Everyday Communication - Part 2

In the latest SANA blog post, the second in a four-part series, social worker and speech and language pathologist Megan Lyons offers a multitude of tips for utilizing everyday activities to promote communication at home. In this second part, she discusses tips for helping children with turn-taking skills. Check out part one for tips for helping children with imitation skills!

Learning to engage in enjoyable back-and-forth interactions is a precursor language-building skill. For instance, by learning to wait their turn, your young child is likely to attend to the facial expressions, body language, and the spoken language of their turn-taking partner. Parents should choose turn-taking activities based on their child’s developmental level. The following are examples of turn-taking activities that can be used within everyday routines:

1. During familiar routines (e.g., peek-a-boo, tickle games, action-based activities), pause during the activity and wait expectantly (wait for spontaneous communication versus prompting) for the child to “tell” you what they want. For example, if your child enjoys peek- a-boo, after a few times, pause and wait to see if they will communicate that they want the game to continue using eye gaze, body movements, gestures, or vocalizations. Rewarding the child’s communication with the desired object or activity will teach them the value of communicative turn-taking. If your child does not communicate after a few moments of expectant waiting, you may provide a prompt (e.g., “What do you want?”) or model the targeted communication (e.g., “Oh, you want more” while simultaneously using the manual sign for “more”) and continue with the activity providing your child with additional opportunities to communicate their desire to continue with the turn-taking activity.
   
   
2. Model turn-taking by enlisting a sibling to model the behavior and language associated with an activity. For instance, while rolling a ball back-and-forth, have a sibling say, “It’s my turn” to play with the ball. Next, it will be your turn”. Couple this language with gestures such as patting your chest for “my turn” and pointing to indicate “your turn.”
   
   
3. Visual cues may help your child with turn-taking activities. For instance, while playing a game, use physical objects to clarify in concrete ways whose turn it is. Similarly, use available picture cards to provide visual cues to your child about whose turn it is. Parents can also use free social story apps to create social stories which will introduce their child to the language of turn-taking.

Resources:

• https://www.boardmakeronline.com
• https://autismspeaks.org
• Social Story Creator & Library; Touch Autism.