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10 Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Habits That Contribute to Poor Communication Skills in Children

Lack of reading

Reading is a crucial activity to incorporate into your child’s routine. Even 5 minutes a day can have positive effects. Pick a time of the day that best fits you and your child’s typical routine. When reading is important then you and your child share responsibility. Make reading engaging and have your child actively participate. Point out picture details, exaggerate your tone of voice, etc. 

Talking for your child

Talking for your child can make the child feel under-appreciated and frustrated. Children need to voice their opinions and thoughts. Do not assume what your child would like to say. It is important to wait for your child to respond before jumping in for them. For example, next time a child takes a toy from your child or you are ordering food, let your child step up to the plate and handle the scenario.

Forgetting about emotions

Tuning into others’ emotions is a large part of communicating successfully. Teach your child to notice how other people feel and how your child feels. When emotions are taken into consideration, social interaction breakdowns occur less frequently. 

Thinking speech and language errors are silly and cute

Kids do say the darnedest things, but if we feed into speech and language errors for extended time, it could make the child feel that the errors are typical. If a child believes the errors are typical or funny it could decrease motivation to fix errors, encourage the child to make the errors more often and delay progress.

Boring conversations

Find shared interests with your child to talk about. If your child enjoys the topic of conversation, he/she will contribute more to the conversation. Often times children can guess what the parent wants to talk about (lecturing, adult topics, planning the day, etc.) if the child starts finding the conversations with you interesting, funny or intriguing the child will be more likely to engage and get excited to talk with you.

Always forcing technology to go away

Technology is a huge part of our world now. Try to include technology in conversations with your child instead of always asking the devices to be put away or turned off. Your child may become excited to show and teach you part of their technology world. With this being said, too much technology can happen as well. Try to find a happy medium! For instance, put technology away in the car and talk for awhile; let the child(ren) take the rein on the topics.


Drill and kill

If your child is working toward therapy goals do not over drill the skills. Children need breaks and downtime. Over practicing can lead to children feeling anxious about their skills and discouraged. Try incorporating the therapy targets into daily activities without making it the focus.

No ears here

Active listening is crucial for a child’s communication development. Being attentive during conversations and answering questions during bedtime stories are great ways to enforce listening. Parents should be good role models and practice listening skills as the child talks as well. Children can tell when you are not listening. Reflect back on what your child says so they know you are paying attention and use eye contact.

Isolation

Everyone is tired by the end of the day and this is when most families are all home together. Make sure you set aside time to interact with your child one-on-one. Even a couple minutes will let the child know you notice them and want to spend time with them.

Bad Habits

Children are like absorbent, little sponges that are always soaking up their surrounding environments and learning from them. Parents must remain role models of the behavior they wish to see in their children. Children quickly change their opinions, emotions and actions based on their role models.


 

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LLA Therapy

Patient Reviews

Crystal Scheibe

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Great place, glad we found them. Been going to Medina over 2 months now and he loves Lauryn and Kyler. Wish they had more ABA therapy places available... live in Wooster and long drive everyday.

Karrie Swan LaRock

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My 11 year old son has dyslexia and has made noticeable gains in working At LLA THERAPY. Katie is strong in her approach toward him and also keeps him comfortable enough to perform well. We will continue visiting both the Fairlawn and Hudson offices and recommend them highly.

Ron Monroe

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My 9 year old just completed about 9 months of weekly speech sessions (due to his stuttering) with Matt Hagge at LLA and we are thrilled with the experience and results. What I thought might be a negative (what kid really wants to go to speech class?) was made very positive by Matt, and my son never hesitated or complained when we talked about class. He really enjoyed it and really took what Matt taught him to heart. His speech has been greatly improved and we definitely recommend LLA. Thank you so much!

Heather Dougherty-Pantoja

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My son’s Occupational Therapist, Jess, is an amazing OT! She gives practical tips on working with my son at home and school!

Terri Apgar

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I cannot say enough good things about LLA Therapy. My daughter was a client of Teal Simmons’ for approximately 2 years and was just released from speech therapy! She was diagnosed with Apraxia in 2015 and worked with Teal twice a week. Through Teal’s application of PROMPT therapy, my daughter had age-appropriate speech after one year. All of the staff we interacted with at LLA were absolutely wonderful. They really care about what they do and making sure your child achieves their goals.

Kelli Geisler Davisson

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LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for my son as well as my family! My son always asks, "When can I go see Ms. Jeannine again, is it Monday??" He has also made huge gains in only 5 months! I would highly recommend LLA and have already shared my experience with friends looking for services!

Victoria Hansford-Price

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We are so grateful for our Speech Therapist Ms.Teal. We have seen a great improvement with our sons confidence and communication abilities since we have started "Prompt" therapy. What we love the most about LLA and Ms. Teal is that Kohl feels comfortable and relaxed which has played a critical role in his progress. Thank you Ms. Teal for all you have done.

Laura Lee Hogsett

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They have helped in numerous ways. Speech, OT and behavioral. I've had numerous compliments on my son's progress thanks in very large part to LLA. I would recommend LLA before I recommend our local children's hospitals, though they are good, they don't have the staff that LLA does.

Amy Furukawa

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We had a great experience with Matt Hagge at LLA! Our Middle School age son was becoming very conscious of his voice, which is nasal due to a cleft palate. Matt helped him to better form his sounds and project his voice in a way that makes the unavoidable nasality less noticeable.Our son is more confident and outgoing & even took on a speaking role in the church play. Matt has the perfect personality to relate with our son, and we would recommend him to anyone needing speech therapy services!

Jessica Havalotti

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LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for our daughter. I would highly recommend LLA. Miss Grace was so amazing and I can't believe how quickly our daughter showed improvement. Thank you!
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