Let’s talk about waitlists…
When you’re looking for speech therapy services for your child, especially here in Pflugerville, Round Rock, and the greater Austin area, you’re likely to come across clinics and providers telling you about waitlists. It can be frustrating to call someone looking for support for you and your child, only to be met with “we have a 6+ month waiting list”. And let’s be honest, 6 months may not seem like a long time but what are the odds it’s actually 6 months?! Unlikely.
“Waitlists are difficult to predict. If you’re on one waitlist, you should be on multiple waitlists! Don’t have all your eggs in one basket!””
There are definitely things that you can be doing while you’re waiting, so let’s talk about those.
Create a language-rich environment for your child.
This means that you’re giving them lots of opportunities to be exposed to language throughout their day. For example, reading books is a great way to expose your child to lots of language!
We have a great blog about engaging with books that you can check out here.
Use your routines!
There are so many skills that are present just in the routine things we do each day - like mealtimes, bathing routines, and bedtime routines. Narrate throughout these routines to highlight for your child some of what you’re doing and what they’re doing. Additional ideas for using routines can be found here.
Chat with a speech therapist!
Chat directly with a speech therapist and get a few ideas that are specific to your child! Every child receiving speech therapy services has entirely different needs so spend a few minutes talking to a speech therapist to get a couple ideas that might be specific to where your child currently is with their language skills.
BONUS: Consider meeting with the speech therapist monthly for consultative services while you’re waiting to be seen at an ongoing session time.
You can check out additional ways we support families navigating waitlists here at WLB on this post. If you’re needing additional support, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’re happy to chat with you about options.
