[Quick Tip] Why Do Kids Plateau in Speech Therapy?
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Why do kids suddenly stop progressing in speech therapy?
What do we do when our kids are plateauing in their speech and language development? That is something we see so often. And I will tell you, as someone who has run and operated my private practice for the last 11 years, we see about somewhere between two and 300 kids per week in our clinic. I am on the phone every single week scheduling new families. I talk to between two and eight new families every single day for context. So this is something that I hear so often from parents. They come in, they say, we're looking for a new speech provider or we're looking to do something different because my child has plateaued. How do we what why is this happening and what do we do next? So let's talk about those things today.
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!
Welcome to the first ever mini episode of Making the Shift.
What real‑life parent story illustrates the plateau problem?
Wanted to give you some very tangible bite-sized strategies that you can take away from today. And today we are talking all about why do kids plateau in their speech and language development. This conversation idea spurred from a call that I just got this week from a family. Like I said, I do about somewhere between two and eight phone calls every single day with new parents looking to schedule speech therapy. And this is something I hear all the time. And this particular parent Had a seven-year-old and she said, We started doing ABA when he was around two. And I loved it. I loved, loved, loved it. It was great until he turned about seven. And then I stopped seeing progress. And I said to her, We see that so often.
And she said that she had read my book, which I was so honored, you know, it's not every day I get to talk to parents who have. And she said, I read your book and not to be cheesy, it completely changed my life. I'm serious. And now I understand what he needs.
How does the “language staircase” analogy explain language development?
I did not understand until I read your book. And I told her this is something we see so often and I see it a lot around the age of seven too. Or at least I should say I get a lot of phone calls from parents whose kids are around the age of seven and they're ready to try something new at that stage because they see very little progress continuing to happen, feels like their child is really at a plateau. And what happens so often is kids will go into a more structured type of therapy, maybe like ABA when they're younger. And it could be very compliance-based. I'm not saying every ABA program is, but a lot of times, you know, from the ones that I observed locally around here, a lot of the very, very well-known places around here, big places, big facilities, I shall not name.
Name. extremely compliance based, even from the time kids are two years old. They have one on one AIDS with hand over hand prompting doing everything th for them. Anyway, won't get into that story. But I will say it is not uncommon for kids to go into some very structured type of therapy from an early age. And kids learn a lot between the ages of, you know, one and three. Huge amounts. So oftentimes we see kids go into programs at like two or three and they're making so much progress, right? Because when kids are little, they tend to make a lot of progress. And then all of a sudden
Why are regulation and engagement the foundation for language learning?
Parents are calling us a few years later saying, I don't get it. They were making so much progress when they were little. This approach worked really well for them when they were little. And now they're not progressing anymore. And now they are stuck in I want land. I want this. I want that. And that's something I hear so often from parents is my kid can tell me what he wants and I don't hear much else from him. And why does this happen in the first place? How is this happening? This is where the language staircase analogy that I teach, you may have heard me say it because I have said it a million times, comes in handy, which is that kids develop language like a staircase.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why do kids suddenly stop progressing in speech therapy?
0:00–1:17
2
What real‑life parent story illustrates the plateau problem?
1:17–2:18
3
How does the “language staircase” analogy explain language development?
2:18–3:46
4
Why are regulation and engagement the foundation for language learning?
3:46–4:38
5
What therapy strategies help rebuild the missing steps of the staircase?
4:38–6:18
6
How can listeners learn more about the staircase approach in the Ready, Set, Connect book?
6:18–7:32
7
What final takeaways and calls to action does the host leave listeners with?
7:32–8:34
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
Ep. 125 How to Run Successful Social Groups
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)