- Who has the child’s best interest in mind? If your answer is ‘mother’ then, well no prize for guessing. It makes sense for the mother to sit inside the therapy room. Nope. Says the Speech therapy centre. They have to wait outside while their children wail inconsolable inside the Autism speech therapy room. Child abuse at Speech therapy Centers are not uncommon. There was a well known case where the child ended up with a broken arm.
- While actual child physical abuse may be rare, what about the emotional trauma that many children undergo when they are inevitably torn away from their mothers, shoved into tiny cubicles where they are strapped into therapy chairs, while the therapist is at their wits end after having to deal with hours of screaming children. Do you think their patience would be greater than the patience that is shown by the mother for their own child?
- What about the best therapy room? Again no prizes for best guess-the child’s house itself. That’s where the child is most comfortable. That’s where the child will feel secure and be themselves. But no. We have to drag the kid to the speech therapy center at any cost. Or do we really have to?
- Here is the most important point: How much Autism Speech Therapy do you think is enough for your child? 45 minutes every week? How about 45 minutes twice a week? Would that be enough for Autism Speech therapy? Like many things in life, more is better. So, what about getting Speech therapy for your child’s Autism 1 hour each, every day, day in and day out. It might seem exhausting, but it is totally worth it.
But wait. What if you apply in daily life, what was learnt in autism speech therapy? What if all the skills from the Speech Therapy be generalised into different contexts of daily life by the child?
It would completely change the pace of your child’s growth. On the other hand, applying whatever is learnt in the therapy center in the daily life of the child is next to impossible, when there is no clear communication between the mother and the Speech Therapist.
And this is where Speech Therapy at an Autism Centre does not come anywhere close to Autism Speech Therapy at home.
- Another important question to ask: Who knows the child better? The Autism Speech Therapist or the mother? Again the answer is simple: the mother. If the child has a tummy ache, the mother will know. The Speech therapist? Well, every child responds differently to pain. The only way a Speech Therapist would know the needs of the child is to observe them-take time with them. Well good luck with that! You would be lucky if the child stops crying within 45 minutes, let alone gain anything useful from the speech therapy session.
- Commute. Even with the mushrooming of speech therapy centers in major cities, commuting is still a great challenge. Most therapy centers exist only in city centers and travelling to-and-from the therapy center is wasted time, money and energy. Do that multiple times every month and you would be questioning whether it is all worth the effort?
- Flexible timings. “My child has a fever”. “My child with Autism is throwing a tantrum today”. Well, either still drag them to the Autism Speech Therapy Center or book another appointment, probably next week, if your child is lucky?
- Customise everything to fit your child: What? Your child does not like the stuffed toy given by the therapist? But you could have used his own teddy that he sleeps with every night if the speech therapy was home based.Virtually the whole house is an opportunity for the child to explore, mess with and make sense out of it. The child uses their own toys and household items, making therapy more engaging and meaningful.
Can any Speech Therapy Centre beat that?
9. Cost-effective. In a center based speech therapy, the cost of therapy is alway high, since the time-slots available cannot be increased indefinitely (even when they try hard to cram in maximum slots. More slots=more profit). Now, compare that to the near infinite time that the mother can spend for their child for home based speech therapy for autism.
10. Stronger bonding. A home based speech therapy for Autism builds stronger bonds between the parent and the child. After all, you are spending quality time with the child.
Here is a bonus reason.
11. Oftentimes, Speech Therapy is not available in the mother tongue of the child. This is specially true when the family lives as expatriates. For example, getting Malayalam Speech Therapy is quite difficult for people living in UK, Australia, UAE and other countries. But if a mother handles the child’s therapy, then this would not be a problem at all.
Honestly, we do not say that home-based Speech Therapy is without its disadvantages. It is taxing on the mother. It will be an overwhelming rollercoaster ride of emotions and will-power.
Nonetheless, it is far far better than being passive, outside the therapy room, waiting for a miracle to work.
Click here to know more about our Online Speech Therapy(Parental Training) which guides you to do Speech Therapy Activities at your home for Autism.
Last Updated on 10 April 2025