I spend the first several sessions building rapport with the child, their parents, and any other family members or caregivers who will be involved in treatment. These sessions give me time to answer parent questions and build a relationship with the child. Learning their interests and what motivates them right from the start helps to achieve maximum cooperation and willingness to try during treatment sessions so we can get in as many trials for targets as possible. It is very important to me to get parents involved so they can practice outside of therapy and learn how to avoid negative practice at home. We will also talk about alternative ways we help the child to communicate while we are working on verbal communication.