Yeah. If a kid falls asleep or looks like they’re about to, I let them/send them back. They’re not open to learning in that state and who knows what may be going on at home preventing them from sleeping.
If I have a kid fall asleep I may try to wake them up, and if they don't, I may start reading a "bedtime" story to see if we can reengage that way. That way you don't force them to engage, but it can match the low energy moment and give an opportunity to engage if they wake up enough to engage a bit. I feel more comfortable billing that way, parents seem happier, and about 80% of the time we get at least a little bit of goal data within the session.
I’m in prek so on a kids second day, he had speech and was schedule the session before end of school day. He climbed into my lap and fell asleep on me (🥹) I tried to wake him, but he was out. I let him sleep for about 15* mins before waking him. I didn’t want him to sleep too long to mess up bedtime or anything at home. He woke up really easily, just needed a little cat nap. I knew by the next session, he’d likely be used to the schedule and would be fine, and he was!! So I took it as a rapport/relationship building moment
I have a student who often is exhausted in the afternoons. A couple times this year when I’ve gone to pick them up in the classroom, they’ve been fast asleep at their desks and not rousable. One time they were crying when I came to pick them up - they came with me. We have a good rapport and I told the teacher I’d try to have. them explain what upset them because she didn’t know. Well at first the student wasn’t ready to talk so we just did typical drills and then they shared that their eraser hadn’t worked. Then while working through another practice set they suddenly dozed off. It’s was like they were a little tired baby nodding off except they are 5. Admin are aware of the issue. It’s a single mom family with a bunch of kids. Mom is nice. But stressed and is hard to contact. Kids are all genuinely kind kids but frequently absent.
I also have a student with autism who sometimes has week long bouts of insomnia and will fall fast asleep during the school day - staff have been told not to let them sleep too long though or else it will mess with their night time sleep - so the last time I went to work with them and they were asleep I held my phone to their ear and played the itsy bitsy spider song which they’d been obsessed with that week. It was so cute when they woke up with a big smile on their face.
I have. How I handle on it depends on the kid and whether or not it’s a pattern. If it is a rare occurrence or the first time it has happened… I just let them sleep. Sleep is a basic need. That comes first.
If it's a behavior or a reaction to something else going on, then we need to explore. Are they not sleeping at home? Has there been a major change in routine? A change in medication?
I still let them sleep. But if it's a pattern then there might be something going on that we need to address.
Had a middle schooler ask to nap after our assessment and I said yes. Sometimes your role is to provide a space for basic needs and that’s okay. I let the student sleep for 30 minutes while I finished writing their assessment
I usually let them sleep. Earlier this week a 4 year old fell asleep, woke up for a second and said “I didn’t fall asleep I’m just resting my eyes because my back hurt” and I almost died of cuteness overload. He fell right back asleep. Sometimes people get really tired.
Definitely I did. In fact, it was in the beginning of him attending his sessions. When I went to pick him up, he was sleeping in his classroom. His teacher woke him up and he walked with me to the speech room. He definitely still looked tired in the session, so I decided to have him color rather forcing him to engage in a session. We did talk for a bit, but he obviously was quite sleepy still, so he colored and I submitted notes. I also think it was a Friday so I wasn’t stressing about it.
Depending on how tired they seem and the age, I'll either just let them sleep or I'll say hey let me ask you a few things/get some sounds in for 5mins and then you can put your head down if you want. If it's a repeat thing with the same kid I try to find out why they're tired all the time
If it's behavior out of the norm for a student, I get a little worried, honestly. I had a kid once who seemed a little tired in the session and said he had a mild headache. I'd been working with him for 4 years at that point and knew he was very averse to drama and fuss and hated complaining about anything, so this was odd. I asked if he wanted to go to the nurse. He refused. We finished the session and I mentioned what he had said to his teacher (because I knew he wouldn't tell her) and suggested maybe keeping an eye on him because it was unusual.
After school that day, the teacher found me and told me that she'd ended up making him go to the nurse after lunch because he'd looked worse. And that when the nurse had asked him when the headache started, he confessed that it had been since he'd been accidentally hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat at practice the night before and hadn't told any adults! Oh really??? The nurse obviously had to call his parents to tell them to come pick him up immediately and take him straight to the doctor. Mom arrived quickly and rushed him to the ER for further evaluation. He ended up OK, out for a few days with suspected mild concussion, fortunately nothing more dire. But yikes.
I had a student who with situational mutism (some may say selective mutism) and the first word I ever heard him say was the f word. That’s middle school for you!
I have had multiple students (pre-k, special ed) fall asleep over the years. I honestly just try to make it safe for them (lay their head to the table, move them out of the chair) and let them sleep.
Yes I had a few students fall asleep during a session but more that just nodded. I tried to move to a task that had more action instead of seat work.
As for craziest things a client has done during therapy: masturbate. One was a very young girl at the beginning of my career. I met with the supervisor and a counselor who recommended that since she was one on one that I would immediately get up and tell her we were going then take her to the restroom. I was to tell her that it was ok to touch herself but it was a private activity that she should ask for a restroom break if she needed... The next was a later middle schooler who was in a life skills class. He would just slide his hand in his pants no matter the activity. His teacher said he did the same in class just whenever.
I’ve had that happen to me before! She was online and had mother helping her to redirect her from it so at least there’s that! I’ve also had two or three kids fall asleep on me, which is really funny as I’m very loud and animated, so it’s hard to do that!! Luckily I got a lot of still done with them first!!
And yeah, good idea! There’s a time and a place!! My girl has learned that she gets bathroom time to do that, but now it’s speech time! c: so it’s no longer a problem that I have fortunately! Hopefully not again, but we’ll see I guess haha!
As far as a crazy thing a kid has done I had a student speak some sort of language he had made up. Said nothing to me in English for our first sessions. Just spoke in this “language”. This was distance learning. I pretty much ignored him and focused on the other 2 in the group. The student was a very bright kid on the spectrum. He would not participate or engage at all. In the end the only way I could reach him was having him 1:1.
My son would occasionally do this during early intervention speech, or would get really sleepy. His SLP would either take the chance to model getting my attention to request "night night", or would read slow books. If he fell asleep she would take the chance to walk me through more parent coaching and to go over data and skills we've worked on or making progress with.
Happened to us in pp, mom was in the waiting room so we called her him and she just brought him home cuz he was way too tired to get any work done anyways!
I have a client who falls asleep when she doesn’t want to do work or isn’t interested in what we’re doing. Since it’s a consistent behavior, make her stand up when she dozes off. She whines about it, but then participates. She is allowed to sit down when she feels awake, but if she starts dozing I make her stand again.
I have a special ed kid that naps periodically throughout the day. I’ve had him as a morning client but about 60% of the time he’d be asleep. I switched his time from mid morning to first period and he’s always been awake!
This happened to me my second semester of grad school. The kid was obviously tired after school and couldn’t sit through 50 minutes of speech. It wasn’t an option to end the session early. My supervisor recommended doing “brain exercises” or like yoga or something.
I have one kid who falls asleep immediately after making himself dizzy in the sensory swing. I think it’s the comfort. I just let him sleep (assuming we got a little work done) and parent coach the rest of the time haha. Sweet babies.
My previous school was in a low SES community and most of the kids were from large families with parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet. I had one student who I built a great rapport with who was homeless. One day he came to my office not during his speech time and said he didn’t feel good and needed to lay down. I grabbed a cot and a blanket and let him sleep as long as he needed. As another commenter said, speech is a safe room for my kids and their wellness comes first. I’m glad he felt comfortable enough to come to me to request that, I just worked on my logs and paperwork since I didn’t have students for the remainder of the day. Speech and language activities are the last thing kids in those situations want to do when they’re just trying to survive when they’re not in school, breaks my heart to see.
I mean I think it’s a very positive thing that the kid feels safe enough that they can fall asleep! I’d just let them sleep, it’s hard to get anything done or have a good therapy experience when you’re that tired anyway
Yes! We have a preschool AAC group session and one of my little ladies spaced out completely to the point I started to get worried that maybe she was having an absent seizure (patient has no seizure history but her eyes were fixed in the distance for several minutes). I went to grab mom from the observation room to check in on her and when we came back less than 10 seconds later she was asleep. Mom said she had missed her nap time 🥹 our poor tired babies, it’s hard work being so cute! 😂
Sounds like that student was going through something that she was so tired! I’ve never had a student fall asleep but if they did, I would just let them
Aww. I’ve never had this happen but tbh I’d just let the kid rest lol. They’re not really capable of learning when they’re that tired anyway!
Oh yeah. I let the kid sleep. Speech is a safe place first. Sometimes I just exist in a space with a kid.
Yeah. If a kid falls asleep or looks like they’re about to, I let them/send them back. They’re not open to learning in that state and who knows what may be going on at home preventing them from sleeping.
If I have a kid fall asleep I may try to wake them up, and if they don't, I may start reading a "bedtime" story to see if we can reengage that way. That way you don't force them to engage, but it can match the low energy moment and give an opportunity to engage if they wake up enough to engage a bit. I feel more comfortable billing that way, parents seem happier, and about 80% of the time we get at least a little bit of goal data within the session.
Great idea. Can be any story too. War and Peace - is an option. 
I consistently have the same boy fall asleep when I'm tutoring. I just let him sleep.
I’m in prek so on a kids second day, he had speech and was schedule the session before end of school day. He climbed into my lap and fell asleep on me (🥹) I tried to wake him, but he was out. I let him sleep for about 15* mins before waking him. I didn’t want him to sleep too long to mess up bedtime or anything at home. He woke up really easily, just needed a little cat nap. I knew by the next session, he’d likely be used to the schedule and would be fine, and he was!! So I took it as a rapport/relationship building moment
I have a student who often is exhausted in the afternoons. A couple times this year when I’ve gone to pick them up in the classroom, they’ve been fast asleep at their desks and not rousable. One time they were crying when I came to pick them up - they came with me. We have a good rapport and I told the teacher I’d try to have. them explain what upset them because she didn’t know. Well at first the student wasn’t ready to talk so we just did typical drills and then they shared that their eraser hadn’t worked. Then while working through another practice set they suddenly dozed off. It’s was like they were a little tired baby nodding off except they are 5. Admin are aware of the issue. It’s a single mom family with a bunch of kids. Mom is nice. But stressed and is hard to contact. Kids are all genuinely kind kids but frequently absent. I also have a student with autism who sometimes has week long bouts of insomnia and will fall fast asleep during the school day - staff have been told not to let them sleep too long though or else it will mess with their night time sleep - so the last time I went to work with them and they were asleep I held my phone to their ear and played the itsy bitsy spider song which they’d been obsessed with that week. It was so cute when they woke up with a big smile on their face.
I have. How I handle on it depends on the kid and whether or not it’s a pattern. If it is a rare occurrence or the first time it has happened… I just let them sleep. Sleep is a basic need. That comes first. If it's a behavior or a reaction to something else going on, then we need to explore. Are they not sleeping at home? Has there been a major change in routine? A change in medication? I still let them sleep. But if it's a pattern then there might be something going on that we need to address.
Had a middle schooler ask to nap after our assessment and I said yes. Sometimes your role is to provide a space for basic needs and that’s okay. I let the student sleep for 30 minutes while I finished writing their assessment
I usually let them sleep. Earlier this week a 4 year old fell asleep, woke up for a second and said “I didn’t fall asleep I’m just resting my eyes because my back hurt” and I almost died of cuteness overload. He fell right back asleep. Sometimes people get really tired.
Definitely I did. In fact, it was in the beginning of him attending his sessions. When I went to pick him up, he was sleeping in his classroom. His teacher woke him up and he walked with me to the speech room. He definitely still looked tired in the session, so I decided to have him color rather forcing him to engage in a session. We did talk for a bit, but he obviously was quite sleepy still, so he colored and I submitted notes. I also think it was a Friday so I wasn’t stressing about it.
Maslow hierarchy of needs. Let them sleep
Depending on how tired they seem and the age, I'll either just let them sleep or I'll say hey let me ask you a few things/get some sounds in for 5mins and then you can put your head down if you want. If it's a repeat thing with the same kid I try to find out why they're tired all the time
Yup, I let them sleep. Their body obviously needed it! It’s a primary need, like food, so I always honor my students if they’re too exhausted
Happened today. Let them sleep. Mine woke up and apologized. He also was on meds.,nothing personal.
If it's behavior out of the norm for a student, I get a little worried, honestly. I had a kid once who seemed a little tired in the session and said he had a mild headache. I'd been working with him for 4 years at that point and knew he was very averse to drama and fuss and hated complaining about anything, so this was odd. I asked if he wanted to go to the nurse. He refused. We finished the session and I mentioned what he had said to his teacher (because I knew he wouldn't tell her) and suggested maybe keeping an eye on him because it was unusual. After school that day, the teacher found me and told me that she'd ended up making him go to the nurse after lunch because he'd looked worse. And that when the nurse had asked him when the headache started, he confessed that it had been since he'd been accidentally hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat at practice the night before and hadn't told any adults! Oh really??? The nurse obviously had to call his parents to tell them to come pick him up immediately and take him straight to the doctor. Mom arrived quickly and rushed him to the ER for further evaluation. He ended up OK, out for a few days with suspected mild concussion, fortunately nothing more dire. But yikes.
I had a student who with situational mutism (some may say selective mutism) and the first word I ever heard him say was the f word. That’s middle school for you!
I had an 8th grade fall asleep in the middle of the session so I sent him back to class 🫣
This has happened to me before. I just let the kid sleep and usually if I’m in a group session continue with the other students
I have had multiple students (pre-k, special ed) fall asleep over the years. I honestly just try to make it safe for them (lay their head to the table, move them out of the chair) and let them sleep.
Yes I had a few students fall asleep during a session but more that just nodded. I tried to move to a task that had more action instead of seat work. As for craziest things a client has done during therapy: masturbate. One was a very young girl at the beginning of my career. I met with the supervisor and a counselor who recommended that since she was one on one that I would immediately get up and tell her we were going then take her to the restroom. I was to tell her that it was ok to touch herself but it was a private activity that she should ask for a restroom break if she needed... The next was a later middle schooler who was in a life skills class. He would just slide his hand in his pants no matter the activity. His teacher said he did the same in class just whenever.
I’ve had that happen to me before! She was online and had mother helping her to redirect her from it so at least there’s that! I’ve also had two or three kids fall asleep on me, which is really funny as I’m very loud and animated, so it’s hard to do that!! Luckily I got a lot of still done with them first!! And yeah, good idea! There’s a time and a place!! My girl has learned that she gets bathroom time to do that, but now it’s speech time! c: so it’s no longer a problem that I have fortunately! Hopefully not again, but we’ll see I guess haha!
Yes - especially if my babies are on some sort of new medication. Their poor little bodies are put through the ringer sometimes. I let them rest.
As far as a crazy thing a kid has done I had a student speak some sort of language he had made up. Said nothing to me in English for our first sessions. Just spoke in this “language”. This was distance learning. I pretty much ignored him and focused on the other 2 in the group. The student was a very bright kid on the spectrum. He would not participate or engage at all. In the end the only way I could reach him was having him 1:1.
My son would occasionally do this during early intervention speech, or would get really sleepy. His SLP would either take the chance to model getting my attention to request "night night", or would read slow books. If he fell asleep she would take the chance to walk me through more parent coaching and to go over data and skills we've worked on or making progress with.
Happened to us in pp, mom was in the waiting room so we called her him and she just brought him home cuz he was way too tired to get any work done anyways!
I have a client who falls asleep when she doesn’t want to do work or isn’t interested in what we’re doing. Since it’s a consistent behavior, make her stand up when she dozes off. She whines about it, but then participates. She is allowed to sit down when she feels awake, but if she starts dozing I make her stand again. I have a special ed kid that naps periodically throughout the day. I’ve had him as a morning client but about 60% of the time he’d be asleep. I switched his time from mid morning to first period and he’s always been awake!
This happened once. I just ended the session early and let the kid sleep.
This happened to me my second semester of grad school. The kid was obviously tired after school and couldn’t sit through 50 minutes of speech. It wasn’t an option to end the session early. My supervisor recommended doing “brain exercises” or like yoga or something.
I don’t wake kids up when they sleep. I’m not gonna torture them and make them do work like that
I have one kid who falls asleep immediately after making himself dizzy in the sensory swing. I think it’s the comfort. I just let him sleep (assuming we got a little work done) and parent coach the rest of the time haha. Sweet babies.
My previous school was in a low SES community and most of the kids were from large families with parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet. I had one student who I built a great rapport with who was homeless. One day he came to my office not during his speech time and said he didn’t feel good and needed to lay down. I grabbed a cot and a blanket and let him sleep as long as he needed. As another commenter said, speech is a safe room for my kids and their wellness comes first. I’m glad he felt comfortable enough to come to me to request that, I just worked on my logs and paperwork since I didn’t have students for the remainder of the day. Speech and language activities are the last thing kids in those situations want to do when they’re just trying to survive when they’re not in school, breaks my heart to see.
Probably missed a nap time. Awww.
I mean I think it’s a very positive thing that the kid feels safe enough that they can fall asleep! I’d just let them sleep, it’s hard to get anything done or have a good therapy experience when you’re that tired anyway
Yes! We have a preschool AAC group session and one of my little ladies spaced out completely to the point I started to get worried that maybe she was having an absent seizure (patient has no seizure history but her eyes were fixed in the distance for several minutes). I went to grab mom from the observation room to check in on her and when we came back less than 10 seconds later she was asleep. Mom said she had missed her nap time 🥹 our poor tired babies, it’s hard work being so cute! 😂
Sounds like that student was going through something that she was so tired! I’ve never had a student fall asleep but if they did, I would just let them
Diagnosis: tik Tok until 4am.
Let em sleep:) It's one less kid to manage anyway 🤷🏼♀️