Let’s Talk About Talking

There is more than just one way to communicate. Even if your child has not begun using words, they communicate about their likes and dislikes by looking at you, through gestures, facial expressions or with words. For example, your child may lift their arms indicating that they want to be lifted. Everything that your child does including stimming behaviours like flapping of hands, and watching repetitive movements is intended to communicate something about their needs.

As a parent, you play a key role in understanding these messages and in getting your child to interact. Here are some ways to help your child initiate communication.

Exaggerate!

Children, from as early as infancy tend to prefer happy faces. Overexaggerated facial expressions along with an animated voice can get your child’s attention. Acting silly and making accidental mistakes can light up their faces!

You can try this with building blocks. As you place each block on top of another, say “Up.” Once your child understands that you say ‘up’ every time you place a block on top, give them an opportunity to say the word ‘up’ by waiting and looking at them expectantly. Provide a cue by saying “uh_” and wait for them to finish the word. You can make this fun by accidentally pushing the tower that you’ve built and say “Oops!” or “Oh-no!” This may get them to smile and start an interaction with you.

This or that?

If I had a penny for every time I scrolled through Netflix trying to decide what I wanted to watch but ended up watching nothing, I’d be a millionaire right now. But if the choices were narrowed down to two, I’d easily be able to choose the one I preferred over the other. This is the power of binary choice!

Binary choice is a language stimulation technique where the child is given two choices and is encouraged to choose between them. This helps children easily express their needs. You can start giving choices to your child using objects or pictures.

When your child is just starting to make choices, opt for an undesirable choice and a desirable one. For example, ask your child,

“Do you want crayons or a ball?” when you know your child doesn’t prefer colouring and will choose to play with a ball.

“Do you want chips or a towel?” when they are washing their hands.

As they are just beginning to make choices, children often tend to take the object that was last offered to them, so ensure you present the object that they desire after the less desirable one. After they have learnt to make choices, present the desired choice first and then the undesired one. This will help you understand if they are making the right choice or choosing the one that is presented at last.

If you’re looking for more ideas to make communication fun, talk to our Speech Language Pathologists. They will help you to understand your child’s communication needs and provide you with goals and activities.

Blog by Ms. Dhivya Sarratha Ramamoorthy

DCCD

Reference

Bruinsma, Y., Minjarez, M., Schreibman, L., & Stahmer, A. (Eds.). (2020). Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for autism spectrum disorder. Brookes Publishing.

Farroni, T., Menon, E., Rigato, S., & Johnson, M. H. (2007). The perception of facial expressions in newborns. The European journal of developmental psychology, 4(1), 2–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405620601046832

Sussman, F. (2012). More Than Words: A Parent's Guide to Building Interaction and Language Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Or Social Communication Difficulties. Canada: Hanen Program.

The images in this article were created with the assistance of DALL·E 2