As a parent, you always want your child to express himself or herself with confidence while speaking to other children or adults. It can be stressful to see your child struggle to express feelings and ideas because of one reason or another.

Young children faced with speech difficulty can sometimes feel abandoned or discriminated against. Other children or adults may not really understand why the child is unable to speak well.

But with a child speech therapist in Willow Grove, you can easily help your child to learn how to express themselves well.

In most cases, speech difficulty is brought about by a lack of confidence. The child may have been subjected to an environment or situations that instilled fear in them while at a very young age.

Other than professional speech therapy in Southampton, there are several other things you can do to build your child’s confidence to promote better speech.

Make it a Priority to Always Talk to Your Child

Children with speech difficulty generally fear to talk. This is because they lack the confidence of starting a conversation. As a parent or teacher, you, therefore, need to come up with ways to assist the child. This is by ensuring to engage them frequently in conversations.

Try to talk to him or her while going to school or coming back and explain to them what you are trying to do. Talking to your child will help boost his esteem and confidence in the long run.

Active listening

Sometimes we put too much emphasis on speech and forget the most important part, listening. Active listening is a very important part of any conversation. That’s why you should practice this skill with the child.

How do you do that? Ask them how their day in school was and try to repeat some of the things they say in form of questions. For instance, I am happy to hear you had fun, who were you playing with?

Show Your Child How to Start a Conversation

You have to literally show your child how to start a conversation. Tell them the exact words and phrases they should use and rehearse them with him or her. For example, Hello. My name is Billy. What’s yours? Doing this repeatedly will quickly promote better speech in your child.

Encourage your child to socialize

Exposure to different social environments is among the best ways to promote a child’s speaking skills. When a child interacts with other children of his or her age, they can easily build confidence and learn to speak well.

Studies have shown that children who face speech difficulties have higher chances of developing low self-esteem. This clearly proves that there is a strong relationship between self-confidence and speaking skills.

For more help with your child’s speaking skills, contact Speech Success Academy today!