The month of May is better hearing and speech month and it is our job to raise awareness in our communities. I am a strong believer in early intervention. I think that parents, teachers, educators, doctors, and other allied professionals should continue to learn about early intervention and help the little ones reach their fullest potential. I still hear too many stories about how families were told that their child was simply a late talker and to not worry or were not aware of the signs early on. Please, if you have concerns, if your child is not talking by 2 years old, reach out to someone and advocate for an early developmental assessment. Early intervention and implementing strategies early on can only benefit children developing language skills, not the contrary.
As part of my contribution to better hearing and speech month, I wanted to write a post series about early communication strategies. The series will focus on 6 strategies that are well-known and used world-wide in early childhood intervention. Today’s post will focus on the strategy known as communication temptations.
What is a communication temptation? Well as the name suggests, it is something that tempts the person to communicate. In today’s fast pace world, we have easy access to everything in a rapid manner that doesn’t allow for many communication temptations.
Why would a child have to communicate, if you are meeting their every need/request quickly without giving them the chance to communicate? Why would they have to ask you for anything, if everything they could possibly want or need is at their fingertips?
There needs to be a reason to communicate. Children developing language need to practice communicating for a purpose and you must create that purpose through the use of communication temptations.
Slow down, give your children the time of day when possible and as much as possible. It may not be practical for you and easier to just hand them what they want or have it accessible. However, in the long run, your child will benefit immensely from those moments you had them have to communicate with you in some way. This does take some planning on your part but it’s worth it, trust me.
If you have a very busy active lifestyle, then choose your moments throughout the day when you can implement these strategies. This doesn’t have to be done every minute of every day, but definitely daily for greater advantages. Here are four ways you can implement the use of communication temptations.
If your child can easily get what they need without your help then there is no reason to communicate. Children are growing up to be more independent at younger and younger ages. This is fine, but they still need to learn how to communicate functionally (for a purpose). Children developing language need continuous routine practice to fully acquire and master language skills.
You will need to re-arrange your home environment. You do not need to put everything out of arms reach but the goal is to make them communicate. I suggest you figure out what your child desires most or is most motivated by and put that out of their reach.
For example, if you know they always sleep with the same teddy bear, then put that teddy bear somewhere they can see it but not reach it (e.g. on top of a high shelf). Your child will then have to somehow communicate with you that they want that bear.
They will either point to it, use other gestures/signs or words to request it. This is a successful communication temptation. The child has a purpose – get the bear. How can they get it? They can get your attention and ask for your help.
Once your child makes the communication attempt, you can help them by modeling the appropriate language. Model the language necessary if they are still not speaking or expand upon what they said to have them speak in longer utterances. You could say “Oh! I see teddy! Pick up teddy” then hold it out and say “teddy” or “give me teddy” (don’t let them grab it out of your hand) and wait a minute or so for any attempt – eye contact, gestures, signs, and or words. Then hand them the teddy immediately upon communication. Don’t forget to reward and praise them for this attempt!
Once again, there is no need to re-organize the entire household. Pick the most motivating objects for your child and place them out of reach. You can even do so in the moment.
When you are in the kitchen and it’s snack time, put their favorite snack in sight but out of reach. Then see if they attempt to request the snack. You can even draw attention by touching the snack, placing it in your hand, shaking it (if it’s a box), taking a piece and eating it. Make it very tempting! Then wait and see if your child makes an attempt to communicate to request the snack. Once again model the language. You could say “Oh! I see crackers! Eat a cracker! It’s so yummy! Crunch, crunch, crunch” then hold it out and say “cracker” or “give me cracker” (don’t let them grab one). Wait until some form of attempt at communicating is made before you hand it over. Then reward and praise them!
My favorite trick and strategy to use with children developing language from birth to 3 is to put everything in ziplocks and sealed transparent boxes. This way everything is visible, in arms reach but hard to access. They have to communicate with me in order to get what they want in the bag or box. I like to hold the bag or box/container in front of them and ask them what they want.
Usually, they will attempt to communicate by pointing at the object in the transparent ziplock/box or say the word. I then say “okay, what should I do first?” I like to have them practice requesting “open” the bag/box. Then I will have them practice “gimme” and the name of the object they asked for.
I understand that this may be time consuming but having to request is a natural and organic way that children develop their language skills. Many children want to be independent and in control. This strategy allows them some control and independence because they can give you the bag/box and get their desired item with your assistance. They are already making steps to requesting by drawing your attention to what they want by pointing or bringing the bag/box to you.
This helps to develop the skill of joint attention. Joint attention occurs when you are both attending to the same thing. Once joint attention is established, you can help your child use language functionally (e.g. making a request to open the bag/box) and give them the desired item.
Organize your environment as conveniently as possible for yourself. You can always change it up. You can have certain items that are always sealed in transparent bags/boxes such as toys. You can decide that today the bath items/toys will be sealed or snacks will be put in ziplock/glass containers.
The takeaway is that you should always use transparent containers or bags. Your child has to be able to see what is inside to be tempted to ask for those items.
Life nowadays is fast-paced and most of us are in a hurry. It’s much easier to do everything for the kids because it’ll be faster and more efficient if we do it ourselves. However, it is important to not always do this and not anticipate your child’s every need. Children developing language need to communicate to get their needs met.
Even if you know what they need or will need, you will help them develop crucial skills if you just wait for them to communicate with you. This will teach them that it’s okay to ask for help and that people won’t always do everything you expect them to unless you communicate. You might be able to read your child’s mind, but when they are out and about with unfamiliar people, children have to know that those people can’t anticipate their needs and need to be told what to do.
Once again analyze your lifestyle and routine. Pick moments that these strategies can be implemented successfully. This should not be a source of frustration and can be time consuming. If you are in a rush to make an appointment on time, then this is not the best time to wait for little Jimmy to ask you to tie his shoes. However, if you are simply going out to the park for a leisurely walk and in no rush, then that is the perfect time to wait for Jimmy to communicate that he needs help putting his shoes on.
Let’s say you are preparing your child to go to the park, ask them to get their shoes or ask them “What do you need to put on?” Have your child’s shoes within their sight, then wait and see if your child goes to get their shoes, points to the shoes, or says “shoes.” If they do not respond, put your child’s shoes in front of them and wait. If they make an attempt to ask you to put their shoes on with gestures, signs, eye contact and/or words then immediately put their shoes on. That way their need is met upon communication. This will help them understand the cause (communicating) and effect (need is met) relationship.
Model the language as you put their shoes on “Here are my shoes! Put my shoes on! Foot goes in. Shoes are on. Tie shoes. Shoes are tied. Time to go out. Let’s go!”
It may seem unnatural at first to model language in the first person even though you are speaking to your child. Think of it as you narrating out loud what they might be thinking in their heads. That way they hear the sounds and words associated with their thoughts. We model what we’d want or expect our child to say in various situations.
I really like to work on words such as “gimme” and “open” in various situations. For instance, if the child wants a snack, I will get a snack but I won’t open the bag and give it to them right away. I will have them practice getting my attention first. Then I’d say “oh! Want a _?” (label the noun of the snack – cracker, cookie, cheese, etc.), then wait and I’d say “okay, what should I do?” and have them attempt to say “open” or “open bag”. If the child is very young and barely speaking, I will take any approximation (e.g. “oh”) as a verbal attempt for “open”, open the bag immediately and praise their attempt.
Once the bag is open I will wait again until they get my attention and attempt to communicate “gimme” with gestures/signs/words or approximations (e.g. “me“). Some children may say “me” for “gimme” at first while their sounds are developing. I will reward the attempt, give them the snack immediately and say “gimme” while I do the action so that they hear the correct production (in this case “gimme”) as much as possible.
Some things that you can avoid doing automatically in your daily routine (when convenient) are wiping up spills, opening doors, turning lights on/off, and turning the bath water on. I also like to stop doing repetitive automatic actions during play when appropriate. By doing an action over and over again your child learns the pattern and starts to anticipate the outcome. By stopping your action you are not meeting your child’s anticipations/expectations. This will get their attention and motivate them to communicate with you to get the desired outcome.
When playing with young children (1-2 years old), I like to play with a cause/effect toy like a pop ball machine. This machine requires you to push the lever so that the balls pop out. Then after a few automatic repetitions of pushing the lever over and over and seeing the child excited, I will let my hand hover over the lever and NOT push. This way the child has to communicate in some way that they want me to push the lever.
For this to work, you must do the action repeatedly a few times (3-5x) depending on their attention span (so that they learn the predictable outcome and start anticipating). The next turn, wait before doing the action to create the communication temptation. Praise any functional communication attempt your child makes for you to push the lever through the use of gestures, signs, words/word approximations. Do not re-inforce any screaming or crying.
I also like to create communication temptations using bubbles. After blowing several bubbles, I will bring the stick up to my mouth, round my lips as if I’m about to blow and wait. The child then has to communicate somehow that they want me to blow the bubble. They can use signs (e.g. sign for more or bubble), gestures (e.g. blowing with their mouths to indicate the desired action), use words “more“, “blow“, “bubble” or approximations. I’d want them to use specific words as much as possible and model the language I’d expect to be used such as “blow bubble.”
Children developing language learn and practice their skills through exposure to a routine and a lot of repetition. Once they have understood a repetitive pattern, it is good to sometimes disrupt the pattern and do something unexpected to help facilitate different language models.
Here are some examples of routines that can be turned into an unexpected event to create a communication temptation:
Here are some examples of communication temptations that are sure to elicit some reaction or form of communication from your child:
Place one of your child’s favorite stuffed animals in their dinner table chair. When your child walks into the kitchen for dinner, they will see that teddy is in their seat. Wait for your child to get your attention and communicate with you. Then you can talk about what is expected and unexpected by asking questions – “Who’s seat is that?” (child response or model “mine“) and “Who is sitting in your chair?” (child response or model “teddy“). See what else your child comes up with.
For older children (24 months +) you can expand upon their language skills by asking questions such as “How did teddy get there? Why is he sitting at the table?” If your child does not respond to these questions then model the language. For example, “I think teddy climbed up the table, I think he is hungry, I think he wants to eat with us.” You can then ask your child “What does teddy want to eat?” and wait for your child to attempt to give an answer. You can also give your child options and have them respond yes or no.
Try different types of unexpected actions. See if your child reacts to them and praise any attempt at communicating through eye contact, gestures, signs and/or words. Help model the language for your child. Talk about – Why it’s unexpected? What was expected? Why do you think this happened? Remember to always adjust your language to your child’s age and skills. Make it as simple as possible for the younger kiddos 6 months-18 months and then expand for those already using words consistently.
As always these strategies can be applied in any language. Contact me if you do not speak English and would like specific language examples to model in other languages such as French or Spanish. If you have any questions or communication temptation ideas, please feel free to leave a comment below!
.svg)
.svg)
