When your child attends Speech and Language Therapy, it can look like your child’s therapist is playing. Therapy needs to be fun, which means carrying out therapy through the medium of play. But remember every approach used has evidence behind it. We need to know that therapy will be successful, so an evidence-based approach is essential.
One of the approaches used for Speech Therapy (i.e., working on speech sound production) is the Cycles Phonology Approach. This approach focuses on the patterns and processes rather than each individual sound. For example, it may be working on final consonant deletion, so the omission of the final sound in words. As Speech and Language Therapists we understand that children can get frustrated and fatigued working on the same sound every day. This approach attempts to solve that. Hodson suggests, the approach is also useful for children with more speech sound errors, as therapists see progress in areas not targeted.
How does the Cycles Phonology Approach work?
Your Speech and Language Therapist will assess your child’s speech development and will then analyse the results. They will also look for which sounds they can produce with support (this is called stimulability). They will analyse patterns in the results and will formulate a plan.
The Cycles Phonology Approach intervention allows your child to work in blocks. This might mean they work for half a week for 30 minutes on (e.g., clusters). Then the next half they’ll work for 30 minutes on a different process (e.g., omission of sounds at the end of words).
Research has found that the following error patterns respond well to this approach:
Syllables (identifying the different parts in a word e.g., “ae-ro-plane”)
Final Consonant deletion (omission of the final sound e.g., “ca” instead of “cat”)
Initial consonant deletion (omission of the first sound e.g., “at” instead of “cat”)
Fronting (instead of making a sound at the back of the mouth, it’s made at the front e.g., “tat” instead of “cat”)
Backing (instead of making a sound at the front of the mouth, it’s made at the back e.g., “gun” instead of “bun”)
S blends (e.g., “sl, sm, sn, sk, sw”)
Gliding of liquids (e.g., “lellow instead of yellow”, “wabbit instead of rabbit”)
What does a Speech and Language Therapy session look like when using the Phonology Cycles Approach?
The format of the session remains the same for whichever speech sound pattern your child is working on. Your child’s Speech and Language Therapist will review the previous session. Then they will use an activity to work on your child hearing the sound several times (this is called ‘auditory bombardment’). Then your child will practise saying the sound. Next, the Speech and Language Therapist will check if your child can say any of the sounds which they haven’t been able to produce before, with support. This is called a stimulability check. After this, your child will take part in an activity which builds their awareness of sounds in words (such as a rhyming or syllable activity). The session will finish with another auditory bombardment task (i.e., hearing their tricky sound repeatedly).
I will give you advice for practising at home, as it’s vital that your child learns in the correct way. We aim for 100 turns in therapy sessions, so it’s vital your child is motivated.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
As parents, we spend a massive portion of our days multi-tasking. We are talking to our toddlers while washing dishes, shouting encouraging words from across the living room while folding laundry, or answering their questions from a few feet above them while walking through the supermarket. It is a completely natural dynamic, after all, the adult world happens up here, and their world happens down there.
But when it comes to actively boosting your child’s speech and language development, one of the simplest, most profound changes you can make costs absolutely nothing and requires no special training.
It is simply this: Get down on the floor, sit cross-legged, and get face-to-face.
At London Speech and Feeding I call this physical positioning ‘face to face’. It is also one of the major ‘Hanen Programme’ Strategies. It completely reshapes how your child interacts with you, transforms how they process language, and turns ordinary playtime into an instant communication opportunity.
Our mouth is the magic: Visual cueing and speech imitation
When a child is learning to talk, they aren’t just listening to the sounds you make; they are watching how you make them.
Speech is an incredibly complex motor skill. To say a single word, the brain must coordinate the lips, tongue, teeth, jaw, and vocal cords in a fraction of a second. When you speak to your child from a standing or even a seated chair position while they are on the floor, your mouth is entirely out of their direct line of sight. They miss the visual roadmap of speech.
When you sit right in front of them at eye level:
They see mouth shapes: They can see how your lips round for an /OO/ sound, how your teeth touch your lip for an /F/ sound, or how wide your mouth opens for an /AH/.
They read facial expressions: Emotions give context to words. Seeing your eyes widen with excitement or your eyebrows lift in surprise helps them map meaning onto the vocabulary you are using.
They mimic naturally: By putting your face directly in your child’s field of vision, you make it infinitely easier for her or him to try and copy your oral movements.
If you are working on a specific word like ‘pop’ while blowing bubbles or ‘more’ during snack time getting your face just a foot or two away from your child gives her or him the front-row seat she or he needs to learn the mechanics of that word.
Unlocking joint attention: The foundation of all languages
Before a child can say their first words, they need to master a milestone called joint attention.
What is joint attention?
It is the magic moment when a child looks at an object (like a toy train), looks up at you to share their excitement, and then looks back at the object. It is a three-way loop of shared experience.
Without joint attention, communication cannot thrive. If a child is entirely hyper-focused on a toy and ignoring your presence, or if you are commenting on a book they aren’t looking at, true communication isn’t happening.
When you get down on the floor on a play mat, you naturally insert yourself into their bubble. You aren’t a distant narrator anymore; you are a co-player. Being at their level makes it incredibly easy for their eyes to flick from the toy straight to your face. This shared gaze is the exact moment language takes root. It signals to the child, ‘We are experiencing this together, and this thing we are doing has a name.’
The ‘wait and see’ technique
Once you are down on the floor, the temptation is often to take over by pointing at everything, asking a million questions like ‘What’s that?’, ‘Is that a blue train?’, or somehow driving the play.
Instead, the most powerful thing you can do at eye level is to practise the ‘Wait and See’ technique.
In the video clip you can see this exact dynamic in action. Look at how I am sitting cross-legged on the mat, at eye level with the toddler. Notice how my hands are on the toy container, but my eyes are locked on the child. I am not forcing the interaction; instead, I am waiting.
Here is how you can use this strategy at home:
Set the stage: Get down on their level with a high-interest toy that requires help (like a wind-up toy, bubbles, or a tight-lidded box with toys inside).
Create anticipation: Hold the object near your face or place your hands on it, but don’t open or activate it right away.
Lean in and wait: Lean slightly forward, open your eyes wide, adopt an expectant facial expression, and completely pause. Count to five or ten in your head. Do not say anything.
Capture the gaze: Wait for the exact moment your child looks up from the toy to meet your eyes, as if to say, ‘Well? Are you going to open it?’
Reward the eye contact: The instant they make eye contact, deliver the language reward! Model a simple, functional word like ‘Open!’, ‘Go!’, or ‘Look!’ as you immediately do the action.
By pausing and waiting at eye level, you create a ‘communication temptation’. The child learns that looking at you and engaging with your face is the key that unlocks the fun.
Making it a daily habit
You don’t need to spend hours a day sitting on the floor to see a difference. Start small by dedicating just 10 to 15 minutes of undivided, face-to-face play time each day. Turn off the television, put your phone in another room, get down on their level, and let them lead the play while you focus on being their visual communication partner.
Whether you’re opening a little toy briefcase, pushing a plastic train along a track, or stacking blocks, remember: your face is the best toy in the room.
Are you wondering if your toddler’s speech and language milestones are on track? At London Speech and Feeding I love helping families navigate early communication. Feel free to explore my services page and reach out directly to schedule a consultation.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
For all children every milestone achieved is a testament to the unique and intricate process unfolding within each young mind. For autistic children, this journey may present a distinct pattern, with some reaching developmental milestones like crawling, walking, and talking later than their neurotypical peers. Let’s have a look into the fascinating realm of Autism and explore why some autistic children might crawl, walk, and talk later, shedding light on the underlying factors contributing to this unique way of developing.
1. Individual Pacing:
Child development is not a one-size-fits-all journey. Each child, whether neurotypical or autistic, has a unique timeline for achieving milestones. Autistic children, like any other children, follow their own pacing. This individual rhythm might lead them to focus on one set of skills before they progress to others. Like some neurotypical children might focus on talking earlier than walking, autistic children might prioritise other areas before crawling or talking.
2. Neurodevelopmental Complexity:
The human brain is a remarkable entity, with a bewildering array of interconnected processes that lead to us achieving our developmental milestones. Autistic children often have variations in “neural wiring”, which can impact the balance between gross motor skills (crawling, walking) and fine motor skills. Speech and language acquisition falls under fine motor skills and may be momentarily disrupted due to the divergent neurological pathways at play in autism.
2. Sensory Processing Differences:
One of the hallmarks of autism is altered sensory processing. Autistic children often experience sensory stimuli differently than their neurotypical peers. This heightened or diminished sensitivity can influence a child’s desire or ability to engage in activities like crawling and walking. The sensation of movement while crawling or walking, for instance, might be overwhelming for some autistic children, causing them to either avoid or delay these activities.
3. Visual-Spatial Abilities:
Autistic children and adults frequently display excellent visual-spatial abilities. This strength might lead some children to focus more on activities that engage these skills, potentially delaying their engagement with activities like walking or talking. As they navigate their environment and process information visually, they might naturally invest more time in activities that stimulate this particular cognitive ability and strength.
4. Communication Challenges:
For many autistic children, speaking can be a really complex and difficult endeavour. Communication delays are a common feature of autism. This can affect both receptive and expressive language development. While some children might be physically capable of crawling or walking, they may not yet have the tools to communicate their desires and intentions. This leads to a temporary focus on non-speaking forms of expression. This does not mean that they do not communicate at all. But autistic individuals often start out using jargoning or echolalia as a form of communication as well as behaviours and physical forms of communication.
5. Executive Functioning and Motor Skills:
Executive functioning, or abilities for planning, organising, and carrying out tasks, can vary in autistic children. These skills are crucial for activities like crawling, walking, and talking, which need coordination and planning. About 40% of autistic persons have a motor planning difficulty.
6. Intense Interests and Routines:
Autistic children often develop intense interests in specific subjects, sometimes to the exclusion of other activities. These interests might become their primary mode of engagement. They might side-line milestones like crawling, walking, or talking. The mostly rigid adherence to routines and preferences might cause them to allocate more time to their preferred activities. This delays their engagement with other developmental tasks.
How can Speech and Language Therapy help:
Support and Intervention:
Early intervention and regular Speech and Language Therapy play a pivotal role in the developmental journey of autistic children. Therapies tailored to individual needs can aid in bridging the gaps between milestones. Occupational therapy, for example, can help address sensory sensitivities and motor skill challenges that might impact crawling and walking. Speech therapy can help communication development, gradually bridging the gap between non-verbal expressions and spoken language.
For example, we now know that echolalia or jargoning of longer phrases with intonation, repeating scripts from favourite tv shows or songs have many meanings and communicative functions. For example, a child who utters long strings of echolalic utterances, often difficult to understand, might want to do any one of the following:
Comment
greet
ask a question
make a request
express surprise
negate something.
We now understand that the way to support a child with echolalia is to acknowledge all utterances and try and find out what the meaning is behind these scripts. This is very supportive. Over time it will lead a child to move on to understanding and saying more clear and self-generated language. For more information about this Natural Language Acquisition here are some other great websites for you to look at:
In conclusion, the journey of an autistic child’s development is a testament to the uniqueness and complexity of the human mind. The delays or differences in achieving milestones like crawling, walking, and talking can be attributed to a range of factors, including
neurodevelopmental intricacies,
sensory processing variations,
and communication challenges.
It’s crucial to recognise that these delays are not indicative of a lack of potential, but rather a manifestation of the intricate interplay between an autistic child’s strengths and challenges. By embracing these differences and providing tailored support, we can help each autistic child unfold their potential at their own pace.
Do get in touch if you would like to book an appointment where we can explore how to help your child develop and thrive
Do get in touch if you would like to book an appointment where we can explore how to help your child develop and thrive
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
How should we start? Should we use prompts? What kind of prompts? hand-over-hand or just pointing? Should we wait, and, if so, how long? Introducing an alternative communication system (AAC) to our child is for many of us a confusing and sometimes scary prospect, but it needn’t be! Let me reassure you and share some tricks of my practice in this area.
Once we have decided to try for a picture based communication system, I usually start with a paper-based single page with between 48–88 core-words. I choose the number of words depending on where the child is developmentally and also verbally.
If a child does have a small handful of words already, I might start with the 88-cell board below. If, on the other hand, my student is completely non-speaking and still quite little then I might go for the 48-cell below here or I might have even less cells to start with. Again, sometimes I start with an electronic device in my clinic just to trial and introduce the idea and to see if, or how, a student responds.
Below are some samples: a 49-cell board which I made for a child in a nursery setting
Example of a slightly more advanced board, again from the Saltillo Website
And here below one example of a board I made for a specific activity for a child who loves water and sand play:
It is perfectly possible to be very flexible and create a suitable board for any student, starting with as few as 2–5 cells and working up to over a 100 (very small ones) on a sheet of A4 or A3 paper.
So once we have a good board for our child, what now? How do we start introducing this into our daily life?
We can start by showing/pointing to the word GO within a play activity. For example:
a car run,
or a marble run,
or a spinner activity,
a wind-up toy,
anything that can be stopped and started easily.
How to start?
I will talk us through each of the steps using the example for the word ‘GO’.
First phase
The first phase is a TEACHING/ LEARNING PHASE. In this phase we do not expect our student to do anything, to copy us or to point to the board. If they do that it is of course a huge bonus and we will celebrate it.
Our job is to simply MODEL/SHOW/GIVE EXAMPLES of how we can use the board, by steadily and regularly pointing to the chosen word or words. We do so across the day and across settings:
play
meal time
getting dressed/undressed
bath time
going to the car/shops
etc
Once we can be sure that our student has been submerged and SOAKED in seeing the coreboard being used, say after some 3–4 weeks of using it consistently…
Second phase
We can begin to move into the second phase which is the PRACTICE PHASE. By now the student has seen the boards and he or she has seen the word GO (as a example) modelled many times.
Now we can start to see if we can tempt our student into trying this out for themselves.
What sort of TEMPTING are we talking about? Take a look at the Prompt Hierarchy below, which shows us what to do to get our student to be independently communicating as soon as possible.
The PROMPT HIERARCHY: what sort of prompting should we do, should we expect something from our student or how should we view this stage?
TEMPT AND PAUSE
I have the AAC near to the toy and each time the child starts another round of the activity I say clearly ‘GO’ and I point to the picture as do so. I then pause and wait to see what happens. NOTHING? Then…
USE SIGNS AND BODY LANGUAGE
Next time the child starts another round I might be very animated and do a Makaton sign for GO as I say ‘GO’ and I make a very over point to the picture again. Then I wait. STILL NOTHING? OK then…
OPEN-ENDED QUESTION
Now I might say ‘GO’ and follow with: ‘OOH I WONDER IF THERE IS A PICTURE TO POINT TO…’
‘OH LOOK HERE IS GO!’ I then point to GO.
STILL NO RESPONSE?
ASK FOR A RESPONSE
I might say ‘GO’ followed by ‘LOOK! LET’S POINT TO GO HERE ON THE PICTURE.’
STILL NO RESPONSE?
PHYSICAL TOUCH
Next time I say ‘GO’ I will try and take the student’s hand, help isolate their finger and help him or her to point to the actual picture.
REMEMBER: Prompting serves a very important function in scaffolding learning for students BUT if we are constantly prompting kids, then we are teaching them to only communicate when someone tells them to. We want our student to become as independent in speaking and using words as possible.
So once I have done Physical Prompting I will try and phase back down to number 1 where all I need to do is point to the picture or look at the board with the aim that the student will then point to the picture.
Take away points:
Keep the learning phase pressure-free and model without expecting our student to jump in. In other words, let’s model first without expectation. Later we can have a little bit of expectation.
After they’ve been exposed to and have been ‘soaked’ in plenty of AAC input, then, YES, we can create an opportunity to help them say or point to the word on their own.
We can model BOTH with and without expectation.
Only after LOTS of exposure, use the least to most prompting hierarchy and start creating opportunities for a student to become an independent communicator.
Do get in touch if you have any questions or comments or if you would like some practical help.
I am always pleased to hear from you.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
When your baby reaches around 12 months, there is a lot going on developmentally. They are learning to walk, communicate, feed themselves and become increasingly independent. One small but important milestone that can sometimes get overlooked is learning to drink from an open cup.
Many toddlers continue to have milk from a bottle well beyond their first birthday, and parents are often understandably reluctant to take it away. The bottle may be familiar, comforting and convenient, particularly at bedtime.
But moving towards an open cup is not simply about changing the way your child drinks. It is part of their development of oral-motor skills, feeding independence and mealtime development.
And there is another piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked: how your toddler is sitting while they eat and drink.
The way the body is supported can make a real difference to what the mouth is able to do.
Babies can begin learning to drink from an open cup much earlier than many parents realise. By around 12 months, most children should be given regular opportunities to practise drinking from an open cup alongside other suitable drinking vessels.
An open cup encourages your toddler to learn a different pattern of drinking from the sucking pattern they have used with a bottle.
With an open cup, your child needs to:
lean towards the cup and control its position
grade how much liquid enters the mouth
use their lips to help control the liquid
coordinate breathing and swallowing
develop increasingly mature tongue and jaw movements
learn to take a drink without relying on a teat or nipple.
These are useful skills for developing efficient eating and drinking.
This doesn’t mean that a toddler who still has a bottle at 14 or 18 months has somehow ‘missed their chance’. Children develop at different rates, and there is always an opportunity to work towards new skills.
However, if a bottle remains the main or only way a child drinks for a long time, there can be fewer opportunities to practise these more mature drinking skills.
The occasional bottle is not the issue. The concern is when a toddler continues to rely heavily on a bottle and therefore has little reason or opportunity to develop other drinking skills.
A bottle encourages a sucking pattern which is appropriate for infancy. As children mature, we want to see increasing use of their lips, tongue, jaw and facial muscles in more sophisticated ways.
Long-term bottle use can also make the transition to an open cup more difficult simply because the child has become very accustomed to the bottle.
There can also be practical considerations around dental health, particularly when milk is offered frequently throughout the day or overnight.
For many toddlers, the bottle has also become associated with comfort, sleep or emotional regulation. This can make giving it up feel like a very big change for the whole family.
So rather than thinking, ‘The bottle has to disappear tomorrow’, think:
‘How can I gradually increase opportunities for open-cup drinking?’
Offer the open cup regularly at meals. Let your toddler experiment. Expect spills. Keep the amount of liquid small initially and provide plenty of encouragement.
Learning to drink is a skill. And skills need practice.
When we think about feeding, we naturally tend to focus on the mouth. We watch what the tongue is doing, whether a child chews, whether they cough or gag and what foods they accept.
But feeding is a whole-body activity.
Your child needs a stable body position before they can use their mouth efficiently.
Think about trying to drink from a cup while sitting on a wobbly stool with your feet dangling in the air. You would probably find it much easier if your body was well supported.
The same principle applies to toddlers.
A well-designed highchair such as a Tripp Trapp chair can provide a stable base when it is correctly adjusted for the individual child. Ideally, your toddler should have:
hips well supported
knees comfortably bent
feet resting firmly on a footplate
a stable pelvis and trunk
the table or tray at an appropriate height
This gives your child a solid foundation from which to move.
And that matters because stability in the body supports movement and control in the mouth.
I sometimes hear parents say, ‘He doesn’t need the footrest don’t worry about it (as I crouch down with my Allenn key to adjust the Tripp Trapp chair) but I always explain it is very important to have his feet supported. Dangling legs can make it much harder to maintain a stable sitting position.
When the feet are supported, your toddler can push gently through their feet and stabilise their pelvis and trunk. This can help them maintain a more organised position while eating and drinking.
They can then devote more attention to the job in front of them:
looking, reaching, grasping, chewing, swallowing and drinking.
This is particularly important for toddlers who are developing their chewing skills or who find mealtimes physically demanding.
Eating involves an extraordinary amount of coordination.
Your toddler is managing food in their hands, bringing it to their mouth, biting, chewing, moving food around with their tongue, forming a bolus and swallowing, often while simultaneously looking around, communicating and interacting with you.
Drinking from an open cup adds another layer of coordination.
Good postural support doesn’t teach a child to drink from a cup, but it can give them a much better physical foundation from which to practise the skill.
This is why, when I assess a toddler’s feeding, I don’t just look inside the mouth.
I also look at how the child is positioned.
Making open-cup drinking part of everyday life
You don’t need a complicated programme.
At meals, offer a small amount of water in an open cup. You can help your toddler hold the cup initially, tipping it gently towards their lips and allowing them to control the drinking as much as possible.
Some mess is completely normal!
You might also use a small, lightweight open cup that is easy for little hands to manage.
And remember that the goal is not to make every drink perfect. The goal is to give your child regular, positive opportunities to practise.
If your toddler is struggling with drinking, frequently coughing or choking, refusing cups, relying heavily on a bottle, or experiencing difficulties with chewing and eating, it is worth seeking professional advice from a Speech and Language Therapist with expertise in paediatric feeding.
The bigger picture
Open-cup drinking and good sitting are not two unrelated developmental skills.
They are part of the same picture.
A stable body provides a foundation for skilled movement. Skilled movement supports feeding. And feeding skills develop through practice and opportunity.
So as your toddler approaches and moves beyond their first birthday, think beyond simply asking, ‘How much milk are they drinking?’
Think about how they are drinking, how they are sitting, and what opportunities they have to develop the skills they will need as they grow.
And if you have a little one sitting beautifully at the table in a well-supported Tripp Trapp chair, remember: you’re not just creating a comfortable seat.
You’re creating a stable foundation for eating, drinking, learning and growing.
Do get in touch with me. I would love to hear from you and help your little one develop good sitting and drinking habits.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
My baby isn’t babbling and developing speech – what can I do to support?
While every baby develops at their own pace, if your child isn’t babbling by nine months, it’s worth seeking help from an Early Intervention Health Professional, such as a doctor and a speech therapist. Don’t panic! There are many reasons for delayed babbling, and early intervention is key.
In the meantime, it is highly recommended that we talk, sing, and read to our baby often. Exaggerate sounds and expressions, and respond to their coos and smiles. This playful interaction helps stimulate their communication skills.
Below are some tips and tricks from my experience of working with babies and toddlers who need a little bit of help and support to develop.
The benefits of imitating your baby
Copying your baby’s sounds and gestures isn’t just silly fun, it’s a powerful learning tool! By mimicking their babbles and actions, you activate “mirror neurons” in their brain that help them connect sounds with meaning. This playful back-and-forth teaches turn-taking, a foundation for conversation. Plus, it encourages them to copy you, building their own language skills and social interaction abilities.
This is a nice clip on youtube showing how copying/imitating your baby looks like:
Here are some fun ways to imitate your baby:
Matchmaker: Grab two of the same, or two similar toys your child loves, like rainmakers or shakers. Give one to your baby and keep the other for yourself. When your child plays with his/her toy, mirror his/her actions with yours! This creates a fun, interactive game.
Face Time: Get down to your baby’s level, sitting opposite him/her on the floor or kneeling. This makes eye contact easy and encourages him/her to look at you during your playful imitation.
Be the Funniest You: Go all out with silly faces, exaggerated sounds, and big gestures. The goal is to capture your baby’s attention and make you irresistible to watch. This playful energy encourages him/her to interact and potentially imitate you back!
By incorporating these tips, you can turn imitation into a fun and engaging way to boost your baby’s communication skills. I have seen this happen numerous times over the past decades. It is very powerful, go ahead and try it! You cannot be silly and goofy enough!
Did you know that speech and language development starts with how we talk to our babies?
Adults naturally use a special way of speaking called motherese. It involves a higher pitch, slower pace, and exaggerated sounds compared to regular conversation. Sentences are simpler, with shorter words and repetition. This grabs babies’ attention, helps them distinguish sounds, and reinforces word meaning.
Imitation is a key part of motherese. We wait for our baby to make a sound or gesture, then playfully imitate it with exaggeration. Babies notice this right away and often respond with more vocalisations, creating a mini conversation. This back-and-forth teaches turn-taking, a foundation for future conversations.
By responding warmly and engaging in these playful interactions, we encourage our babies to keep exploring the world of communication. Talking, singing, reading and, of course, imitating, these simple actions can have a big impact on a baby’s language development.
Once your conversation is underway then try and keep it going for as long as possible. It’s a beautiful dance of turn-taking, even without words!
A last word on oxytocin
There’s evidence suggesting early non-verbal communication with your baby can increase a mother’s oxytocin levels, often called the ‘love hormone’. This hormone plays a key role in bonding and social connection. Positive interactions, touch, and stress reduction all contribute to oxytocin release, strengthening the mother–baby bond.
For parents of babies with extra needs
The stress of caring for a child with medical needs or developmental delays can be difficult. Stress can lower oxytocin levels, creating a cycle of sadness for both parent and child.
Breaking the cycle:
Knowledge is Power: Understanding the importance of communication can empower parents.
Seek Support: Speech therapists and other healthcare professionals can provide valuable guidance on communication strategies.
Start Small, Celebrate Big: Even small interactions can boost oxytocin. Focus on playful imitation and positive reinforcement. Remember, friends, family and healthcare professionals are there to encourage you.
This approach can help reverse the negative cycle and create a more positive and connected relationship between parent and child.
Feeding and Dysphagia (Swallowing) Specialist The London Speech and Feeding Practice
The London Speech and Feeding Practice
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
As a Speech and Language Therapist, one of the most rewarding parts of my job isn’t just working on speech sounds or vocabulary lists. It’s helping parents truly connect with their autistic children.
Recently, I had a 1-hour initial online session with the parent of a 7-year-old boy. In just 75 minutes, we achieved a massive breakthrough in perspective, all without parents setting foot into my traditional clinic setting or me visiting them at home.
I had been sent some video footage of their child along with detailed parent questionnaire and both gave me so much information from which I then worked online with the parent.
Here is a glimpse into what the Hanen More Than Words® approach is, how I structure my initial sessions, and why doing this work online with parents is often far more powerful than traditional therapy.
What is the Hanen More Than Words® approach?
The Hanen More Than Words® programme is an evidence-based framework designed specifically for parents of autistic children or children with social communication difficulties. Rather than treating communication as a clinical ‘lesson’ taught by a therapist, Hanen empowers parents to become their child’s primary communication partner. It focuses on turning everyday interactions, routines, and play into natural opportunities for a child to build connection, express themselves, and initiate communication at their own pace.
How I structure the first session: Reframing expectations
When parents first come to speech therapy, they often arrive with understandable anxiety and big, sometimes overwhelming, expectations. My primary goal in session one is to take those expectations, reframe them into realistic, hopeful goals, and establish a clear baseline of where we are right now.
To do this, I use the Hanen Social Communication Checklist.
In my session with any parent this tool is always a game-changer. Today, for example, it allowed us to celebrate every single achievement our child has already made, while highlighting the specific micro-skills we want to consolidate next. Instead of focusing on ‘fixing’ speech, our baseline focused on three functional social goals:
Responding to comments from others.
Initiating his own comments, requests, or questions (in whatever way he can).
Taking a single, natural conversational turn, even if that turn takes time to come.
Why online therapy for Hanen works so well
People often ask me: ‘Can speech therapy really be effective over Zoom?’
My answer is an emphatic yes. And for Hanen, online is often superior to a clinic.
In a clinic, a child is in an unfamiliar environment with a new adult, which can feel demanding or artificial. Online, the child stays in their safe, natural home environment. I get to coach the parent directly in real time, giving them immediate tools they can use every single day. In just one hour online today with one parent, for example, we got a massive amount of foundational work done without causing a single moment of stress for the child.
Key takeaways: The power of silence, OWL, and agenda-free fun
If you are looking to support an autistic child’s social communication at home, here are the core principles we put into home practice after our first session:
1. Embrace the power of O.W.L. (Observe, Wait, Listen)
We live in a fast-paced world where adults feel compelled to fill every quiet moment with questions (‘What’s that?’, ‘What colour is the car?’). Hanen flips this script.
Observe: Step back and see what truly captures your child’s interest.
Wait: Be comfortable with silence. Give your child the extra time they need to process their thoughts and formulate a response.
Listen: Pay attention to every sound, gesture, or attempt at communication.
2. Become a buddy, not a teacher
Try to play alongside your child the way another 5-to-7-year-old peer would. A peer doesn’t quiz, direct, or lecture; they do their own thing nearby, make occasional fun comments, and signal that they simply enjoy being together. Shift your role from communication director to play buddy.
3. Comment naturally. Don’t ‘state the obvious’
Once you master silence, narration should feel natural, spontaneous, and genuine.
Avoid: Pointing out things they already know just to test them (e.g., ‘That’s a blue car!’).
Try: Generic, enthusiastic reactions that invite connection without demanding a answer (e.g., ‘Whoa, look at that!’, ‘Goodness!’, ‘Hey, that’s cool!’).
4. Have fun with no agenda
School and daily routines carry a lot of demands for a 7-year-old. Take time every day to simply join your child’s world and have fun with zero clinical agenda. Laughter and genuine connection are the ultimate foundations for all communication.
Interested in learning how the Hanen programme can support your family? Get in touch today to learn more about our online parent coaching sessions.
Sonja McGeachie
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.
Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.
