Are you learning about the Cycles Approach and feeling overwhelmed by what a “cycle” is supposed to look like over the course of therapy?
We completely understand. The Cycles Approach can be confusing because it involves more week-to-week planning, multiple patterns and multiple sounds.
Who is the Cycles Approach suitable for?
The Cycles Approach is suitable for children who are highly unintelligible and who present with many phonological patterns.
I like to think of this as if I’ve completed an assessment and started analysing the child’s speech, and I’m thinking: “Wow, this child has every phonological pattern! They are stopping, final consonant deletion, cluster reduction, fronting, gliding.”
If I start to note that they have a lot of these patterns, then I am considering the Cycles Approach for my student. It’s definitely one of the options that is up there when I am trying to determine what is going to suit my child.
How long does one cycle take?
One cycle typically lasts for 10 to 15 weeks.
When I’m planning therapy and trying to figure out how long a child can see me for, when holidays are, and things like that, I am aware that if I am starting the Cycles Approach with a child, I need approximately 10 to 15 weeks to complete my first cycle.
Research shows that you might need three to four cycles for a child to become intelligible if that is the only approach that you use.
In this short video, we break down what one cycle can look like in a way that will make sense. We’d love to hear your feedback on whether this teaching style supports your learning.
What does one cycle look like?
The Cycles Approach is appropriate for children with multiple phonological patterns. Within one cycle, we’re going to be targeting multiple phonological patterns.
In this example, the first four weeks of therapy target final consonant deletion as a pattern. Then, we’re going to stop that pattern and start s-cluster reduction. After that, we’re going to work on fronting and then gliding. This is one cycle.
At the end of the first cycle, I reassess and then plan my second cycle, if appropriate.
Need more support?
If you still need more support, this is why we wrote our Cycles Approach Handbook.
It was a way to break down the research and make it palatable, easy to understand and a bit more jargon-free—with charts, visuals, frequently asked questions and all the little things that we could think of to help you implement the Cycles Approach with fidelity and confidence.
You can also visit our Cycles Approach resources page for further learning, practical supports and therapy materials to help you visualise the process, plan your targets and implement the approach with more confidence.
One Response
Thanks very much. I am an NQP and hadn’t come across cycles approach at uni. The county where I work does – this was really helpful.
Great website thank you