Most therapy is completed at a frequency of approximately one session per week, fortnight or even monthly. A once off session with an occupational therapist, speech and language therapist or psychologist is not ideal if this is the only skill development that your child is receiving.

That’s where home program comes in to play. Continuing with strategies and interventions you have observed and practised in sessions with a therapist is crucial to achieving goals. Research shows that spending shorter durations of time, more frequently, helps to instill and develop skills and will help with reaching your families goals in therapy.

Below are some strategies to ensure that you can continue with interventions at home during your busy day with all else that you need to fit in.

• Involve strategies from therapy sessions in your everyday activities.
  • Avoid resorting to use of technology at meal time, travel in the car, when out in the community. Use these times as opportunities to incorporate strategies.
  • Be flexible and find ways to incorporate elements of therapy goals every day in all environments.

• Create a routine that incorporates home program strategies to reach therapy goals.
  • Completing an activity at the same time each day for a short duration. You could use a visual schedule!

• Use strategies to motivation your child to ensure that they are having fun, are engaged and finding working towards therapy goals enjoyable.
  • Take a look at previous blog post on ‘Motivation’ for some ideas if this is a barrier to completing your home program on a regular basis.

• Have a go at practising intervention strategies in sessions with your child.
  • This way you can get a good idea if you will have success with trying to replicate strategies at home.
  • The therapist is there to assist you with this and provide you with any coaching

• Celebrate reaching the small goals and achievements.
  • Don’t wait until you reach long term goals to realise that progress has been made.
  • Smaller achievements may not be the ultimate goal, but it is the journal through these smaller targets that leads to long term goal. Start small and move up from there.

• Check in with your therapist for ideas of how strategies can be used at home.
  • Make contact via email with your therapist between appointments to let them know any progress or areas of concern

Written by Alannah Santomartino, Occupational Therapist.