What comprises a 'good' therapist?

At Tiny Talk we pride ourselves in delivering personalised therapy, developing rapport with the child/young adults and their families.  Speech & language therapy is our niche, but for someone such as yourself who's new to the field, you may be wondering how do I make sure I get the best therapy for my child?   That's why we've put together a short list of what we think a good therapist does and which we incorporate into our sessions.  Needless to say if you're with a service that doesn't currently provide these then its time for a change?

time

There's nothing worse than a therapist rushing or constantly looking at their watch.  Parents need to be heard and their worries need to be addressed, there's nothing worse for the rapport between therapist-child than to make the child feel rushed.  We don't believe in charging extra for e-mails or phone calls because we are more than just a business.

Manner

The personality of a therapist and their behaviour with your child is crucial and predicts the type of rapport that will be established. Your child will progress quicker if they like their therapist.  We try and maintain a fine balance between your child enjoying their sessions but still learning, liking the therapist and still listening to their instructions.  Afterall, we want the sessions to be fun AND productive.

Targets

Everything has a goal right? Our ultimate goal for your child is better communication, but getting there will need smaller more precise goals or targets.  A good therapist will always share these with the parents (preferably in hard copy)- how else will you know when your child has achieved what they need to? And let's face it, it also shows you that the therapist knows what they're doing.  

Explaining

In our sessions, we always explain to the parents what we're doing and why we're doing it- how else will you know what's working and what's not? We're often told by parents - 'what are we doing different than you?' 'Why doesn't he/she talk with us?' Modelling to parents is essential for your child's progress.

strategies

We believe that you, the parent, are the expert of your child- no one knows your child better than you and also your child will not respond to anyone better than he/she will to you.  Thus, to ensure that progress continues outside of therapy sessions, we often provide strategies for you to incorporate at home before our next session.  These are usually easy to incorporate within your daily routines.