I always recommend a minimum frequency of 30-minute sessions 2x/week up to a maximum of 5x/week. I begin treatment by focusing solely on building trust with my patients, as they tend to be highly sensitive of their speech and keenly aware that it is difficult for them to talk. I need my kids to trust me in order to make progress in therapy. During this time, I am keeping inventory of the sounds and syllable shapes they are producing spontaneously to develop an understanding of where to begin with targets. Once my patient feels safe and comfortable with me, and we are able to accomplish several consecutive trials of a successful target in a row without the child becoming dysregulated, I begin to make a list of targets (words or phrases). I start with 3-4 and increase this number to no more than 10 at a time as the child becomes more tolerant of a higher number of targets. These targets are chosen based on the child's sound inventory, whatever is considered of high importance to the child or the family (ex names of siblings and pets), and words/phrases that will give the child autonomy and control (e.g. "Stop it" or "I wanna do it"). During therapy, I provide feedback on the movements the child is executing to complete the imitation task. Once I feel a child has become comfortable with the flow of therapy, I give parents a few targets to work on at home. I ONLY recommend targets that the child has been consistent with in session at least 75% of the time with minimal support. Once my kids have mastered a target, it is immediately replaced by another target. The length and complexity of the targets increase as the child's motor capabilities improve.