Is Speech Therapy Really Worth it?

Speech therapy costs are rising and there's no way around it. I see it all over Facebook, Instagram, all the social platforms. The mothers, the parents are complaining about how expensive therapy is. And you might be living in Australia, uk, you know, usa, wherever, Hong Kong, where I'm from, that sometimes speech therapy is subsidized and covered by insurance. But all these, ultimately, if you want more therapy, more service, and you want to accelerate it, of course, as a mother, as a parent, as a father, you're going to want to push more services and have more activities and stuff for your child to do, right? So at this time of recording, inflation is going wild. I believe it's just going to keep on going because I also do therapy myself in the clinic, right? So I see the cost going up, the rents is going up, everything's going up, and all this money is just going to be on to the parents very soon. My name is Ming from agents of speech.com. i'm a speech therapist. Today we're going to talk about if speech therapy is really worth it. So speech costs going up, it is going to go up. It's going to be like that. No one can change it or whatever. And the most important thing is getting your money's worth. So let's talk about finding a good fit. So even the best and most experienced speech therapists, they won't instantly tick with your kid. For therapy to work, the number one most important thing is the rapport, right? Many times I cannot build a rapport with a kid as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm. I also had to refer out that child or say goodbye to them or try harder, right? So it's always try harder for me. And yeah, most times it works, but sometimes it doesn't, and that's fine. It's like just everyone you might take with someone and not take with someone else. It's just like that. There's no other way around it. Even the best therapists out there, they might have that, this, this kind of problem as well, right? So there's things that you cannot force, right? So you have to find a good fit. And you might say, Ming, I, I don't, I already don't have a lot of options inside of my hometown. How am I supposed to do this? So a very good way is to ask for, you know, permission to be inside of the room with your child. So if you have good rapport with your kid and then if you see that the therapist and you, you're having a good time together, it's Easier for the kid to be okay. All right. Whereas a lot of times, not to say, like a lot of therapists might say things that seems like we're blaming parents, but we're not actually here. Like at the end of the day, it's rather difficult to do therapy if the child just runs off and hugs the mom or just stays with the mom and then the mom says, oh, he's always like that with, with, with strangers. You know, give it some time. But the clock is ticking. I'm charging you money and I don't want to waste any time. So at the end of the day, what do I do? I tell you to go out and, and the child starts screaming and shouting and then you come back in and it becomes really, really difficult to get out of that situation. Right. So the, the very best way is that you're also a good fit with a speech therapist. And the speech therapist is very upfront with you about what to do. And if you feel like the speech therapist sounds logical and if everything that he says, or she says for that matter is fair, then yeah, stick with him or her for extended period of time, around two months, and then decide whether to move on or not. Right. And a lot of times the good fit and building a rapport, it's a, it's a two way street. You also have to help out the speech therapist. Right. But most of the time it wouldn't, it shouldn't be a problem. But sometimes it does because personality does matter. Okay? Not everyone are compatible with all types of personalities. And it becomes even harder when the parent is inside of the equation. Then you have like three or four personalities inside of a room and it's very hard. All right, and let's talk about how to make it worthwhile for you. The last thing that a therapist wants, at least from my perspective, what I don't want, is that you leave this my room. And what happens is that your child might be able to do more than what they can do at home. And then when you leave, the skill doesn't get transferred back to home. Okay. And the second thing I really don't want is that you don't see any value in therapy. And then you start just treating it as another thing, like treating it as bringing them to like a drawing class or gymnastics or whatever. Because it's not, it's really a process of getting your child, getting used to communicating and getting used to being in the world and like mingling, interacting with everyone else. Right? So what my north star about, like therapy is, is to get you out of this therapy room asap. I want to discharge you, man. I don't want to see you or your child anymore. Not because I hate you or whatever. I don't like you. Most of the time when I discharge a kit, I don't want to. But at the same time, if I can, it means that I've done a good job, and that's what I'm trying to do for you. So if you're trying to think about it this way, right? Make it worthwhile for you. Whatever I try, you should try as well and try to do at home. And so that between, like, maybe if I can only see you one day per week, and that's a time constraint and the resource constraint, or maybe we can do, like, two times a week or whatever. The most important thing is that you bring those skills back to home and you try to generalize it for your kid. All right? The best parents I've ever worked with. I'm not saying that, you know, other parents are bad or whatever. It's just that some parents are just spectacular, right? And those parents are the ones that keep on telling me, like, referring people to me as well, and because they've got good results, right? But the problem isn't, like, I'm doing a good job. It's just that I chose the correct language goals that are appropriate for the kid, which is very easy to do if you've been doing this for, like, I don't know, for some time, and you have a degree, right? So it's very easy to choose a correct language goal, whereas I set it, I show it to the parent, and then they go home and do something about it. The next time they come, it's more like, oh, you can do it already. Let me think about what else to do. And if it's always like that, like a positive loop, like, you guys come in, I show you something, you do it with your kid, okay? Go home and continue it. Come back. Oh, my God, it's done already. I have to find another goal. Then, hallelujah, You're. You're gonna improve, right? So make it worthwhile for yourself and try to learn as much from the speech therapist. Okay? I know that sometimes it's not. You might feel, oh, it's not really worth it. The speech therapist is only playing with a. With a kid. He's not. She's not doing a good job. He's choosing the wrong goals. But how about you can try your best to imitate and mimic whatever the therapist is trying to do and Then see if it works or not. If it doesn't, just move on. Right? So. And reading is a process of, like, trial and error, you know, And I. I've had parents who had said, hey, man Ming, I've tried your method. It doesn't work. I'm leaving. And I'm like, okay, it doesn't matter because, you know, I've already tried my best. You've already tried my best. If it doesn't work, then, you know, maybe someone else can help. You know, I'm not someone who's trying to, like, at least for me, for. For all speech therapists out there, but trying to force something is the hardest thing you would ever get. Okay? So all in all, with the costs of speech therapy going up and numbered up, the best way is obviously for you to do it yourself, right? And that you need some guidance on. Right? And I. I really think that the best way is to go to speech therapy and learn as much as you can from the speech therapist, Bother them and, you know, ask questions. Even if it's, like, silly, you think it's actually not that silly because you only get ask better questions as you get more knowledgeable, right? So extract that knowledge from the. From the speech therapist. I wouldn't mind it. I don't know if anyone who. Who minds from what I remember, but at the same time, make it worthwhile for yourself. Learn as much as you can. Therapy is more about, like, parents and child together rather than just for the child. Because you can't bring a speech therapist home, you cannot bring someone who can order your kid around back home. Right? When you're home, you're alone with them again, so you better know what to do. Okay, so that's it. Before we go, Please go to agentsofspeech.com checklist to grab a list of tools and toys we recommend you getting when you start home therapy. All right? So you have a great day. I'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.