Ep. 89 My Go-To Strategy for Starting Speech Sessions with a Regulated Child
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Why is getting a child regulated the first priority in speech sessions?
What's up everyone and welcome to Making the Shift for Autistic Kids. We're an SLP couple from California with four boys. And we're here every week to bring you neuroaffirming tips, tricks, and tools. Are you ready to make the shift? Let's do this!
Hello, hello, welcome to Making the Shift. Today we are talking about my go-to strategy for starting your sessions with a regulated child. If you are an SLP, your goal is communication. Your goal is language. And you want to be able to work on those goals and targets you have in your speech sessions. And when a kid comes in dysregulated, that really hinders our ability to do that. So the first and most important thing we can do when starting our speech sessions is figure out in the very quickest way possible how can we get this child to a regulated state. And the sooner we can get them into a regulated state, the sooner we know that they can move up the language staircase. Their brain goes out, leaves fight or flight, it leaves the survival states, it leaves that area it's in when it's having.
a stress response because that's where we are when we're dysregulated and we are able to move up and we are able to think and we are able to use logic and plan and be creative and play and all of these great things that we need from our clients when we are in therapy. So our goal is speech and communication, therefore we need to start off with a regulated child. So how do we start our sessions with a regulated child? I was actually at a local clinic recently training the team and I was surprised in a way by this question, which was essentially like, what do we do when the kid comes in and they're just like all over the place? And I don't know how to even start my session at that point. Right. Because to me, that's the most important thing you need to know how to do is how can you actually begin your session.
So that's what we're talking about. We're talking about beginning your sessions today and how you can do that. And I asked them, I said, Well, do you guys do like a hello song? And they looked around. I was like, no, there you go. And then I walk them through how to create a very regulating hello song. And I know that not all kids this will work for because not not all kids like singing. I would say vast majority of our kids do like singing or don't mind singing, or if they don't like
How does a simple “hello” song or routine help calm a high‑energy child?
Us singing, they're okay with us like playing a song or something like that from our phone, one of their favorite theme songs or something like that. But what my go-to strategy is, is starting the session with some kind of hello routine. And again, it doesn't have to be a hello song. I'll sing you ours in case you're wondering what it sounds like because everyone always asks. Okay, ours would be Hello Jessie. Hello, Jessie. Hello, Jessie, we're glad you came to play. Let me sing it for everyone who's in the session, right? Okay, so that's our hello song. But occasionally what I'll do with kids is I'll like have them pick a theme song. Maybe they're older, have them pick one of their favorite theme songs and we play it on my phone.
Maybe we're gonna do some kind of like cheer. or chant or clapping game as the hello song, but some kind of way to start the session. And I know that this is very age like very specific based on age. For some kids who are younger, it might be more appropriate to sing a hello song. For older kids, you might want to modify it to some other kind of like hello. starting type of routine that maybe doesn't involve singing or something like that. Okay, but the point is you wanna start with some kind of like hello song. um tradition, something like that. And you want to pair that with the sensory input that they need. to get into their most regulated state. And you might be sitting here wondering, what is that sensory input?
What does the child need? Okay. And we're gonna walk through two different kind of types of kids and how to pick what kind of sensory input to start your sessions with. Okay. So I'm gonna give you example one. These are both true stories.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why is getting a child regulated the first priority in speech sessions?
0:08–2:40
2
How does a simple “hello” song or routine help calm a high‑energy child?
2:40–4:42
3
What calming sensory inputs work best for energetic “Tigger” kids?
4:42–7:09
4
How can you use weighted toys, sensory socks, and hugs to regulate a child?
7:09–9:34
5
Which alerting sensory strategies are ideal for low‑energy “Eeyore” children?
9:34–11:33
6
What fun tools (office chair, scarves, parachute, jigglers) can boost regulation?
11:33–13:38
7
How long should the regulation routine be and how does it set up the rest of the session?
13:38–14:31
8
Where can therapists learn more about sensory‑based regulation strategies?
14:31–15:16
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
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Ep. 124 Building Rapport Isn’t Enough...How Therapists Become Part of the Intervention
Ep. 123 Not Seeing Progress in Speech Therapy? Start Here.
Ep. 122 Screen Time Considerations for Autistic Kids
Ep. 121 The Biggest Sensory Mistakes SLPs Make
Ep. 120 Why Anxiety is So Common in Autism (And What Actually Helps)