Managing Tricky Behaviors in Speech Therapy Sessions

How do you manage tricky behaviors in your speech therapy sessions?

Here’s my top tips:

I like to freely provide lots of sensory supports in my room, like wiggle seats, putty, squishy things, fidgets, etc… Most of my students have specific plans for what to do if they need a break or need help.

Like I shared in a recent email, I also always focus on building relationships with my students and making sure they know I care about them and think they’re amazing.

From there, here’s a summary of my top tops for behavior management:

These tips may sound simple but they work.

✅ Kids love clear, consistent expectations and the power to choose tools that work for them.

✅ I love having high expectations for my students and scaffolding their success with awareness building questions (like “Can you listen/work/focus while you do that?”).

And whatever you do, always make sure to tune into yourself during these difficult moments. Take a moment to breathe and pause before responding.

Your ability to stay regulated and calm is paramount for setting the tone, modeling self-regulation skills, and providing co-regulation supports to your students who are having a hard time.

Remember this – behavior is always the tip of the iceberg. There is something setting off alarm bells in our students’ brains and/or bodies. What can you do to bring awareness to what is wrong and help get the problem-solved?