Managing mealtime sensory overload at holiday gatherings: Supporting children with allergies and feeding differences

ByLondon Speech and Feeding
| | | |
Managing mealtime sensory overload at holiday gatherings: Supporting children with allergies and feeding differences

Holiday meals are meant to be joyful and something we all look forward to. But for many children and their families, these occasions can be overwhelming and be the cause of dread and worry. The combination of new smells, unfamiliar foods, loud environments, social expectations, and allergy anxieties can quickly turn what should be a festive time into a stressful one.

For parents of children with sensory processing differences, selective eating challenges, or food allergies, holiday gatherings often require careful planning and a big dose of tolerance and compassion. The good news is that with awareness and a few gentle strategies, you can support your child to feel safe, regulated, and included during festive meals without pressure, tears, or discomfort.

Let’s explore how to make holiday mealtimes calmer, safer, and more connected this season.

🎄 Why holiday meals feel so overwhelming

Holiday gatherings usually combine several sensory triggers all at once:

  • Noisy, chaotic rooms
  • Strong smells from a mix of foods we don’t normally cook
  • Multiple conversations happening at once
  • Bright lights, Christmas décor, flickering candles
  • Unfamiliar foods with unexpected textures
  • Expectations to ‘try everything’ or ‘enjoy it’s sooo good!’
  • New environments, seating arrangements, or routines

For children with sensory sensitivities, this can feel like a tidal wave of input. Research shows that children who are sensory-sensitive often have heightened responses to smell, taste, and texture, which may lead to avoidance or distress at mealtimes (Cermak, Curtin, & Bandini, 2010).

Add food allergies into the picture and anxiety increases even further for both children and parents. A 2020 study by DunnGalvin et al. found that children with food allergies experience significantly higher stress in shared eating environments, especially when food preparation or contamination risk is hard to control.

So, if your child becomes tearful, shuts down, or refuses to sit at the festive table, it isn’t ‘bad behaviour.’ It’s sensory overload, heightened vigilance, or discomfort communicating through their body.

🌟 Preparing your child for a calmer festive meal

Preparation is especially important for sensory-sensitive or allergy-aware children. Here’s how to set them up for success:

1. Offer predictability through previewing

Before the event, show your child pictures of:

  • where you’re going
  • who will be there
  • the types of foods that might be served
  • where they might sit

A visual schedule or social story can help reduce anxiety and give your child a sense of control.

2. Pack safe foods without apology

If your child has allergies or selective eating, bring:

  • ‘Safe foods’ you know they will eat
  • Backup snacks
  • A separate (their own) plate, if needed
  • Emergency medication

Announce clear, firm boundaries such as:

‘Ok people, these are Jamie’s safe foods — we’ll stick with these today.’ This will help relatives understand without pressure or judgement.

3. Choose seating that supports sensory regulation

If possible, seat your child:

  • at the end of the table
  • near a familiar adult
  • away from the kitchen (strong smells)
  • away from noise clusters
  • give them their favourite toy or fidget whilst waiting

Let them take breaks when needed. This isn’t ‘rude,’ it’s self-regulation.

🍽️ Supporting children during the meal

1. Focus on connection, not consumption

The holidays are not the time to expand your child’s food range. Keeping mealtimes low-pressure actually supports long-term progress.

In fact, the research is clear: pressuring children to eat decreases acceptance and increases refusal (Galloway et al., 2006).

So instead of ‘Just try it!’ try:

  • ‘You don’t have to eat it, you can look at it.’
  • ‘You’re in charge of what goes in your mouth.’
  • ‘You can keep your safe foods on your plate.’

2. Protect your child’s allergy safety

Holiday meals often include:

  • cross-contamination risks
  • shared utensils
  • buffets
  • homemade dishes without ingredient lists

Use gentle but firm scripts:

  • ‘Because of Ellie’s allergies, we’ll keep her plate separate.’
  • ‘We’ll serve her food ourselves to make sure she stays safe.’

Confidence in your boundary helps others respect it.

3. Manage sensory load in real time

Offer:

  • headphones
  • a small chew or fidget toy
  • a designated ‘calm corner’
  • time outside for fresh air
  • a predictable signal for breaks (e.g., a hand squeeze or card)

Remember, sensory regulation is healthcare, not ‘giving in.’

4. Model calm eating

Children learn most from watching.

Slow, happy bites and relaxed facial expressions tell the nervous system: ‘This environment is safe’.

💛 What to say to well-meaning relatives

Families often have big feelings about food. You can prepare nice phrases like:

  • ‘We’re focusing on helping him feel safe around food today.’
  • ‘She has allergies, so we’re sticking to our plan.’
  • ‘We’re avoiding pressure because it helps him eat better long term.’
  • ‘We’re celebrating together, eating is not the goal today.’

Setting expectations ahead of time can reduce awkward moments later.

🎁 The bigger picture: It’s about safety, not ‘picky eating’

Children with allergies, sensory differences, or feeding challenges aren’t trying to be difficult. They are trying to stay safe, regulated, and comfortable.

Your calm presence, gentle boundaries, and preparation create the conditions for a holiday that feels peaceful, not pressured.

Sonja McGeachie

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.

Health Professions Council registered
Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists Member
Member of ASLTIP

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.

📚Research References

Cermak, S. A., Curtin, C., & Bandini, L. G. (2010). Food selectivity and sensory sensitivity in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110(2), 238–246.

DunnGalvin, A. et al. (2020). APPEAL-2: A pan-European qualitative study to explore the burden of peanut-allergic children, teenagers and their caregivers. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 50(11), 1238–1248.

Galloway, A. T., Fiorito, L. M., Francis, L. A., & Birch, L. L. (2006). ‘Finish your soup!’ Counterproductive effects of pressuring children to eat on intake and affect. Appetite, 46(3), 318–323.

2

Similar Posts

  • Explore 12 questions to determine whether your child may be Autistic

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding
    A young boy is in the foreground and has turned his head away from the woman sitting next to him.
    May your child be autistic?

    As professionals, when diagnosing young children with an Autistic Spectrum Condition, it is vital we work as a multi-disciplinary team, so you will likely see many professionals. This may include Educational Psychologist, Dietician, General Practitioner, Occupational Therapist, Paediatrician, Special Educational Needs Coordinator, Speech and Language Therapist and Social worker. Once the evidence is collated, then a diagnosis may be made.

    You may be wondering what are some of the early signs of social communication difficulties? Whilst no autistic child is the same and we know Autism is very much a very wide spectrum of abilities and needs there are some autistic spectrum characteristics we do typically see in the early years of childhood. You may wish to think about these areas or presentations to help you prepare for the Speech and Language Therapy appointment.

    Twelve questions

    1. Does your child respond to their name?
    2. Are they fixated with watching their hands?
    3. Do they have sensory processing difficulties such as bright lights, food textures, or loud noises?
    4. Are they meeting their milestones or are they delayed?
    5. Do they flap their arms or legs when excited?
    6. Have you noticed any rocking back and forth?
    7. Do they blink excessively or display any facial tics?
    8. Do they play with a particular sort of toy e.g. spinning toys?
    9. Have you noticed that they lack interest in toys?
    10. Have they regressed in their language? Perhaps you’ve noticed they are not using words that they have previously learnt.
    11. Do they use gestures to communicate their needs? How do they communicate their wants and needs?
    12. Do they appear to be in their own world?

    You are not alone

    These questions are by no means exhaustive and there are many more factors to consider. But it is important to trust your instincts as you are the expert on your child and know your child the best. Regardless of whether you see all of the above points or none, do not hesitate to have an assessment if you are concerned as, even if it turns out to be nothing to worry about, there is always at least one or two great pieces of advice I can offer you on the way and you will leave feeling hopeful and empowered. It’s always best to seek early intervention with communication difficulties. This allows strategies and support to be put in place. Never feel alone, always speak out.

    Find communication support here from me, Sonja, (Specialist Speech and Language Therapist)

    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.

  • · ·

    Strategies to support children with eating difficulties

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    where the cause is NOT a swallowing problem, but we are having a “fussy eater” in the family, seeming for no obvious reason

    When parents have a child who find mealtimes or eating difficult, it can put pressure on the whole family dynamics. Once we have observed a child’s eating and drinking skills and found that they are not swallowing impaired, but are for want of a better word “fussy” or “picky”, we can then start to look at what might be underpinning the food aversions/picky eating/food avoidance. Two of the main questions parents have (of course) are:

    • ‘is my child getting the right nutrition?’
    • ‘how can I have less anxiety-provoking and stressful mealtimes?’

    We all tend to have an image in our minds about the ‘perfect mealtime’, and how mealtimes ‘should’ be. Speech and Language Therapists with a Feeding Specialism are the perfect professionals to help you unpick feeding issues. We are trained to look at swallowing and oral skills and we also know a lot about feeding behaviours and sensory difficulties which could be causing your child’s eating avoidance.

    Here are some strategies that can support children with their eating:

    1. Create and maintain a mealtime culture that suits your home and lifestyle. Then stick to that. We all need some routine in our lives to thrive. Mealtimes are no different. It might be that you eat in the same place for every meal, with the same knives and forks, concentrating on maintaining good posture. Children learn by repetition so the more familiar it is, the easier they will find it. In the physical sense, our bodies also need preparing for food, regardless of whether we are eating with our mouths or we are tube-fed. We want every child to connect all the dots of the process. It starts with their eyes, noses, expectations, memories of past experiences, feelings and then finally their mouths….
    2. Be an excellent role model. Children learn through watching others, so your child will be observing you without you knowing. Ensure that you are positive about the food you are all eating, and talk about how delicious, tasty, juicy, and yummy the foods are. Make the atmosphere around the dinner table light hearted. Even though you are secretly stressed about your child not eating, try and not show this. Instead pick a topic or put on some nice music, or talk about something your child might be interested in, and try and avoid coercing your child to eat. Leave small finger foods on their plates and have a range of foods available on the table so that your child can see that everyone is eating a range of foods and enjoying them.
    3. Use positive reinforcement. Try and think of mealtimes as fun and motivating. Children who are happy will likely be more inclined to try foods and take part in family mealtimes. Reward all interactions around food, so if your child merely touches a new food then praise this behaviour. Or if your child licks a food just once, again make a nice comment and praise your child for touching and licking the food. The takeaway here is to try and keep all messages positive around food.
    4. Keep offering all types of food. What often happens is that parents stop serving foods they know will not be eaten. This makes sense in a way; we don’t want wastage! However, try and keep the doors open and re-offer all types of foods, even the ones that your child has not wanted in the past. Try and give your child one food they will like and one food they have tasted before and liked before, even a little, and then one new food to try. So, your child always has something to fall back on and they can join in with eating. But they can also try (or at least look at and think about trying) other foods that you and perhaps the siblings are eating.

    Take a look at this website, I find it very helpful in showing parents what types of foods and how big a portion to offer

    Have a go and try and implement some of the ideas above, and should you get stuck please get in touch!

    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.

    0
  • · ·

    AAC Systems and Speech and Language Development

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    Introduction

    I see a lot of minimally speaking or non-verbal children in my practice. Some children are autistic and others are severely challenged with motor planning and some are both. Some children are simply delayed in their spoken language for reasons that we don’t quite know yet.

    Regardless of the causes, what is always apparent pretty quickly is that apart from the odd gestures or Makaton signs (mainly ‘more” ‘finished’ and “biscuit) we don’t have a robust alternative for speech in place. Instead, what we often have is a child with lots of frustration and tantrums and some behaviours we really don’t want like: hitting, biting, pushing, grabbing and often throwing… There are others, too many to mention, but we don’t enjoy watching our children in these states. And we are often fearful of what might happen next if we don’t find a way to calm our child.

    Fear not

    In my work, before I get to offer an alternative means of communication, I often have to work with a fair amount of resistance on the parents’ side as parents tend to feel that allowing such a system into their lives will prevent their child from speaking. They fear that their child will so enjoy pressing those buttons that they will become lazy and not talk at all.

    I totally get it!

    Parents often feel overwhelmed by the task of getting their own heads round how to use AAC, either in paper form or a computerised system. This can be a great turn-off for lots of people who feel they are not very “techy” – like myself actually! Indeed, it is true to say that I resisted operating in this field for a long time as I didn’t feel able to navigate electronic devices. But fear not. Truly, most systems are very user-friendly. The support is great. And I have managed to become quite proficient in one or two of these systems, through using it daily. It really is as simple as that.

    Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC)

    There is plenty of research on the efficacy of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). It is now very well understood and proven that, once we introduce our child to a good, attractive way of communicating that they can actually do, in time children who can speak will speak. Speaking is more effective than any AAC system. It is more versatile, more fun, and when human beings have discovered how to speak, most will do so in favour of any other system.

    Many children and adults, for many reasons, were never going to speak an awful lot, or with great difficulty. Or they were not going to like to speak. Or they were going to like to speak some times but not other times… And for all those people an AAC system is invaluable and a wonderful resource.

    Neuro-diversity affirming means that we do not impose one system of communication on our children (speaking with our mouth) only because it is the one we are using and most people we know too.

    Of course, we want the best for our children, and we want them to have the easiest and most straight forward existence on Earth. Of course we do. Speaking with our mouth does help with that. But we must come to understand that not all children and people feel like that and they struggle to use their mouth for talking.

    Personal experience

    I have difficulties understanding this myself, I will be very honest here. And I will say that – shoot me down in flames SLT fraternity – but I am learning to accept that using an AAC system proficiently is a very good alternative for when speech is not coming. I am learning to accept that some people are perfectly able to speak, and might do so but not always and only when conditions are right. I came into the profession as a speech therapist with the idea that I would help anybody that came to me to speak with their mouth. But I have changed my stance on that and now am happy to help anybody that comes to me to communicate most effectively with whatever works for them. I will always try for speech if I can … Just because it’s easiest!

    Acceptance

    Now I will equally celebrate a child pointing to a symbol or making a sign for something. It is a fantastic moment when it happens for the parents and me and the child! And we can always hope for more speech to come as we go. Nothing wrong with our aspirations, is there?

    The basic premise is this: accept any mode of communication as valid, as long as your communication partner understands what it means. Don’t require individuals to repeat themselves in another modality. Do model the response in the modality you are trying to teach. So, a child can point to a symbol and I will respond with speaking (with my mouth) but I will also respond by pointing to a symbol because that way I am signalling that both are ok and that I have understood and am encouraging the person to say some more.

    Here is some research;

    Binger, C., Berens, J., Kent-Walsh, J., & Taylor, S. (2008) The effects of aided AAC interventions on AAC use, speech and symbolic gestures. Seminars in Speech and Language, 29, 101-111.

    Sennott, S.C., Light, J., & McNaughton, D. (2016). AAC modelling intervention research review. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 41, 101–15.

    Dada, S., & Alant, E. (2009). The effect of aided language stimulation on vocabulary acquisition in children with little or no functional speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18, 50–64.

    Contact me if you would like your child to have neurodiversity affirming speech and language therapy.

    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.

    0
  • · ·

    Explaining pronoun reversal: A window into gestalt language processing

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding
    Explaining pronoun reversal: A window into gestalt language processing

    Have you noticed your child referring to themselves as ‘you’, or calling you ‘me’? This seemingly confusing mix-up of pronouns, known as pronoun reversal, often raises concerns for parents. Below I outline why your child does this and want to reassure you that it is to do with his or her unique language learning style.

    Gestalt language processing: Learning in chunks

    Many children, particularly those on the autism spectrum, use a gestalt language processing approach. Unlike analytic language processors who learn individual words and build sentences, gestalt language processors learn language in whole ‘chunks’ or ‘gestalts’. Think of these gestalts as pre-packaged scripts they pick up from their environment — phrases, sentences, even snippets of songs or movie lines.

    As Marge Blanc, author of Natural language acquisition on the autism spectrum, explains, ‘When a child picks up an entire gestalt (script), he’s got the pronoun of the original speaker. So ‘pronoun reversal’ is nothing more than that.’

    So your child is simply repeating what they’ve heard, without yet understanding the individual word meanings or grammatical functions.

    Imagine your child hearing ‘You want a rice cake?’ repeated frequently. They might then use this phrase to express their own desire for a rice cake, even though it doesn’t grammatically fit. So they are thinking and saying ‘You want a rice cake?’ and the meaning of this phrase is: ‘I want a rice cake’. This isn’t a sign of confusion, but a natural step in their language development. They’re working with the tools they have: the scripts they’ve acquired.

    How can we support their natural language journey

    Instead of trying to ‘correct’ pronoun usage, our role as caregivers and speech therapists is to support the child’s natural language progression. Here’s how we can do this:

    1. Learn about their gestalt stage and run with it: In the early stages (1–3) of gestalt language development, correcting pronouns can be counterproductive. These children are still processing language as whole units, not individual words. Direct corrections can lead to frustration and hinder their natural language exploration.
    2. Patience and trust: Gestalt language processing follows a predictable, albeit sometimes non-linear, path. By understanding their current stage, we can provide targeted support. Language sampling and scoring, guided by the Natural Language Acquisition framework, help us pinpoint their stage and tailor our approach.
    3. Model language strategically: In the early stages, avoid using pronouns like ‘you’ and ‘you’re’. Instead, model language from the child’s perspective or use joint perspectives. For example, instead of ‘Are you thirsty?’, try ‘I’m thirsty!’ or ‘Let’s get some water’,

    The big picture: Language unfolds naturally

    Pronoun reversal is a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. As gestalt language processors progress, they begin to break down these gestalts into smaller units and develop their own self-generated language. This is when their understanding and use of pronouns naturally emerge.

    By shifting our perspective from ‘error correction’ to ‘developmental support’, we create a nurturing environment for these children to thrive. We empower them to navigate their unique language journey, ultimately leading to more meaningful and independent communication.

    So, to summarise:

    • Pronoun reversal is a typical characteristic of early-stage gestalt language processing.
    • Focus on modelling language from the child’s perspective or a joint perspective.
    • Avoid correcting pronouns in the early stages.
    • Trust the process and support the child’s natural language development.

    Let’s celebrate the diverse ways our children learn to communicate and empower them to find their unique voice!

    If you have any questions or would like some help with understanding your little gestalt language learner, please get in touch with me via my contact form.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

    Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.

    Health Professions Council registered
    Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists Member
    Member of ASLTIP

    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.

    1

  • Six ways to prepare your child for the Christmas festivities

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    It feels like the Christmas festivities start earlier and earlier every year. This makes it harder for your child with communication difficulties to process what is happening. Whilst you can’t do anything about the events that happen around your child, you can start to put into practice strategies which may support them and allow them to regulate their emotions.

    Speech Therpaist in London
    Six ways to prepare your child for the Christmas festivities

    Explore six ideas here:

    1. Print off or buy a blank calendar to use at home

    You can start to write in activities out of the usual routine and add a picture to allow your child to understand what it’s about. You can also use it as a countdown to Christmas Day to try to prevent ‘how long’ questions.

    2. Make use of visual timetables

    These are useful in everyday settings and activities but also when change occurs.

    3. Be aware of any non-uniform days

    Days like ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ can make your child feel uncomfortable and may affect their behaviour. By giving yourself time, you can have conversations with your child’s teacher to find a more suitable alternative. For example, they can wear a Christmas t-shirt that they find more comfortable.

    4. Think about what will benefit your child

    Do they like being surrounded by people or do they prefer a quiet space on a 1:1 basis? Christmas activities often involve lots of group work in school (e.g., rehearsing for carol concerts or plays). They might prefer to pre-record their part in the Christmas play or create pieces of art which can be used. At home, they may prefer one guest visiting at a time, rather than all at once.

    5. Explore how your child is feeling

    It’s important to find out how your young person is feeling and how these impact on the activities of that day. It might be that your child doesn’t like surprises and the intensity of opening gifts is too much for them. They may prefer gifts to be left unwrapped and given throughout the day, rather than all at once.

    6. Consider sensory needs

    Ensure your young person has everything they need to meet their sensory needs. This can be e.g. noise cancelling headphones, fidget toys, or comforting items. These will particularly be helpful with routines changing, often with little notice. If at home, you may wish to not put lights on the Christmas tree if visual stimuli become too much.

    Remember clear communication between home, school and other family members is vital during this time. By having clear communication and expectations, your young person will feel more secure. And you can have a Christmas that is right for you and your family.

    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.

  • · ·

    Chaining: A powerful tool for phonological development

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    Understanding chaining

    Chaining is a therapeutic technique I like to use in my speech therapy work with children who have Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) or phonological speech sound difficulties. It helps to break down a complex target behaviour into smaller, more manageable steps. By systematically teaching and reinforcing each step, I can help my students achieve their communication goals.

    There are two types of chaining: Forward and backward chaining

    Today I am going to show and talk about backward chaining. This technique involves starting with the last step and working backward to the first. This approach can be particularly effective for children with persistent speech sound difficulties where combining consonants into clusters, such as /BL/ or /FR/ or /SHR/ is very difficult.

    Backward chaining allows my student to experience immediate success and build his confidence.

    In my video I show you how I applied backward chaining to the words ‘Shriek’, ‘Shrub’, ‘Shrimp’ etc

    My student struggles with both the /SH/ and the /R/ sounds and we have been working on both sounds for some weeks now. He has mild Childhood Apraxia of Speech and he has difficulties with coordinating his tongue movements, breathing and using his jaw effectively to make words. His sound repertoire has grown a lot since we started working together last year. Today in this session I show you how we pulled both the sound /SH/ together with /REEK/ to make ‘SHRIEK’. I love using the pictures and therapy materials from Adventures in Speech Pathology.

    This is also part of the Complexity approach which I will explain in a separate blog post.

    • Step 1 (not shown in the video): I explain what the word means; I find that when my student understands what a word means he is much better at saying it. It increases his confidence and motivation to say a word that he knows the meaning of. Often this student does not tell me that he does not know what a word means, so I always remind myself to check that out first.
    • Step 2 (not shown in the video): We do a little rhyming game and think about what any one word rhymes with: ‘Shriek’ – ‘meek’, ‘weak’, ‘seek’.
    • Step 3: I show my student that there are two parts to this word /reek/ and the sound /SH/.
    • Step 3: We practise the easier part: /reek/ /reek/ /reek/.
    • Step 4: We add the /SH/ sound and pull it together to make our target word ‘Shriek’.

    /REEK/ /REEK/ /REEK/ + /SH/ = ‘SHRIEK’
    /RUB/ /RUB/ /RUB/ + /SH/ = ‘SHRUB’
    /RUG/ /RUG/ /RUG/ + /SH/ = ‘SHRUG’

    By breaking down the word into smaller, manageable steps, my student can focus on each syllable individually, get that right and then gradually build up to the full word. This approach can help to reduce frustration and increase motivation.

    Forward chaining

    Forward chaining is the same process but in reverse: we start with the front sound or syllable and work forward towards the next/last part of the word:

    /SH/ + /REEK/ = ‘SHRIEK’
    /SH/ + /RUB/ = ‘SHRUB’
    /SH/ + /RUG/ = ‘SHRUG’

    Benefits of chaining

    • Increased motivation: By starting with the last step, my student experiences success, which boosts his motivation to continue trying to say the word and trying other words.
    • Reduced frustration: Breaking down the target behaviour into smaller steps can make the task less overwhelming, reducing frustration and anxiety.
    • Improved confidence: As the little learner masters each of the step, his confidence and self-esteem increases. Again, this leads to increased motivation.
    • Faster learning: By focusing on the final step first, and practising lots of chaining (forward and backward), a student can quickly learn to generalise to other words.

    Backward chaining (and forward chaining) is a really great tool for teaching complex speech sounds and words to children with phonological disorders.

    Watch out for my next blog which is all about the complexity approach in Phonology.

    Do get in touch if your child has a speech sound disorder, I would love to help.

    Any questions or need help with supporting your little one’s language please contact me via my contact form, or you could also check out www.hanen.org for advice and lots of inspiration.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Early Intervention Speech and Language Therapist

    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.

    1