With the cost of living rising, and increasing weather-related events, wars and pandemics affecting income and outgoing costs, paying for private Speech Language Therapy can be a luxury for many.

I want everyone who needs it, to have access to Speech Language Therapy, so I'm sharing seven ways you can access support for your child for free, or very low cost ⬇️

Assess your child for FREE!!!
I've created a high-quality and completely free assessment that you can use to see exactly what's happening in your child's speech. You can download it by clicking here.

Use resources you already have:
There's no need to go out and buy a whole lot of new and expensive games and resources. I guarantee you will already have items around the home that you can use:

• Use toys/games your child already owns and enjoys playing. Perhaps dig out something that's been forgotten about and revive enthusiasm about it.

• Make resources from low cost/no cost items, e.g. a sock puppet to feed word cards/items to, an empty icecream container as a posting box for word cards, empty yoghurt/spread/takeaway containers to put counters in as your child practices, a hacky-sack/beanbag/ball to drop on word cards you've put on the floor.

• Make word cards or a speech page/title page with pictures that contain the sound you're focusing on. You can cut these out from a magazine or advertising pamphlet. Making the word card or page can be part of the activity with your child. Click here for an example.

• Get your child to tick, stamp or place stickers on a piece of paper each time they say a practice word.

📄 Download my speech games to play handout for more ideas of ways to use items from around the home to work on your child's speech.

Access free and low cost resources on the internet:
There are lots of free resources available. Some include:

• Free word card handouts from Caroline Bowen.

• Free and low cost resources created by Speech Language Therapists on Teachers Pay Teachers.

• Low cost resources from Speech Language Illustrated.

• If your child loves digital games, you can purchase many speech therapy focused activities on Boom Cards for just a few dollars.

• Low cost Video Courses I've created to show you how to improve your child's speech at home.

Watch free trainings on YouTube:
There are SO MANY free trainings on YouTube. Some good channels include:

• Speech Teacher

• Peachy Speechy

Download digital handouts:

• Many Speech Language Therapy sites have free handouts you can download. 

• I have lots of free and low cost downloadable handouts here, that I am happy for you to give to people in your child's life: Teachers, relatives, etc.

• For amazing value, download my Speech Handout Bundle containing 12 handouts (and growing!) that give you all the strategies and real-life tips I share with the people I work with 1:1.

Access a video course to teach you exactly what to do:
Video courses can be a great option, as all the information is well organised and distilled down to the most important information. I have a range of courses, that teach you how to work on your child's speech:

• You can learn essential baseline skills for working on your child's speech with The Speech Sound Essentials Video Course

• If your child has difficulty with making one or two speech sounds, you can use one of my Speech Sound Specific Video Courses

• If you have limited time and energy and want a quick win, my Play to Say and Read it, Say it mini courses show you exactly how to turn play and storybook reading into super speech sound boosting activities. So you can feel confident that you're doing something targeted and effective every day, to help your child's speech progress.

Join a membership:
If you crave a community of like-minded people to support you, plus ongoing support, new resources and trainings, then a membership could be a great option for you.

• The Speech Teacher Guest Expert Membership gives you access to my handout bundles, workshops from guest experts on a variety of topics for children's communication, exclusive content, first access to new content and workshops, ability to ask questions and have them answered by me, ability to suggest topics you'd like to receive information or a workshop on, plus a community of other like-minded parents, Teachers and Teacher Aides who all have children with speech sound challenges in their lives.

• Coming soon, is an on-demand membership, with easy access, bite-sized workshops with everything you need to improve your child's speech at home. Join my mailing list to be notified when it launches.

I hope you find these suggestions useful in helping the child/ren in your life progress their speech skills.

If you want a personal recommendation on which of my resources to choose, that will work best with yours and your child's needs, send me an email telling me about your child and their speech, and I'll find the right option for you.

Polly x