How Often Do You Need to Practise?

This is such a difficult to question to answer in a quick sentence, hence the blog rather than a tweet!
But there are some ways of coming up with a frequency that works for you and, more importantly, for your child.
1) What kind of difficulty does s/he have? If it is a social communication or social interaction difficulty, then the answer really has to be, 'practise all the time!' 'Seize the moment'. You can be modelling, using strategies, supporting or encouraging in real-life social situations. If it is a language difficulty, you might want to do short structured activities daily but model and reinforce when the language structures naturally occur. For a speech difficulty, you will need to do structured activities as many days per week as you can, then model and help your child to generalise recently learned sounds throughout the day.
2) How easy does your child find it to sit still and concentrate? If the answer is, not easy at all, then you are probably going to be practising in very short bursts and using play to teach skills rather than follow a structured sit-down-at-a-table programme. If s/he can concentrate for 10 minutes, then practise for 10 minutes; 20 minutes? Guess what, practise for 20 minutes!
3) Is your child motivated to do his/her therapy? If the answer is yes, that's great. You can take advantage of this motivation to practise one or two times per day. However, if motivation is lacking you may need to limit the number of times per week you sit down to practise; you may need to use play or lots of motivators/short breaks/bribes! You might also need to consider offering your child a therapy break so that therapy does not become too much of a chore.
There really is no hard and fast rule, although research evidence does mean there is general guidance for therapists to consider. Try to agree the frequency with your therapist and your child, and be prepared to alter or tweak the arrangements every so often. For more advice, visit my website.