, and then building on their preferred areas of interest, we get an engagement that is hard to beat. For sure, introduce new items, new games, new ideas, but don’t throw out the old. Don’t switch from idea to idea to idea. You will lose the advantages that repetition gives you. And this can lead to confusion for the child too. If you try to introduce too many new things, they will become masters of none of them. Go in with a focus and a plan. Move through your plan in an almost methodical way. Keep a checklist, make notes after the session…What worked? What didn’t? Where were their interests? What targets did you work on? What targets were met? When something is mastered, don’t drop it, but shift the focus to a new target while still adding in the completed task liberally. Soon you will be hitting target after target and the child will have pride in themselves and their progress and growth. And a child that is proud of themselves will continue to push themselves. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Thank you for reading! Jill B ... the SLP