Communication Temptations: Making the Most of Your Child’s Interests
Written by Sarah Gunderson, MS, CCC-SLP
Child eating ice cream sundae. Photo by Phil Hearing.
Anyone who has heard a tune from an ice cream truck on a hot summer day knows what it is like to experience temptation. You would do anything in that moment to experience that cool sweetness. As caregivers, you can use temptations (like the jingle of an ice cream truck) to encourage late-talkers to communicate verbally and non-verbally.
What are “communication temptations”?
Communication temptations are used to set up the environment in order to encourage children to make requests that will ultimately result in a desired outcome. Instead of requiring your child to imitate or respond to questions, communication temptations help the child initiate communication in a natural way.
Also, if your child is already initiating requests in their day-to-day life, communication temptations can be used to give your child practice with new words, increase sentence length, and communicate for a variety of reasons.
When working with your child, meet them where their speech/language skills are. Requests can take various forms such as:
Gestures (pointing for an item, raising arms, sign language)
Sounds
Word approximations
Words/phrases/sentences
Here are some helpful tips:
Wait! Be patient! Give your child time to communicate while you look expectantly at them.
If your child is nonverbal, wait until he/she does anything to indicate desire (points, reaches); model a word for what he/she wants, wait a few seconds (even if it feels like a few hours), and then provide it.
If your child makes a sound or their own version of a word to show a desire, model the adult version of the word, wait, and then provide it.
If your child tries to imitate or spontaneously produce a word/phrase/sentence, give them what they want and CHEER!
Need some activity ideas?
Here are some ways to encourage communication by setting up temptations (from Wetherby & Prizant, 1989):
Activate a wind-up toy, let it deactivate, and hand it to your child.
Open a jar of bubbles, blow bubbles, and then close the jar tightly and give the closed jar to your child.
Place a desired food item or toy in a clear container that your child cannot open while your child is watching; then put the container in front of your child and wait.
Favorite treats can be a great motivator for communication. Photo by Kelly Sikkema.
Engage your child in putting together a puzzle. After he/she has put in three pieces, offer him/her a piece that does not fit.
Put an object that makes noise in an opaque container and shake; hold up the container and wait.
Initiate a familiar and an unfamiliar social game with your child until he/she expresses pleasure; then stop the game and wait.
Give your child the materials for an activity of interest that necessitates the use of an instrument for completion (e.g. piece of paper to draw on or cut; bowl of pudding or soup); hold the instrument out of his/her reach and wait.
Blow up a balloon and slowly deflate it; then hand the deflated balloon to your child or hold the deflated balloon up to your mouth and wait.
Sometimes a little play and motivation can go a long way. Try taking a walk on the silly side to encourage your child’s language development!
Looking for more guidance?
