Adalyn 
How does your child react when their sibling has speech and/or language therapy? Does your child ever feel excluded?
As a parent and therapist, I understand the challenges involved in dealing with this issue. I’ve seen siblings react to being left out, jealous or simply confused when someone plays with them. This is difficult for parents because we don’t understand the motives of the speech-language pathologist. The child might question, “Why is this person playing with my sibling but not me?”
Speech therapy Sydney can be life-changing. Speech therapy is changing the way people communicate, swallow and access speech therapy.
A sibling can be a therapist. If the sibling is a good fit, they may also benefit from the therapy. Here are five ways sibling participation can be possible in speech-language therapy sessions. These can be shared with your speech-language pathologist.
- Siblings make great speech and language models
As excellent speech and communication models, older siblings or younger ones can be used. This speech and vocabulary model can be useful for children receiving services in a conversation or game.
You can easily share speech and language goals (e.g. let them know that we are working to get Tom to use longer sentences. Siblings are very motivating, which can be beneficial for all involved, therapist and not!
- Siblings may be able to help with tasks such as turning
If you are playing a simple turn-taking game, encourage your sibling to play along with your brother/sister. Siblings can get along better when they take turns. This is true both in therapy and out. This strategy can be passed on to parents for them to use when they aren’t around.
- Siblings can help set appropriate goals
I will often ask my siblings about speech problems at home. Children are very open with each other, which can help set goals at home. One example: You may ask a sibling “When is it really difficult to understand your brother’s speech?” They may reply, “When we all sit at the kitchen table it’s difficult for him to hear because his voice is so low”.
This could help you to set goals and provide strategies for your child’s speech and language development at home. This strategy should be shared and possibly done with the parent.
- Siblings can be a great way to practice social skills
Siblings can be a great way to learn social skills and they are usually more mature than you. He or she can help you to role-play various situations and practice appropriate conversation, stay focused, etc.
- Siblings can be great for carrying over
If your sibling is present, they can help you carry the goals to school, home, and other places. Siblings can be found together for hours on end and we must use this time to our advantage.
Other ways to get involved
There are other ways you can use for your siblings to help him. One way was getting them to record a communication device that they can use for their nonverbal sibling. I remember one client whose brother took the job seriously. My client recorded all of the relevant phrases, which was extremely motivating to him. He also respected his older brother.
I hope these strategies prove useful. Let me know if you have any other strategies that worked.
