Client not engaging
Hi everyone! I have a new kiddo I’ve seen a few times now at home. They have asd & adhd. They have an aac device but it is dead more often than not. They tend to use their own made up signs to communicate which is fine but I often am left asking mom or guessing what they are trying to communicate. The real challenge is I cannot get them to engage in anything - they will take two turns of a game / toy and decide they don’t want it. Parent is frustrated expecting me to be able to do more. I’m not sure how to work on anything with a dead aac device (half the goals are aac related) or work on language when I can’t keep their attention for more than 30 seconds at a time. Child is quite challenging to work with and I’m already becoming quite anxious on days I have to go work with them. I am a slpa for reference. The goals are super simple and make sense but I basically get no where close to working on them. I spend 90% of the session following them around while they go item to item as I try and engage them. They don’t really have any toys they really like/want to play with of their own. Parent is really pushing for them to use age appropriate toys which is of 0 interest to the child.
Please give me suggestions on what to do!!
Posted Mar 5, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC