To facilitate the generalization of target sounds from a structured to an unstructured context, I share my "two-pronged" approach with parents.

The concept of a "speech staircase" helps guide where to start and where to go. As with any skill, you should start at the bottom and work your way up: Isolation, Syllable, Word, Phrase, Sentence, Reading, Structured Conversation, Unstructured Conversation. As your child moves from one stair to the next, you may find that they go back to making the same mistakes. This is completely normal. Your child may benefit from visual supports and/or pauses to carry their their skill up

Playing is therapy, but more than that, I explain HOW playing is therapy. I often find that once the parents understand the "why", they will be on board and no longer view our time together as "just playing"

Language and daily routines go together like pie and ice cream. Learn how to use your daily routines to expand your child's vocabulary and build their language skills. I won't lie, I get to play some pretty fun games when working with the little ones, but cool and/or expensive games are definitely not needed to work on developing your child's language skills. In fact, it's the day-to-day interactions and routines that help the most! Here are a few reasons why: