When I first started using the 5-minute speech model, I knew it was a good fit for some of my articulation students. But the second I told teachers or admin about it, I could feel the confusion in the air.

“Wait… five minutes?”
“Is that even real therapy?”
“How can you get anything done in five minutes?”

Fair questions, honestly. On the surface, the idea sounds like a shortcut. It feels like less time. Less support. Less effort.

But here’s what I’ve learned: it’s not about less intervention, it’s about targeted, frequent, and efficient intervention. And once I explain it like that (with a little evidence and some real-life progress), it usually clicks.

I start with what it isn’t

Before I explain what 5-minute speech is, I usually start by clearing up what it isn’t:

It’s not a watered-down version of therapy.
It’s not just playing a game and calling it a session.
And it’s definitely not about doing less for our kids.

Because let’s be honest, when people hear “5 minutes,” they assume we’re cutting corners. I get that. But it’s actually the opposite.

Then I frame it like this:

“We’re still doing traditional articulation therapy. It just looks different.”

Instead of pulling a group of 3-4 kids for 30 minutes and only getting a handful of good reps out of each student, I’m giving one student 5 minutes of laser-focused, one-on-one practice.

There’s no filler. No wait time. Just a quick warm-up, high-rep drills, quick data, done. And then we do it again in a day or two. That’s where the magic is.

I use this analogy a lot:

“Think of it like brushing your teeth. If you brush once a week for 30 minutes, it’s not as effective as brushing every day for 2 minutes.”

Same concept. That near-daily practice, even in small bursts, leads to faster progress. It keeps the sound fresh, gives the student repeated exposure, and builds confidence. That’s something longer, once-a-week sessions often can’t do as well.

What helps the most? Showing the data.

When I’m getting pushback or confused looks, I pull out data from students I’ve used this model with in the past. I show progress monitoring graphs or percentage charts that show a clear upward trend after switching to the 5-minute model.

I’ll also explain how I track data just like I would in a traditional session. There’s no mystery. It’s structured, it’s goal-based, and I’m still targeting the student’s IEP objectives. Nothing’s watered down. It just looks different.

The turning point? Seeing the progress.

I’ve had teachers and even administrators who were skeptical at first. And then they saw it.

They saw a preschooler go from nearly unintelligible to dismissed in under a year.
They heard an older student finally carry over that stubborn /r/ into class discussions.
They noticed fewer missed class minutes, better behavior, and actual progress.

And that’s when they stopped asking if it was “real” therapy and started asking which other students might benefit from it.

My takeaway?

If you’re an SLP trying to get buy-in for the 5-minute model, don’t assume people will automatically get it. Explain it clearly. Show your data. Talk about frequency over duration. Use analogies if they help. And most of all, let the progress speak for itself.