It can often be really challenging to learn a new skill. I’m sure either yourself or someone you know has made New Year’s resolutions or goals in the past. Many people wish to learn a new skill. You start off really well and then at some point you hit a roadblock or have a bad day, or maybe someone comments something negative and it knocks the wind out of your sails.
The majority of people will not stick to practising their new skill because there will ALWAYS be times when motivation runs out and you have to rely on your determination and discipline alone. This, as we all know, is hard to do. But then again I suppose learning a new language or dusting off that guitar in the corner of the room is not such a big deal at the end of the day. Imagine instead you had to learn a new skill to be able to do the little things that most of us take for granted each day...such as speaking.
Learning any new skill is hard, especially when it comes to learning a skill that is so important to our everyday living. For a lot of the children and adults we support at A-therapist, learning how to communicate with others is rather challenging. Whether their goal is to articulate all their speech sounds and then use them in words and phrases, or whether they are working on putting words together so that others can understand what they’re saying, these communication skills are pretty important to try and master. Our job is to try and help them to achieve these goals quickly and easily whilst making the process as fun as possible to try and keep that motivation kite flying high. However, working towards difficult goals is not always fun and easy, and it’s easy to become disheartened. Maintaining confidence and self-esteem is one of the most crucial things we can do to help someone stick to mastering their new skills. So...how do we do this? Here are 3 suggestions:
Tell them that you know it’s hard
Having someone understand and support you when you’re learning a difficult skill can often make all the difference between choosing to give up or to strive on. It’s a big deal, so make sure you pass this gift on to someone who is finding something tricky. For example, if a child is able to say “fff” no problem at all, it can seem like a small step to say a word beginning with ‘f’ like “four” or “fish” - the truth is...it’s not easy at all! The child may find this step very challenging, and it is definitely not through want of trying.
Tell them that you know it’s hard and give consistent praise for trying.
Make it fun
Children particularly will benefit from practising their speech when the repetitive and necessary practise activities are paired with a fun game. For example, every time they say a sound card they may have a turn at the game, or maybe they get given a token of some sort and once they have all their tokens they get to choose a game. Use whatever you’ve got to hand - stickers, games, stamps, bubbles...whatever’s fun for them!
Help when needed
Sometimes we may need a little guidance in remembering new things, or how to do them. Being able to prompt someone without giving them the answer is a skill, but anyone can do it. There are different ways you can prompt. For example, if someone is struggling to say a certain sound or word, you can prompt by using the associated hand sign, or you might show them the mouth shape to start them off. The more successful someone feels, the more their confidence and skills will improve.
If you’d like more Speech Therapy resources, or to learn more about how we support children and adults with their communication skills, browse our website at A-therapist.com.
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