Keeping the Momentum: How West LA & Santa Monica Families Can Keep SLP Work Going All Summer Long

Summer is finally here! It’s a time for sunshine, beach days, breaking free from the rigid routines of the school year, and enjoying everything the Westside has to offer.

If your child has been working hard in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) sessions over the past few months, you might be looking forward to a well-deserved break. However, many parents worry about the "summer slide"—the potential for a child to lose some of the amazing communication milestones they’ve recently achieved.

The good news? Keeping up with speech and language goals during the summer doesn’t mean turning your home into a classroom or sacrificing your family's summer fun. In fact, some of the best speech therapy happens during everyday, real-world moments right here in our community.

Here are five simple, stress-free tips to weave SLP work into your family’s Westside summer routine:

1. Narrate Your Coastal Adventures

Whether you are strolling through one of our incredible farmers markets, checking out the tide pools at Leo Carrillo, or watching street performers in Venice, use these rich sensory environments to build vocabulary and language structure.

• For younger children: Practice "parallel talk." Simply narrate what your child is doing ("You are digging in the cool sand! Wow, that’s a deep hole!").

• For older children: Encourage descriptive language. Ask open-ended questions like, "How would you describe the difference between the taste of this apple and that apple variety?" or "What do you think that seagull is looking for?"
  
  

2. Make Kitchen Magic with Local Finds

Cooking and baking are goldmines for speech and language development. After picking up some fresh fruit from a local farmers market, making a simple recipe like homemade popsicles or smoothies gives your child a chance to practice:

• Sequencing: Talk about what you need to do first, next, and last (e.g., wash the berries, chop them up, blend them).

• Following Directions: Give your child multi-step directions depending on their goal level ("First grab the strawberries, then put them in the blender").

• Target Sounds: If your child is working on a specific sound, look for local ingredients that start with that sound (e.g., if they are practicing the /s/ sound, make a strawberry smoothie!).
  
  

3. Turn Screen Time (or Traffic Time) into Talk Time

Let’s be honest: between afternoon screen time and sitting in that inevitable 405 or Wilshire Boulevard traffic, there are moments of downtime during an LA summer. You can easily turn these moments into interactive speech activities!

• In the car: Play "I Spy" targeting specific speech sounds ("I spy a silver sedan" for the /s/ sound).

• During screen time: Sit with your child for 5 or 10 minutes of their favorite show. Pause the video and ask, "What do you think is going to happen next?" or "Why do you think that character looks so surprised?" This is fantastic for targeting social communication, inferencing, and emotional vocabulary.
  
  

4. Upgrade Your Outdoor Play at Local Parks

Whether you're hanging out at Douglas Park, Clover Park, or a backyard in Mar Vista, outdoor toys like sidewalk chalk and bubbles aren't just fun—they are incredible tools for communication.

• Use bubbles to target early language requests like "more," "open," "pop," or "my turn."

• Use sidewalk chalk to draw target articulation words. Your child can jump on the circle with the word, or spray it with a water squirter after they say the word correctly five times!
  
  

5. Keep Reading with Local Libraries

The Santa Monica Public Library and the LA Public Library branches (like West Los Angeles or Donald Bruce Kaufman Brentwood) have incredible summer reading programs. Remember that how you read together matters more than how much you read. Don’t worry about reading every word on the page. Instead, look at the pictures together, point out interesting details, make predictions, and connect the story to your child’s own life ("Look, the characters in this book are going to a park just like the playground we visited today!").

Consistency is Key, but So is Connection

The secret ingredient to summer speech success isn’t a stack of flashcards—it’s connection. By embedding these small practices into the local activities you are already enjoying, you’ll help your child generalize their speech skills to the real world while making beautiful summer memories together.

If you aren't sure exactly which goals to focus on this summer, or if you want personalized strategies tailored to your child's unique communication needs, our Westside team is here to help.

Ready to support your child’s communication journey this summer?

Don't let the summer slide undo all of your child's hard work.Let's make this a summer of growth, confidence, and connection right here at home!

At Pathways Developmental Therapy, we serve families across West LA and Santa Monica, helping you build a customized, manageable plan to keep your child thriving year-round.

Contact Pathways Developmental Therapy today to schedule an evaluation and learn how we can support your child's journey toward confident communication.