1:1 Services vs. Group Therapy in Schools

One-on-one speech and/or language therapy in a school is usually ideal for any school-based speech language pathologist. However, it's not always possible in a school where there is one speech language pathologist and a caseload of 60 or more kids. Grouping kids together is inevitable. There are pros to one-on-one therapy as well as group therapy.

One-On-One Therapy:

In 1-on-1 therapy, the speech language pathologist can create or choose activities based on a student's likes or areas of interest, which can lead to more potential engagement from the student. For instance, if a student has a particular interest in planets, an entire month's worth of therapy sessions could be planned around that.

There is also the potential for quicker progress in a 1-on-1 therapy session as the student has time for lots of practice and reinforcement from the speech language pathologist. You also have the potential to work on more goals during a session (depending on the length of the session), which can be helpful in terms of material covered.

A 1-on-1 therapy session may also be more ideal for a student who is shy around others or is more active than other students. This way the student does not have to compete for attention with others. There is also less comparison and interference from other students.

In therapy, sometimes the speech language pathologist may also have to have more difficult conversations with a student, such as why a goal is being worked on or discussing why X response was not appropriate. Sometimes these difficult conversations can also be about things that are hard for them, which a student may not want to talk about in front of their peers.

Group Therapy:

Group therapy can also be beneficial!

Group therapy is a good place for students to learn from each other. When working on social skills or language skills that require another person, a group is often best for this. Students will mostly be talking with other peers and so it is best to practice with peers.

Sometimes students will learn or pick up on things that other students do as well. This is an added benefit to having group therapy. A student can show another student how they make that sound or what tricks they use. It's amazing how sometimes when a kid explains something to another kid, it clicks for them and then they know or understand what to do much to the bewilderment of the speech language pathologist, who likely has been saying the same things to that student. In the end, all that matters is that the student is successful.

It is also helpful for students to see that they are not alone in these differences. If a student is put together in a group with another student who stutters or another student who has difficulty with saying certain sounds, it can be empowering to know that you are not alone and that there are others like you.

Group therapy can also teach turn-taking skills and life lessons such as accepting losing in a game. In therapy with a group, games are often used to motivate students to participate but also provides a natural transition from from person to another. After a student has completed the trials or tasks the speech language pathologist has put in front of them, they get to take a turn and then it is the next student's turn. In this case, all the other students must learn to wait their turn, but also must learn to follow the rules. Lastly, they learn that if they lose, it is not the end of the world. With time, they can see the way their peers react when they lose a game and come to realize that it's not a bad thing.

Katelynn Gibson, M.S., CCC-SLP