In search of behavior management strategies for your speech therapy sessions? Check out these 57 tips to help SLPs cope with challenging behaviors.

<p>
  Time is precious when you&rsquo;re a
  <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/meet-taylor-c-slp?"
    >school-based speech therapist</a
  >! Not only are the kids you serve growing rapidly, you also have only a short
  period of time to work with them &ndash; and plenty to accomplish. How many
  times have you planned for a successful speech therapy session only to have
  the session derailed due to behavior issues? It can be immensely frustrating
  when you&rsquo;re trying to help a child work on speech and language, but you
  continually run into behavior problems. Here&rsquo;s a list of behaviors that
  commonly disrupt speech therapy sessions, the possible motives behind those
  behaviors and behavior management strategies for school SLPs.
</p>

<h2>Behaviors That Can Disrupt Speech Therapy Sessions</h2>

<p>
  Examples of undesired behaviors that can be disruptive, particularly during
  speech therapy, include (<a
    href="https://www.laviinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Behavior-Management-Strategies-for-Speech-Language-Pathologists.pdf"
    >Elleseff, Rutgers University</a
  >):
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Moving excessively</li>
  <li>Shutting down</li>
  <li>Being inattentive or off-task</li>
  <li>Refusing to comply</li>
  <li>Showing physical aggression</li>
  <li>Using verbal insults</li>
  <li>Teasing or provoking other children</li>
  <li>Screaming, crying or throwing tantrums</li>
  <li>Running off</li>
  <li>Destroying property</li>
  <li>Engaging in self-stimulation or sexualized behavior</li>
  <li>Injuring self or others</li>
  <li>Rocking, tapping or flapping</li>
</ul>

<h2>Understanding Motives Behind Behaviors in the Speech Therapy Setting</h2>

<p>
  Speech therapists should seek to understand motives behind individual
  behaviors. Children who are engaging in disruptive behaviors are often (<a
    href="https://www.laviinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Behavior-Management-Strategies-for-Speech-Language-Pathologists.pdf"
    >Rutgers</a
  >):
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Seeking control or attention</li>
  <li>Feeling either bored or overwhelmed</li>
  <li>Trying to avoid a task</li>
  <li>Adapting to abrupt changes in routine</li>
  <li>Feeling their environment is unpredictable</li>
  <li>Experiencing medical issues like illness or missed medication</li>
  <li>Lacking sleep or feeling hungry</li>
  <li>Undergoing events such as divorce or death in their family</li>
  <li>Having a bad day</li>
  <li>
    Dealing with a
    <a
      href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/slp-goals-neurodiversity-affirming-speech-therapy?"
      >disability</a
    >, like an emotional and behavioral disorder, ADHD or autism
  </li>
</ul>

<h2>57 Behavior Management Strategies for SLPs</h2>

<p>
  Here&rsquo;s an extensive list of SLP behavior management strategies to use
  with your students (adapted from
  <a
    href="https://thespeechroomnews.com/2018/08/behavior-strategies-for-slps.html"
    >The Speech Room News</a
  >,
  <a
    href="https://www.laviinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Behavior-Management-Strategies-for-Speech-Language-Pathologists.pdf"
    >Smart Speech Therapy</a
  >
  &amp;
  <a href="https://www.weareteachers.com/classroom-management-techniques/"
    >We Are Teachers</a
  >).
</p>

<ol style="padding-left: 20px;">
  <li>Build a relationship and rapport with each child.</li>
  <li>Recognize and respect diversity and cultural differences.</li>
  <li>
    Identify behavior, behavior triggers, duration, reasoning, intervention, and
    response.
  </li>
  <li>Keep data on behavior observations, goals and progress.</li>
  <li>Focus on prevention versus intervention.</li>
  <li>Remain objective.</li>
  <li>Don&rsquo;t take anything personally.</li>
  <li>Seek to understand and be compassionate.</li>
  <li>Establish routines, structure and predictability.</li>
  <li>Give children as much responsibility as possible.</li>
  <li>
    State clear, developmentally appropriate instructions and expectations.
  </li>
  <li>Reward students for appropriate behaviors.</li>
  <li>Implement consistent consequences.</li>
  <li>
    Use a team-based approach, involving teachers, parents, other therapists,
    etc.
  </li>
  <li>Communicate positively with parents.</li>
  <li>
    Provide direct instruction in language-based strategies designed to reduce
    challenging behaviors.
  </li>
  <li>
    Share language-based strategies to target behaviors with teachers, parents,
    and team members.
  </li>
  <li>Use timers.</li>
  <li>Create a speech activity schedule.</li>
  <li>
    Have students add speech therapy activities to the schedule to increase
    buy-in.
  </li>
  <li>Let students arrange the activities in the preferred order.</li>
  <li>Expose students to positive peer models.</li>
  <li>Use verbal redirection.</li>
  <li>Give frequent breaks.</li>
  <li>Offer help and attention as needed.</li>
  <li>Use extrinsic rewards like token economies, stickers, etc. sparingly.</li>
  <li>
    Use praise sparingly and to acknowledge specific behaviors (rather than
    generally).
  </li>
  <li>Focus on intrinsic rewards to support long-term change.</li>
  <li>
    Ask, &ldquo;What do you think went well during our session? What needs more
    work?&rdquo;
  </li>
  <li>Allow students to use manipulatives.</li>
  <li>Reduce complexity of activities if needed.</li>
  <li>Minimize distractions in room i.e., clutter, noise, etc.</li>
  <li>Use predetermined consequences.</li>
  <li>Increase proximity to reduce behavior.</li>
  <li>Have time outs.</li>
  <li>Walk with student or allow them to take a walk with a parapro.</li>
  <li>Engage in high-impact activity.</li>
  <li>Have student take a dance break to music.</li>
  <li>Allow child to stand rather than sit or to sit on an exercise ball.</li>
  <li>Give tactile cues.</li>
  <li>Teach &ldquo;freeze&rdquo; prompt to stop excessive movement.</li>
  <li>
    Teach &ldquo;hands on table&rdquo; prompt to stop physical acting out.
  </li>
  <li>
    Teach &ldquo;arm&rsquo;s length&rdquo; prompt to increase social space.
  </li>
  <li>Show &ldquo;quiet hands&rdquo; or &ldquo;sitting body&rdquo; visuals.</li>
  <li>Use high-fives instead of hugs.</li>
  <li>Use hula hoop to teach social space.</li>
  <li>Post written/picture rules.</li>
  <li>Use positive language.</li>
  <li>Facilitate transitions.</li>
  <li>Specify activity length.</li>
  <li>Adjust number of different activities as needed.</li>
  <li>Teach vocabulary about feelings and emotions.</li>
  <li>Remove the audience.</li>
  <li>Practice planned ignorance.</li>
  <li>Use visuals and non-verbal communication and reduce the use of words.</li>
  <li>Model desired behavior.</li>
  <li>Check for understanding.</li>
</ol>

<p>
  As you implement these tips for dealing with unwanted behaviors during your
  speech therapy sessions, keep in mind each child has different needs. Once
  you&rsquo;ve found the right methods to redirect and get back on track, make
  note of what works for each student. We hope you found this resource to be a
  useful addition to your SLP toolkit! For more, check out our post on
  <a
    href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/how-to-engage-students-with-behavior-issues?"
    >How to Engage Students with Behavior Issues</a
  >.
</p>

<p>
  Find out where children need your specialized SLP skills in exciting locations
  across the nation. Check out our
  <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/education">speech therapy jobs here</a>!
</p>


Speech Therapy Behavior Management