Teaching · Speech & Language

Five words, five minutes, twice a day.

Choose a few words the child is close to, the cue that helps each, and a practice routine small enough to keep. The printout is the caregiver’s plan; the week log shows what actually happened, so the next plan fits the family better.

Start a home planWhat you get

The home practice week

One record per child and week. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Speech & LanguageFree

What you finish with
For each week, the practice words with their cues, the schedule and routines, the caregiver supports, and a log of sessions practiced, with notes to adjust the plan.
Who it is for
Speech-language pathologists who plan home practice with families of children with childhood apraxia of speech or other motor speech disorders. The printed plan is for the caregiver.
Format
Browser form filled in with the caregiver, then the week log by the family or at the next session. Several saved weeks per child; printed as the caregiver’s plan or a blank form; CSV with one row per week or the word table; export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account and no sign-in. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Speech & Language space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
face to face, slowly
Drawn for this page. Sitting face to face lets the child see how the mouth moves; a slower rate gives time to plan.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the child’s initials or a code and the week’s start date.
  2. List five to ten words, each with the cue that helps and why it was chosen.
  3. Agree on how often and how long, and which routines to fit it into.
  4. Choose the supports the caregiver will use and print the plan.
  5. Fill in the week log together at the next session and adjust.

Start a home plan

What the plan is for

Why home practice

Children with apraxia of speech need many practice tries to make a movement automatic, more than therapy sessions alone can give. Short, frequent practice at home adds those tries in the routines where the words are useful.

Small and frequent

Two or three practice times a day of a few minutes each usually beat one long session, and are easier to keep fun. A word list the child is close to saying gives success to build on. Supports fade as the child gets the word: from saying it together, to watching, to saying it alone.

What this plan is not

It does not replace therapy or choose the treatment approach, and caregivers do not diagnose. The speech-language pathologist sets the words and cues and changes them as the child progresses.

Sources

  1. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Practice Portal: Childhood Apraxia of Speech (treatment, practice intensity, family involvement).
  2. Maas, E., Robin, D. A., Austermann Hula, S. N., and others (2008). Principles of motor learning in treatment of motor speech disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(3), 277 to 298.
  3. Strand, E. A. (2020). Dynamic temporal and tactile cueing: a treatment strategy for childhood apraxia of speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(1), 30 to 48.
  4. Murray, E., McCabe, P., and Ballard, K. J. (2014). A systematic review of treatment outcomes for children with childhood apraxia of speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 23(3), 486 to 504.

The example child and family are made up. The plan supports practice at home; it does not replace therapy. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.