10 activities for SLPA home visits

Why the home works so well

In early intervention, services happen in the child's natural environment, like the family's home. This doesn't simply mean moving the clinic into the living room. It means building practice into the family's everyday life: their activities and the people the child spends time with, like grandparents and siblings.

Lots of everyday things at home work well for this.

Play with things around the house

1. 1
   Pots-and-spoon drum

   Use a metal bowl and a wooden spoon as a drum. Model "loud" and "quiet", "fast" and "slow".

2. 2
   Hide-and-find bowl

   Fill a bowl with cotton balls or pasta and hide something inside. Use "Where's the…?" and "You found the…!"

3. 3
   Blanket peekaboo and forts

   Sheets, towels and couch cushions make tents, tunnels and peekaboo. Model "hide", "under", "over", "through", "behind".

4. 4
   Cushion jumping

   Let the child jump into a pile of cushions. Model action words like "climb" and "jump".

5. 5
   Paper towel roll tunnels

   Roll toy cars through cardboard tubes. Talk about what fits and what doesn't, and what rolls through slowly or quickly.

6. 6
   Tape play

   Toddlers can tear and peel masking tape, or watch a roll unspool across the floor. Model "long" and "short".

7. 7
   Bottle bowling

   Line up empty plastic bottles like bowling pins and roll a ball at them. Talk about how to set up the pins and whether to stand close or far away.

8. 8
   Bath-time pouring

   Filling and pouring plastic bottles makes bath time more fun. Describe what the child is doing as they play.

Use the family's daily routines

1. 9
   Snack time

   Don't offer the juice before the child asks for it. When they point to it, respond right away, saying "Here's your juice" as you hand over the cup.

2. 10
   Getting dressed or brushing teeth

   Use the same steps and the same words every time ("Time to get dressed"). Start by doing most of it, then hand steps over, like letting the child squeeze the toothpaste.

What makes these activities work

• Follow their lead

  Notice what catches the child's interest and talk about that.

• Join in, don't direct

  Play alongside instead of running the game.

• Describe what they're doing

  Put words to the child's actions as they happen.

• Wait

  Pause after you speak so the child has time to respond.

• Share the talking

  Leave space for the child's ideas.

Part of the job is helping families learn how to encourage their child in everyday moments like these.