The Interaction Coach: Recent Episodes
Joyce Olson
You can help your child learn to talk with speech-language pathologist Joyce Olson of The Interaction Coach. Listen to daily tips that make every interaction a learning opportunity for speech and language development. Whether your child needs to start using words, make longer sentences, or improve social communication, this podcast is for you.
This activity gives your child a chance to play independently with markers or crayons in a controlled space.
Today’s activity: Use a large box that your child can sit inside comfortably.
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Painting is fun. It’s another way to practice holding a writing tool and using eye-hand coordination.
Today’s activity: Use a small bowl of water for your child to dip the paintbrush in. Paint on colored construction paper or a cardboard box. The wet area turns dark, so you child can make a work of art without a mess.
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At this level your child will develop a pincer grip with index finger and thumb, move arm across midline and scribble with a variety of writing tools.
Today’s activity: Practice using pincer grip, picking up objects and putting them into a container with a slot or small opening. Use objects like craft sticks, pompoms, corks, paint swatches, scarves, straws, playing cards.
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By the end of this level, your child should look at books with you for at least 5 minutes. They need to learn that time with books is pleasant. The trick is to be done before your child starts squirming away.
Today’s activity: Gradually increase the time your child will stay with books by making the pages really interesting and doing just a little bit more per page. Touch and name pictures or do an action like driving the truck or a sound effect like beeping.
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Children at this level like to look at books on their own. If it’s one you’ve read with them, they will look for favorite pictures or turn pages back and forth. You might hear them talking out loud as if they are reading.
Today’s activity: Model how to handle a book every time you read together. Include getting the book and putting it away as part of the routine of using books. Have 2 or 3 books available on a shelf for the child to use on their own.
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Children at this level are not able to use all the speech sounds. They use consonants at the beginning of a word more often than to one at an end of the word. It’s often hard to understand their speech.
We want your child to learn that their speech is effective. Don’t make them try to repeat the word “better.” Focusing on articulation is for later, after they are communicating more.
Today’s activity: When your child says something, always show that you understand their meaning. You can repeat the word as a way to show that you know what they said. This gives them a good model of the word.
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Asking for information is an important function of communication. Children learn how to ask questions from your examples. When you model the question and then the answer, they learn they can go to you to get information.
Today’s activity: When you hear a noise, act like you’re listening carefully and ask, “What’s that?” Use the hands-up gesture along with the question. Look around to show you are trying to figure it out. When you find the answer, name it. If you don’t know, model the gesture and words, “I don’t know.”
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When your child is interested in something, they are more likely to want to talk about it. They will be interested in the word you use to label it.
Today’s activity: When your child is interested in something, get their attention by being excited and asking, “What’s that?” When they look at you, then model the word that names the object.
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Your child is learning how to coordinate their movements in more precise ways. For speech, they need to coordinate all the muscles from their chest up to their mouth. They need to control air flow from their lungs, turn their voice on and off, and move their tongue to many places in their mouth. Blowing helps your child learn to coordinate their airflow and round their lips.
Today’s activity: Take turns blowing a feather or tissue paper back and forth. Make it a fun, turn taking game. Vary it by blowing through a straw.
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When you rchild uses an animal sound or car sound, they’re expressing a meaning. You understand what they’re talking about. That’s communication.
Take advantage of your child’s natural interests to engage them in communication opportunities. They’ll participate more often and for longer periods of time when they like the topic.
Today’s activity: Model animal sounds, machine sounds and other environmental sounds that refer to things of interest to your child. Reinforce their use of the sounds by responding to their meaning.
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Put your thumb and fingers together to mime an eating movement. Use lots of modeling before you start to expect your child to use the gesture.
Today’s activity: Model “eat” when you are opening the fridge or cupboard to get food. Hold up the food and say, “eat.” Give them the food and say “eat.”
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“High five” is a great example of how we shape a new gesture. People naturally make the offer and then wait. Always give your child a chance to make a response on their own. If they don’t respond, then give them a little help to show them what to do.
Today’s activity: Use “high five” as a greeting and to celebrate when something fun or good happens. You can throw balls into a hoop or basket and celebrate when it goes in. Encourage others to use the gesture as a greeting with your child.
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This gesture is made with both arms, hands up and out to the side. You can include a shoulder shrug. This was introduced in earlier activities when you ask, “Where is…?” You look around and use this gesture as you ask the question.
Today’s activity: Model frequently as you search for something. “Where did it go?…I don’t know.” Where is it?…I don’t know.” Ask the question and give the answer with words and gesture.
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Hold your flat hand palm up and toward your child. Say the word “wait” as you make the gesture. Model the gesture frequently. Pause or do one short thing and then do something with your child.
Your child’s understanding of this gesture comes in handy when your child is older. Help them get used to the idea that there will be a little time to wait but if they are patient you will get to them.
Today’s activity: Add a “wait” into common activities. You might interrupt an activity like dressing or playing, say “wait, move away briefly to do something then come back. Do this many times during the day to model the use and demonstrate the meaning of the gesture.
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The gesture for “stinky” is waving your hand in front of your face, while making a face and saying “Pew!” Its function of communication is to entertain. Many children learn it because it’s funny and memorable.
Today’s activity: Use the gesture whenever something smelly occurs. Be dramatic. You can also use it as a comment during pretend play or when reading a book. Or take turns smelling each other’s feet and commenting.
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Your child needs lots of models and experience to understand and use a head nod or thumbs up for “yes.” “Yes” is harder to learn than “no.”
When your child moves their face away from offered food, we can shape that movement into meaning of “no.” There isn’t a natural movement that comes up naturally for “yes.” That’s why this gesture takes longer to develop.
Today’s activity: When you offer an item, ask “Do you want this…?” If they reach for the object you can say, “Yes,” and model the gesture. Or test our the temperature: “Is it hot?…Yes.”
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“My” is a pronoun, another type of word to add to your child’s vocabulary. It’s a word that has a lot of meaning for your child!
Today’s activity: Model a gesture (or symbol) as you say the word “my” by placing your flat palm on your chest. When sharing a toy, say, “Jimmy’s turn. My turn.” When your child chooses from 2 offered items, say, “Jimmy’s cheese” as you hand it to him and “”my cheese” as you eat your piece.
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The word “more” can come in handy at many times and places to ask for something to be repeated. Model a gesture along with the word. Remember your child needs LOTS of models before they begin to use a word.
Today’s activity: Model “more” for requesting objects by having a collection and giving them one at a time. Model “more” for requesting actions when swinging, sliding, tickling, running.
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Your child needs lots of your modeling before they express a word. You usually can’t practice today’s word several times in a row (because you’re just all done once!) but your child can experience it a lot during a day.
“All done” is considered one word because your child understands it like its a two-syllable word. Both parts have to be there to make the one meaning.
Today’s activity: Model “all done” whenever you end an activity or put something away.
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Your child needs to learn a variety of types of words—verbs, nouns, adjectives—so they can combine them when they’re ready to make 2-word combinations. Verbs (action words) can be used to describe or request.
At this level, you need to do lots of modeling. Your child needs to see and hear the word used frequently before they’ll start to use a word.
Today’s activity: Focus on modeling one new verb each week. Keep using the older target words as you add a new one each week.
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There’s a big difference between language and speech. Speech is only the way we use our mouth to say words. Language is how we express many different meanings for many different social reasons. Language includes words and the grammar that makes sentences. Language is how we understand the world and express our ideas and feelings. They can express these ideas using gestures, speech or pointing to a picture or symbol.
By the end of this Level, your child should express 16 meanings with 16 gestures. Your child needs to learn the power of communication and how they can use it to get the result they want. When you consistently respond to their meaning, you are reinforcing their use of language. Reinforcement strengthens the skill, as they are more likely to use it in the future.
Today’s activity: When your child uses a gesture or sound in a consistent way, always respond to the meaning you think they intend. Model gestures or signs frequently to give lots of examples of what they mean and when to use them.
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There’s a big difference between language and speech. Speech is only the way we use our mouth to say words. Language is how we express many different meanings for many different social reasons. Language includes words and the grammar that makes sentences. Language is how we understand the world and express our ideas and feelings. They can express these ideas using gestures, speech or pointing to a picture or symbol.
By the end of this Level, your child should express 16 meanings with 16 gestures. Your child needs to learn the power of communication and how they can use it to get the result they want. When you consistently respond to their meaning, you are reinforcing their use of language. Reinforcement strengthens the skill, as they are more likely to use it in the future.
Today’s activity: When your child uses a gesture or sound in a consistent way, always respond to the meaning you think they intend. Model gestures or signs frequently to give lots of examples of what they mean and when to use them.
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Mediation means you provide structure and assistance to help your child focus on the most important information and know what to do. You provide just enough assistance to help them be successful.
An important way to mediate vocabulary learning, is to use short sentences and emphasize a key word. Use any other gestures or support that help your child notice the important object or action.
Your model at this level is also showing your child lots of things that they are able to do. These models increase the chance that your child will repeat what you say—maybe not today or tomorrow, but with practice.
Today’s activity: Use singe words or two-word combinations. Pick one target word for an activity and look for many reasons to use the word when your child is paying attention the item or action.
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Children can learn about making choices by building on the turn taking activities you have been practicing. Today’s activity helps your child get used to the idea that choices are limited. After you take one, the other one goes away.
The activity also gives you the opportunity to model the words “big” and “little.”
Today’s activity: Hold up a small piece of cheese and say, “Little.” Then hold up a bigger piece and say, “Big.” Hold out both pieces and say, “Take one.” When you child chooses, name the size and then eat the other piece.
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Use directions for common activities and actions that make sense in that situation. For example, don’t say, “Put the ball under the box.” It makes sense to put the ball in the box. Give your child cues that help them focus on the most important word. Point, hold out your hand or use other gestures that show what you want them to notice or what you want them to do.
Today’s activity: When giving a direction, use just one or two words. Or use a short sentence but emphasize the key word(s).
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Your child learns words when you use them in meaningful situations. They will have more interest and stay focused longer when you make the interactions fun and high interest. Use just one or two words at a time when you want them to be focused on the meaning of a word.
Today’s activity: At meal time, ask, “Where’s papa?” and look around. Then point and say, “There’s papa!” The person can clap or make a funny face to keep your child engaged. Start by showing how to respond. As your child starts to participate, back off on your examples and wait for them to point on their own.
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As we begin the language domain, here’s a reminder that you shouldn’t neglect the other domains. They all build on each other.
At Level 6 your child will learn: respond to action cues, point to several people or objects when named, point to self in mirror, follow simple familiar directions, follow 2-part direction,
Your model of language use teaches your child all the different reasons we communicate, along with the words we use. Modeling AAC at this level helps your child build their understanding so later they can express themselves using the AAC.
Today’s activity: When you do something of interest to the child, model a direction they could use if they want you to do it. “Milk please” when you open the refrigerator, or “Go” when putting your coat on, “Get car” while pointing and holding out your hand.
Blog post that explains AAC. Blog post that discusses myths of AAC.
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Your child will master scouting down the stairs backward, and will get better at climbing up onto furniture.
They will learn to move a chair so they can climb up to get things. It’s a big accomplishment in thinking skills. They identify a goal (I want something up there) and a problem (I can’t reach it). They identify a solution (I can move the chair and climb up to get it) and then take action to reach the goal.
Today’s activity: Act as a spotter as your child practices climbing in appropriate places, like on the playground. Encourage them to use solve a problem to reach a goal—like push their chair to the table so they can have dinner.
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Pop beads help develop finger strength and persistence. Musical instruments let them experiment with sounds and different intensity of actions. Sand or water play lets them use a variety of motions to scoop, dump, fill while they experience different textures. A walk outside gives you chances to observe and label actions or characteristics like color, shape or texture.
Today’s activity: Shape your child’s skills when using toys. Wait to give them a chance to start it themself. Give just the minimum amount of help to get them started. Label objects and actions as you child uses them.
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Your child will learn to open a lid that screws on. Their finger control is getting better so they can also open snap-on lids, pull up a zipper, and perform a variety of movements for latches, dials and snaps.
Today’s activity: Show your child how the item works. Do part of the motion so they only have to finish the last part. For example, unscrew a lid most of the way so they only have to turn it a little to get the result. Or start a zipper and let then finish the easy part of pulling it up.
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Your child can now hold a picture in their head of something they want. They may be playing and think of a toy they need, then go and find the toy. Or they might start to feel sleepy so they go and look for their blanket.
This is an early use of symbolic communication. They have a picture in their head that represents an object or idea. When they can attach a word to that picture, they will be using a symbol.
This is also an example of how an executive function develops. Executive functions are how we manage our thinking and actions. Your child is learning how to make a plan and carry it out—“I need the blanket. I will look for the blanket. I found the blanket.” As they practice this kind of search, they learn to persist in working toward a goal.
Today’s activity: Model your thinking by saying it out loud. “We need the ball. Where’s the ball? Let’s find the ball…Here’s the ball!” Your think-aloud helps your child understand that they can think and talk about things that are not present and make plans for the future.
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Your child will use trial-and-error to fit 3 objects inside each other. Experimenting with this helps your child learn persistence and teaches them about comparing different sizes and putting them in order. This understanding helps them learn language and math concepts.
Today’s activity: Model words “big” and “little” as your child picks up and uses items. Use measuring cups or boxes for nesting. Make a shape sorter by cutting holes in a box top. Help just a little bit, if needed, by pointing at the hole or lightly nudging your child’s hand.
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Your child enjoys trying things to see what happens. They like things they use in different ways like can turn, open, make noise, change, pound, knock down, kick, and roll.
Today’s activity: Provide opportunities to try out new things. Model how to use a new object, but let your child try things out for themself, too.
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Your child will add more variety to how they use objects. They can imitate when you show them a new way to use a familiar object.
Today’s activity: Roll a ball or car in and out of new places or on different surfaces. Bounce ball into basket or toss it. Use spoon for scooping new materials or with different containers. Use a blanket as a cape, a door or a blanket toss.
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Your child enjoys acting like an older person and being more independent. They like to do chores they see others do.
Today’s activity: Give your child a cloth to help dust or clean. Encourage them to vacuum or sweep the floor with a pretend tool. Model a word for the action or tool: broom, vacuum, clean.
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Your child is learning characteristics of objects like size, shape, color. They like to experiment to find out how things work and what happens when you do things with them. They keep trying if their first attempt to do something doesn’t work. They go to a different room to find something they left there. They can screw open a container. They use an object for a pretend purpose.
Today’s activity: Model using an object for a pretend purpose: Pretend to feed blocks to toy animals, or comb your hair with a stick.
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Your child enjoys sorting through and examining objects, exploring their characteristics and trying out what they do. They’re especially interesting if they are new or seen only at special times.
Today’s activity: Have a container your child can look at during special times. Put in some interesting things that open and shut, make noise, have different textures, etc. Use the box for a quiet, sitting time.
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Your child likes to investigate mysteries—What’s in this drawer today? They need opportunities to explore but need a safe space to do that.
Today’s activity: Have child-safe places for your child to explore. Sometimes change what is available for your child to discover.
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Play is where your child builds thinking skills and language concepts. Play also motivates your child to engage with the world and participate with others. Keep your activities fun as you share activities together.
Object permanence becomes well established during this level. Your child understands that symbols can represent ideas as well as objects. They can use words to communicate.
Your child understands that a hidden item has to exist, so they persist in a search. They can be really snoopy, too, because they can imagine there are items hiding inside drawers and cupboards.
Today’s activity: Hide an interesting object under 3 cups or bowls. Mix them up so your child has to search under all of them to find the item. Ask, “Where is it?” with the gesture for “I don’t know.” Let your child use (play with or eat) the the item they find.
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Your child will show a preference for an object or activity that helps them feel calm. It may be a soft blanket, a favorite toy, rocking, looking out the window, or being held.
Today’s activity: Use the object or activity during or before a possibly upsetting event. Offer it when your child seems unsettled. Help your learn to seek the calming object or activity when they need it.
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Once your child knows the bedtime routine, they want to follow it exactly. Sorry, you can’t skip that book.
Routines help your child feel more secure in knowing what to expect. They can become more independent as they follow these familiar activities.
Today’s activity: Establish a bedtime routine that you will be able to follow consistently. Consider using routines for other daily activities, as well. Model the expected actions. Pause before each step to allow your child time to initiate the action.
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Your child will show affection with a hug, kiss, pat, They do this with people, pets, and toys.
Today’s activity: Model affectionate actions and label them with a word: hug, kiss, pat. Use the actions and words when taking turns with toys.
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Your child does not yet understand how their actions affect others. They need lots of models of how to be gentle.
Be alert that a strong reaction is a strong reinforcer. Give lots more attention to soft touch than you give for a mistake.
Today’s activity: Show your child how to touch gently. At the start of an activity, say, “Soft touch” or “Be gentle” as you demonstrate. Give lots of attention for gentle touch. Redirect if your child is too rough.
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Your child has a mind of their own. They get an idea and they want to do it, even if you say no. Help them learn that when you give a direction, you expect them to do what you ask. Consistency and support are the key.
Today’s activity: Give a direction one time. If your child does not respond, give the direction with more support. Walk over there and help. Distract your child with something just as interesting.
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Your child is becoming an independent thinker. They get an idea and they want to have that or do that. When we say no, they have feelings about that. They need to learn how to manage these disappointments. We can show them things they can do to manage their feelings and accept “no.”
Remember that intermittent reinforcement cements in a behavior so it does not fade away easily. If you sometimes change your mind after you say no, you child will persist with using tantrums.
Today’s activity: Make a plan for how you will manage these “no” situations. First, know that you must be consistent. Say “no” one time and then help your child move on. Put away the object they wanted. Offer them an alternative. Distract them with a different activity. Offer them a calming object or activity.
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Your child will initiate a request—a major achievement! When they need help getting a toy to work, they hand it to you so you can make it go. This is one of the big payoffs for all that turn taking practice you’ve been doing. Hurray!
Today’s activity: When you see your child needs help, hold out your hand as you say “Help.” Don’t expect your child to say anything. You are teaching that when they hand it to you, you will help them fix it. After you have done this many times, your child will learn they can approach you to ask for help. Showing you the object is their way to indicate they want help.
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Your child will enjoy a simple game with lots of action and a little competition.
Today’s activity: Roll a ball, point and say, “Get the ball!” Both of you chase it, but let child reach it first. Pick up child and run back to the starting line to repeat the action.
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You can add variety to turn taking by using some new materials. Variety adds more interest for your child.
Remember, when taking turns you need to wait for your child to take a turn. Avoid saying, “Do this” because you’re not doing a direction-following activity. Your child can do what they want to do when you are interacting socially. By making this fun and interesting, though, your child is more likely to do the action you are showing them.
Today’s activity: Cut a slot in the top of a shoe box. Take turns putting a playing card into the box.
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Your child will play together with you, sharing a toy. Don’t think of this as “work” because then you will start to think there’s a “right” way for your child to play. You can model things to do with the toy, but your child doesn’t have to do the same thing. You are PLAYING: go with the flow and have fun.
Today’s activity: Play side-by-side or face-to-face with your child. Share some toys and model things to do with them: feed doll with cup, put doll in bed. Offer a toy to your child so you can take turns. Add a new action or object sometimes to extend the variety of things your child knows about playing with the toys.
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6.185 SOCIAL INTERACTION: Turn Taking: Take this to someone nearby
At this level your child will learn to deliver an object to someone nearby that you name, do joint play with an object, and hand you a toy if they need help to make it work. You can expand the ways your child takes turns with different objects, more people and extending the distance they go.
Earlier practice with turn taking has helped your child learn that they enjoy giving things to other people (sharing) and they know how to show they want something back. This makes them more comfortable when using toys together with another person.
Today’s activity: Use a wagon (or box with a pull string) to deliver toys to someone. Your child can roll a car down the ramp then you retrieve it, put it in the wagon and pull it back to your child. Change roles, so your child gets turns to deliver with the wagon. Expand this to delivering toys to other family members.
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You can extend your child’s attention to places far away by pointing to an object of interest. Your child is used to taking turns putting objects into a box near you. Now you can extend that familiar activity to putting away in a location that’s farther away.
Your child depends on your gestures to help them understand your directions at this level.
Today’s activity: Give your child an object and point to a location where you want them to put it. Say, “Put it in,” as you point.
Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level here.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.
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Joint attention is sharing the focus on some other location—a shared point of focus. An important part of sharing the focus is that we check in with the other person’s face to see what they are looking at and how they are reacting.
Your child established joint attention for nearby objects during Level 5. Now we need to help them move that attention to objects farther away. This supports your child’s skills in following directions. It also helps them practice thinking about 2 things at the same time—you and your reactions plus the other thing and what you want them to do with it.
Today’s activity: Blow bubbles. Wait for your child to turn and show interest in getting you to do it again (using attention, gesture, sound or word). Help them notice a bubble by pointing and acting excited. Help them notice what your finger is pointing at by moving your finger closer to the bubble. If they don’t follow your point, move your whole body closer to the bubble while you keep pointing.
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Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level here.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.
Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.
Your child’s mutual attention skills have helped them learn how to observe your actions and pick up on important information. Now they can use those skills to imitate new actions.
Teaching some gestures and sign language is a perfect fit for this level. Your child can watch your model and imitate. We’ll talk more about this when we get to the Language domain.
Today’s activity: Continue to use social games, songs and finger plays to strengthen your child’s ability to do actions along with you. Add in a new action and encourage them to try it.
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Your child’s mobility gives them lots more opportunities to learn about the world. You can share their excitement and enjoyment of trying out new things when you encourage mutual attention.
Today’s activity: Be side-by-side with your child as you show them how to go down the stairs on their tummy. Say, “Down” as you show them how to slide down the step.
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Your child is showing their understanding of the world by using actions with objects. This builds later language skills, building associations between objects and characteristics like what you use them for.
At this level your child wants to do more for themself. They will use objects like a comb, cup, spoon on themself or a doll.
Today’s activity: Give your child opportunities to help with self-help tasks like dressing and feeding. Model how they can use the objects when playing with a doll.
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Your child’s concept of object permanence is really developing now. They will persist in searching because they know it has to be somewhere. Even though they can’t see it, they know it exists. This concept is important for understand how symbols work—words represent ideas that we can’t see.
Today’s activity: Hide a toy that makes noise if your child has trouble searching. As they get more skilled, add more variety with the objects you’re using. Make sure it’s a fun turn-taking game, not a drill. A tasty variation is to hide a snack under some bowls.
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Your child learns many thinking and language skills during play. This episode describes toys from the list in the Level 5 checklist.
Skills that develop during Level 5 include show more interest in new objects than familiar objects, use familiar objects for familiar actions, search for hidden object in 2 places,
Today’s activity: Your child doesn’t need a lot of toys to have some novelty. Put some away so you can change some weekly. Get out some new ones and put away some that your child has lost interest in. When you get the old ones out later, they will be more interesting.
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Your child’s earliest communication is motivated by how they are feeling. They make movements and sounds that you can recognize as what they do when they do or don’t want something, or like or don’t like something.
These movements and sounds can be shaped into gestures and words. First, your child needs to know that you understand the meaning they’re expressing.
Today’s activity: Notice the meaning your child expresses with gestures and sounds. Act as if these signals have meaning, and say the word you think they are expressing like, “No thank you” or “want.” Say, “sorry” to let them know you recognize they don’t like something but this is one of those necessary activities.
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Your child will start to learn how to cope with their feelings when they have to participate in an activity that they don’t like. They might use an object or movement that helps them feel calm or happy.
Today’s activity: Notice the kind of object or activity that your child shows a preference for. Make that item or activity available to help them with a challenging activity.
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At Level 5 your child will check your face to find out your reaction. They will also learn to tolerate a necessary activity that they don’t like but has to be done.
Your child’s mutual attention skills help them develop in the affective area. They will check your face to find out how you react to a new or unexpected event. This helps them learn how they should respond.
Today’s activity: Put yourself in position so it’s easy for your child to see your face as you both experience the new or unexpected situation. Model an appropriate affective response, like happy, calm, surprised, liking, not liking.
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Turn taking supports your child’s developing imitation skills. You can model the action with new materials, or use similar materials or actions in a new location. Adding something new keeps things interesting, but it’s still familiar enough to imitate easily.
Remember to use waiting as your first strategy for getting your child to take their turn. Look interested, excited, happy to be there!
Today’s activity: When your child is familiar with taking turns with a certain object, expand that activity to new places—like drumming on other objects.
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Get early intervention information mentioned in the episode here.
Here’s the link to the short screener for finding your child’s level of communication development.
Turn taking lays the foundation for conversation skills. At Level 5 your child plays near peers but does not interact with peers during play.
Your child can pass a toy back and forth with you, taking turns using the toy for a simple action. They learn how to share by doing this with you.
Today’s activity: Use a toy for a simple action, like feeding a doll with a spoon. Take turns feeding the doll, passing the spoon back and forth with your child. Model how to include a peer in interactions. Model a cue like “soft touch” often.
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Bubbles are great attention-getters! There are many ways to call attention to a bubble. Be sure to remember that joint attention includes checking the other person’s face sometimes.
Today’s activity: Model how to use joint attention while playing with bubbles. Point at a bubble, hold it on the wand, reach for and pop a bubble. Help your child notice your reactions, and pay attention to your child’s reactions.
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Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Remember that parents don’t cause their child’s communication delay. They are, however, in the best position to provide frequent, enriched interactions that help their child focus on the most important information in the experience. These high-quality, high-frequency interactions are the best environment for learning.
At Level 5 your child will start pointing to call your attention to something. This is a meaningful gesture—a form of communication. Hurray!
Today’s activity: Notice what your child is paying attention to and shift your focus to that. Point at and name it to show that you notice. This shows your child how to shift to another person’s focus of attention and models how to point to show attention
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Joint attention means both of you are sharing your attention toward some other interesting thing. You know you're sharing attention when you each are checking in with each other’s face.
Your child will follow your point or your eye gaze to see what you are paying attention to. They will know it’s interesting by your tone of voice and facial expression.
Don’t think of this as a following-directions type of activity. Make sure your child learns that we share joint attention because it’s interesting and fun. Joint attention is a foundation of communication. We communicate because we want to share experiences with someone, not so we can follow commands.
Today’s activity: Model and encourage joint attention by pointing with animation, looking between the object and your child’s face. Be sure to wait for your child to have time to notice and look. Make an object more interesting by touching or moving the object.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Download the list of targets and activities for Level 5 here.
When your child learns a play routine, you can build on their knowledge by using the game in new ways. Expand on playing peek-a-boo by doing it in new locations or situations.
Peek-a-boo is a good way to get your child’s attention toward your face. Watch for a signal that your child wants to continue the game.
Today’s activity: Play peek-a-boo going in and out of a room or tunnel. Pop up from behind a chair or other hiding spot. Say “peek” when you open the car door to get your child.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Download the list of targets and activities for Level 5 here.
Mutual attention is important for your child’s learning. There’s lots of important information on your face—how you make speech sounds, how you feel about something, what you are looking at. Your child should learn to check in with your face frequently to get this information.
Today’s activity: Continue doing familiar songs and add a few new ones. Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Open Shut Them, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Where Is Thumkin, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Download the list of targets and activities for Level 5 here.
You started doing social games at earlier levels. Now your child can use them to initiate interactions with you. They can transfer the actions to new situations, and recognize and respond to some of the words.
Social games encourage mutual attention because fun actions are happening. Stay aware of encouraging your child to notice your face. Be animated and interesting.
Today’s activity: Watch for times when you can notice your child initiating a familiar social game, or you can respond to a gesture as if they were initiating the game. Play a game in a new situation, like have a doll do the actions. Add one or two more new games.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Download the list of targets and activities for Level 5 here.
Mutual attention means both of you are paying attention to each other. It includes noticing what the person is doing and noticing the person’s face.
There is a lot of information available on the face that helps your child learn about feelings and reactions, in addition to how you are forming speech sounds. Don’t overemphasize the idea of the more limited concept of eye contact.
Make sure to keep the emphasis on sharing the interaction, keeping it interesting and enjoyable.
Today’s activity: To help your child develop the habit of checking in with your face, position yourself face-to-face during interactions. Be animated and interesting with your face. Hold up an interesting object near your face before you give it to your child.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Any activity you do together with your child gives you opportunities to practice turn taking.
Today’s activity: Share a crayon while scribbling. You make a mark, then pass the crayon to your child. After they write, hold out your hand to request the crayon, You can model words like, “blue” or “my turn.”
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child can control their hand movements and fingers more precisely. They can scribble on paper and hold an item between their thumb and forefinger.
Establish habits for how to use writing materials. Store writing materials sout of your child’s reach.location.
Today’s activity: Show your child how to scribble on a paper. Show how writing goes on paper and redirect them if they write on the table or other surface. Fat crayons or markers are easier for your child to grip.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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You can change up your location when sharing books with your child. Reading face-to-face lets your child see how you form the sounds and words, and lets them see your facial expressions. This gives your child more information about word and picture meanings, feelings and talking.
Today’s activity: Lay on your tummies on the floor with the book between you while you read and comment. Or look at a book while your child is in their high chair.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child is more familiar with books and can turn the pages independently. They want to do more on their own, so decide which books they can have on their own.
Continue to guide your child’s use of books to demonstrate how to read them, but let your child hold the book and turn the pages to what they want to see.
Today’s activity: When reading together, put one finger under the next page so it’s easy for your child to turn one page. Let your child control the book and what page to look at. Get board books from the library.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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At Level 4 your child will turn the pages of a book and touch pictures consistently. They become more independent in using books, and have favorite items in books.
Today’s activity: Use books with one picture per page. Use one word or sound to comment on the picture. Call attention to the picture and comment. Wait for your child to take a turn, touching or commenting with a sound or word. Extend the conversation with more comments, depending upon your child’s interest.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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When your child imitates your word, they won’t say it with precise articulation. It will sound like “baby talk.” If they use the same sounds consistently and you know what they mean, that counts as a word.
Your interest and enthusiasm is the best way to reinforce your child’s imitation. Using a single word in response gives them a model of another thing they could say about the topic.
Today’s activity: Respond enthusiastically in a way that keeps the conversation going, Keep it fun and meaningful. Repeat what they said or use a new word that continues the topic.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child needs to learn that communication is the sharing of meaning. If we focus too much on how your child is making their speech sounds at this level, it can interfere with their purposes for communicating. If saying a word doesn’t work for them (get the outcome they want or expect) they will stop using it.
You can recognize that your child is using a word when they consistently make the same sounds to represent an idea. It does not have to sound like the adult word. As they get lots more practice, their sounds will become more accurate.
Today’s activity: Respond to your child’s meaning, rather than how they pronounce a word. Keep the focus on a successful exchange of ideas and feelings.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Read about recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics on screen time for children.
A toy phone gives your child the chance to babble like they’re having a conversation.
Today’s activity: Use a toy phone to model saying, “Hello?” with rising intonation. Pass the phone back and forth, modeling a short comment on each turn. Don’t expect your child to use a specific word. They can babble like they’re having a conversation or use rising intonation like they are saying, “Hello?”
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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An exclamation expresses a meaning; it counts as a word. It can be used flexibly in many situations. Your child will learn when to use it and what it can mean from your uses of the exclamation.
Today’s activity: Use the exclamation “uh-oh” to react to a variety of situations, like something falls down or something surprising happens.
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Your child will pay lots of attention to your face and voice as you talk face-to-face. You can see them moving their mouth as if they are trying to do it like you.
Skills that develop include: babble with lots of varied intonation, use vowels and several consonants in their babbling, say a few words like mama and dada, use an exclamation like uh-oh, try to imitate some sounds or words, take turns in babbling with you.
Today’s activity: Babble back and forth, using some variety. Start by imitating your child’s sounds then mix in a new one, Use an intonation pattern they might imitate.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the checklist: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Waving is a gesture your child learns through imitation. Gestures are an important foundation for intentional communication.
Today’s activity: Provide extra opportunities to wave bye-bye: crawling in and out of tunnel, putting doll in house and closing door, putting toys or food away.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Showing uses joint attention. Your child holds an item toward you as an invitation to share their interest.
Today’s activity: Shape this gesture by showing strong interest in an object your child is holding: point at it, touch it, name it, or say “look!”
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Gestures are a powerful way for your child to learn intentional communication. They realize that you understand their idea based on a specific thing they do. Early gestures come from natural movements that take on a meaning over time.
Today’s activity: Shape the reaching gesture by slowly lowering your child to the floor to retrieve a dropped item, noticing when they reach and act as if it’s a request, pause after you start to give them something so they have a chance to get their arm in a reaching position.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk,
Shaking their head “no” is typically shaped by turning away from food when being fed. You can help your child learn to make the movement intentionally in many different situations to communicate “no.”
Today’s activity: When your child doesn’t want something, shake your head and say, “no” to model the word. Stop the action at least temporarily to let them know you understood their message.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Your child’s hand muscles develop so they can release an object on purpose, to set it in your hand. Practice in fun activities so giving is a pleasant experience.
Today’s activity: Take turns with an object. Hold out your hand and wait for your child to put it in your hand. Pair the word “give” when you hold out your hand, or when you give an object to your child.
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Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child will start to recognize that you respond differently to a certain sound they make. If a sound is effective in getting something they need, they will tend to use that sound more often in that situation.
Today’s activity: Respond to your child’s sounds as if they have meaning. Model a word for the meaning you think they are expressing.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Meaningful gestures develop before speech. This is the first type of intentional communication your child uses. Using gestures helps your child learn they can share an idea with another person.
Your child needs lots of examples of words they could use in an activity. When you say a word that matches their gesture, you are helping build a strong foundation for communication.
Today’s activity: Watch for actions your child uses that could be used to express a meaning. Respond to the actions as if they have meaning. This shapes the use of a meaningful gesture.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Get the handout: 16 gestures that help your child learn to talk.
Your child will start to use gestures to express a meaning. This is a major step in using intentional communication. Your child learns to use meaningful gestures by seeing your examples during interactions with you.
Your child will learn to express they want something and don’t want something and use about 5 meaningful gestures. Early gestures include: give an object, shake head no, reach for something they want, show an object, wave goodbye.
Today’s activity: Respond to a movement your child uses that could mean “more” or “no.” Follow through on what they “said.” Say the word you think they intended.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child can learn to expect that something will repeat when you use the word “more.” Use it during an interactive game to show that something happens after that word.
Also be observant of your child’s actions when you pause. You can start to shape a movement into a consistent gesture that shows they want more.
Today’s activity: During an interactive game when you are about to take your turn, pause with anticipation and say, “More” before you take your turn.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
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Your child will learn to understand new words and concepts through their experiences with people, objects and activities. When you use one or two words to narrate the experience, you help them focus on the most important detail.
Today’s activity: Help your child learn characteristics of objects or activities you’re both paying attention to. Use a single word that describes it (fast, hot, big, soft).
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
Your child will learn to point to more body parts at this level. First they’ll be able to find body parts they can see on themself, then find parts on their face/head while looking in a mirror. Watching you point to your own helps them practice body parts and mutual attention.
Today’s activity: Play a turn taking game with you pointing to your nose and asking, “Where’s Sammy’s nose?” Do it with several body parts in the mirror to give your child extra information about finding their nose, or do it face-to-face. Sprinkle the game in whenever you have a minute for a short, fun exchange.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
Your child can recognize pictures of familiar objects. Looking at pictures is a good way to practice listening to and understanding the words that name these objects. It helps to focus your child on the most important information.
Today’s activity: Make a small album of photos of people, pets and favorite objects. Use one or two words to label the picture as you point at it. If the picture album is on your phone, set a timer to signal when it’s time to be done.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
Your child learns to understand words through their experiences in meaningful contexts. They learn to understand activities before they learn the words that go with them. Using a key word with an activity helps them learn its meaning.
Today’s activity: Label the action you see your child using. Add a direction to a familiar turn taking activity, like “get the ball” “give me the spoon.” (Say the direction once, then help them understand what you expect them to do.)
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
If you haven’t done this, go back to the first episode and listen through all the episodes to get helpful background information about the foundation of communication development. Be sure to do activities in all domains to give your child the best network of brain connections they need for effective communication.
Skills that develop at this level include: pay attention when they hear talking, respond consistently to own name, understand simple directions given wth a gesture, look at familiar person when you say their name, associate animal sound with their picture or name, respond to “no.”
Today’s activity: Use people names frequently when you give things or describe their actions.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
Your child will develop more precise movements of their fingers. They develop a pincer grasp with thumb and index finger.
Today’s activity: Use objects that naturally encourage your child to use their index finger: poke a finger in the hole, push a button, trace a raised line.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
As your child gets better at independent movement, they like to go in and out.
Today’s activity: Crawl through a tunnel, under a chair, over a cushion (or you). Play social games by peeking in and out, following each other. Make an obstacle course with pillows or cushions.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will learn they don’t have to wait for adults to get them things or do things for themself. Moving to get something is the first way they practice this independent action.
Today’s activity: Roll a ball and encourage your child to get it. Pull a pull-toy just out of reach and say, “Go.”
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child is developing intentionality—doing things on purpose, setting a goal and pursuing it. Independent movement helps your child develop their sense of self and how they can affect the world around them..
Today’s activity: Put objects just out of reach to encourage your child to move toward a goal. Put them on the floor, on the sofa cushion or other locations that encourage them to stand up or reach.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will be able to get into and out of a sitting position, crawl forward by pulling with arms or pushing with legs, get onto hands and knees, pull self up to stand, walk by leaning on furniture, let go of objects on purpose, poke things with index finger, use a pincer grasp with thumb and index finger.
Moving to get objects helps your child build thinking skills because they are identifying something they want and take action to get it independently.
Today’s active: Identify a child-safe area for your child to roam and explore. Encourage their exploration within limits. Children who don’t explore on their own need support to learn to initiate and explore.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Dr. Rebecca Landa spoke at the recent ASHA convention about the importance of making rich connections between neurons in different parts of the brain. The best way to do this is to provide learning opportunities in meaningful contexts. “Neurons that fire together wire together.”
You can see this learning in action as your child builds new skill layered into familiar play routines.
Today’s activity: Build on your play routines by showing your child one more thing they can do with a toy: take turns putting blocks into a shared bucket; rolling a ball or car back and forth or try it on a new surface; push a button then wait for your child to do it; hide something in a box and let your child discover it; feed the doll then feed you; night-night then wake up.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
I attended a panel presentation at the ASHA convention that described how the state of Florida is training speech-language pathologists (SLPs) how to be effective parent coaches when they are helping parents learn to use interaction strategies with their child. An SLP described how much more effective her therapy was when she focused on including parents as partners in the treatment and supporting them to be confident and competent.
Your child will learn to combine two objects in play. They are learning about the relationships between objects and activities, which lays the foundation for their language skills. Showing them how to use things together helps them see the relationships. This play helps build connections between several areas in the brain. Repeated activity in meaningful contexts builds stronger connections, which makes thinking and language stronger.
Keeping materials organized helps your child have more frequent experience with seeing the relationships between objects. Playing with your child and taking turns with the objects helps you demonstrate to your child a little more of what they could do with those objects.
Today’s activity: Keep materials in logical collections when you store them in boxes or on shelves. Encourage your child to put objects away in their assigned locations, to make the organization more noticeable for them. When playing with your child, demonstrate an action with two objects, then give your child a turn to use those items.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
At the ASHA convention I heard a report on research using Project ImPACT, an NDBI that taught parents to use strategies with their child. Good results were found with both in-person and telepractice sessions. In addition to increased communication skills, children had fewer problem behaviors.
Your child learns concepts by experimenting with how things work. Encourage your child to use any objects where they can put things in and take them out, put things in a tube so they roll out the other end or you pull it out the other end, see what size and shape fits into a container, open and shut a door or lid, stack things up or nest them inside each other, dials, clickers, jack-in-the-box, pull with a string.
Today’s activity: Find a few objects that help your child experiment with concepts like cause/effect, in/out, big/little, open/shut.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Here’s Dr. Wetherby’s report on an effective parent coaching program and possibilities for online delivery.
Visit the Autism Navigator for the free screening tool plus parent education modules with video examples of development and what you can do to support
At level 4 your child starts to understand cause-and-effect and doing things on purpose (intentionality). They explore how things work with actions like: bang 2 objects together; put things in and take them out of a container; put nesting object inside another; shake, bang, throw, drop things to explore what happens; use familiar objects correctly; pull a string to get an object; push a button to get a result; put rings on a stacker; move one object to other hand to reach for a second object.
Today’s activity: Show your child how to do something with an object that gets a result, then let them explore it on their own. Take turns, so you can demonstrate how it’s done then your child has another chance. Use an occasional hint for where to push a button or put an object. Add a single word to describe what’s happening.
Here’s the link for my course teaching parent strategies for supporting your child’s communication development.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Here’s the link for the waiting list for the course teaching parent strategies for supporting your child’s communication development.
Your child’s memory for objects helps them develop preferences for certain toys. It’s useful to know their preferences when you want to use materials that are motivating for them.
Today’s activity: Observe what your child chooses to play with or something they like to keep with them.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
I just returned from the national convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. I heard several presentations about research on naturalistic, developmental behavioral interventions. Some links to my blog posts on NDBIs:
NDBIs get best results
What is NDBI?
Advantages of NDBI
Dr. Amy Wetherby reported on research using the SCERTS model, where parents were taught to use strategies with their child. They received coaching 2-3 times a week in 1:1 sessions compared to weekly small group sessions. Both groups made progress, but the 1:1 sessions got better results that group. She recommended 25 hours per week of focused parent-child interactions as an effective amount of time. Use these charts to monitor your child's progress.
At level four, your child will reach for small objects with their fingers and large objects with both hands, and will search for dropped objects or when you remove or hide them. This reflects their growing understanding of the concept of object permanence
Today’s activity: Cover an object of interest completely with a blanket. Pat the bulge and ask,” Where is it?” Encourage the child to uncover it. Or cover the object with a box and tap on the box to encourage them to hunt for it.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child’s cognitive development shows up in how they now react to you leaving. They understand object permanence so they know you are still somewhere when you disappear. They miss you when you leave.
That makes it harder for you to leave because you don’t want them to be upset. But if you go back when they cry, you are reinforcing the crying. That means they’re more likely to cry again the next time, and they might cry even harder if that’s what it takes to get you to come back. (This is not conscious on their part, it’s just how intermittent reinforcement works.)
Today’s activity: Have a regular routine that you follow when leaving your child in someone else’s care. Discuss it with the other adult so you both understand what you are doing and why. Get your goodbye hug, then let the other adult get your child engaged in something distracting. Be consistent—once you leave, don’t turn back.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
During this level your child may start to show they want to do more for themself. Self-help skills tend to develop without our awareness of how they are shaped by the child’s growing independence and how we respond to that.
Some children show less of this independence and initiation. In that case, it’s even more important for the adult to be a mediator and help the child try to do more for themself.
Today’s activity: Allow your child to sometimes take the lead in daily activities like dressing and feeding. Share objects, take turns, wait, point, give just enough assistance to let them take the next act in the process.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
In the future, your child will be learning to manage their feelings. At this level, though, they will just go with their initial reaction. If something happens that they don’t like or is upsetting, they will naturally act upset.
Here’s a principle of learning that applies to these situation: Whenever we practice a behavior, it gets stronger.
While there is a time and a place for acting upset, we don’t want to cause your child to practice acting upset when it can be avoided. Let’s save that reaction for when it’s really needed.
When possible, we want to avoid your child practicing an overreaction to problems. Helping them see an alternative is a way to help them stop one activity and substituting another activity.
At this stage, we can avoid presenting your child with upsetting events when they aren’t necessary. That way, your child doesn’t build up lots of practice with immediately being upset over any kind of change or surprise.
Today’s activity: When your child is exploring, they may pick up something they’re not suppose to have. Instead of just taking it away, make a trade instead. Make the new item extra interesting as you give it to them. Take away the other item without calling attention to it.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will start to recognize that things don’t magically appear and disappear. They might want to keep doing or having something and will miss it when it’s gone.
Your child can start to see connections between what they are doing and the next thing that will happen. This can make it easier to make transitions.
Instead of just stopping an activity or taking away an object, you can have the next thing visible so they see what they are transitioning to. Seeing the next thing helps them give up the current thing.
This is a good way to introduce the concept of first this - then that.
Today’s activity: When making a transition, have an object from the next activity visible. Use language like “all done X, now do Y” or “bye-bye X, time for Y.”
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will start to show preferences for certain objects or experiences. It’s useful for your child to have a preferred object they can use for soothing when they are tired or upset. Using a soothing object helps your child learn to self-regulate their emotions.
Today’s activity: Observe what object helps your child feel soothed and make it available consistently. Use a word to describe how they are feeling to help them learn to recognize and label their internal state.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Send questions about the podcast or communication development to mail@InteractionCoach.com.
Skills that develop in Level Four include knowing that people who go away still exist, so your child is more likely to cry when you leave. Your child will also be uncomfortable with strangers.
Your child also notices the results they get from their actions. They do a lot of testing out actions to see what will happen.
Your child wants to do more things independently. They help with dressing activities, try to feed themself, and use an object to help soothe themself. This growing independence supports their motivation to use communication to have an effect on others.
Your child can participate more independently when they know what to expect next. A routine gives them confidence in knowing the next step of a process. It also helps feel comfortable transitioning from one activity to another.
Today's activity: Examine your daily activities to see what routines you can use to help your child participate more independently.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will enjoy repeating an activity to get a reaction. They might like the way an object reacts, like when blocks fall down or something makes noise. They might like the way you react, like when you act surprised or you give back an object so they can repeat their action.
Dropping or throwing objects onto the floor is a common routine that children learn to initiate. Knocking things down to see them tumble or to hear the noise is another routine your child would enjoy.
Today's activity: Be aware of the routines you want to encourage or discourage. Monitor how your reaction can continue an activity. Strong emotions or giving back an exciting object will encourage the routine to continue. Removing an object or acting like you don’t notice the action will discourage the routine from continuing.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child starts to anticipate what action comes next during a daily routine like dressing. That makes routines the perfect place to introduce more turn taking.
Today's activity: Pause at key points during dressing to give your child a chance to take a turn. At first you can interpret any action as their turn. As they get more skilled, they will be using helpful actions to complete a step in the dressing process—pulling down their shirt, pushing their arm into a sleeve, holding up their leg to put on a sock.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Skills that develop during Level Four include: imitate unfamiliar actions they can see themselves making, extend arm or leg to assist when dressing, play social games and finger plays, exchange objects back and forth, start a familiar social game, and repeat an action to see the reaction.
Turn taking is the foundation for having a conversation. You have a joint focus on the topic, and take turns back and forth sharing the topic.
You can count how many times your child responds to your invitation and how many turns your child takes in this back-and-forth exchange. Doing this once a week will help you see the progress your child is making.
Today's activity: Do something you know your child can do then wait for your child to do it back. Act like you are waiting for a response.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will develop preferences or dislikes at this level. Observe their degree of attention and body language for clues to how they feel about your shared experience.
Today's activity: Notice your child’s reaction to an object. Provide a word or sound that matches their reaction.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Your child will learn to invite you to look at something when you interpret their glance as an invitation to pay attention to what they are holding or looking at.
Today's activity: Act interested and animated when your child shows you something. Shape your child’s “showing” action by interpreting their glance at you as an invitation to pay attention to what they are holding.
Use these charts as a checklist for your child's progress.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Share your child’s attention instead of distracting from it. Your child needs to learn there’s enjoyment in sharing attention.
After you establish this shared enjoyment, you’ll be able to share more of your ideas and actions during shared attention,
Today's activity: Notice what your child is paying attention to. Match your child’s interest and activity; avoid distracting from the focus. Model the enjoyment that comes from sharing a joint focus on the experience,
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Joint attention is when both people are sharing attention toward some other object or activity.
Joint attention is achieved by the end of this level. Your child will look at an object when you point and say, “Look.” They’ll show you an object to get you to pay attention to it, and reach or point toward an object and look at you to indicate they want it.
Today's activity: Shape your child’s use of joint attention by pointing to a nearby object and saying “Look” while slowly moving the object toward your child. Act excited and interested in the object.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Be alert to any time when your child shows they want to start an interaction. This builds their understanding of the power of communication.
You might notice your child use a motion that you have used in a social game, like putting their ams in the air or pulling a cloth off their face. You can respond like you believe they were starting the routine, and continue with the social game. This helps shape their intentional use of the action to get you engaged in the play.
Today's activity: When you notice your child use an action from a familiar social game, respond with your turn in the game.
Download your list of Targets and Activities for Level Four here. Use it as a checklist for your child’s progress or as a reminder of activities you want to practice.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Download your list of Targets and Activities for Level Four here.
Finger plays set to music are engaging for most children: Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Open Shut Them, Where is Thumkin?, If You’re Happy and You Know It.
Today's activity: Perform songs with finger play for your child. Make it engaging and exciting with your enthusiasm and action. Reinforce your child’s efforts to imitate by using extra smiles and excitement. Introduce one song per week.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Download your list of Targets and Activities for Level Four here.
We begin Level Four with a reminder of the importance of social interaction as the foundation for all our uses of speech, language and communication.
By the end of this level your child will understand that symbols can represent something that isn’t present. They start to understand some words. They can express an idea, not with words but with an action.
They become intentional with their actions and can use actions or sounds to get your attention and initiate an interaction. They give extra attention to your voice. They will spend 3–5 minutes in back-and-forth social games with you and can play in a wider a variety of social games.
Today’s activity: Expand on some familiar social games and introduce a few more: peek-a-boo, so big, pat-a-cake, here come tickle fingers, up/down, hands on top. Keep the focus on engagement and enjoyment.
Here’s a source for more social games.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
A speech-language pathologist should be involved with your child’s program if there is a gap in development between some of the domains (for example, language or social interaction is not developing as quickly as motor skills).
An SLP can use a coaching model to help you implement ideas from the podcast plus new strategies that target your child’s specific needs.
Your child develops a new grasp by the end of this level. They will hold objects between their thumb and other fingers.
Today’s Activity: Give your child lots of opportunities to hold smaller (safe) items like spoons and drumsticks and the string of a pull toy.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Young children learn through their actions with objects. Books that incorporate textures with pictures help your child expand their understanding of the pictured object.
Today’s activity: Use a touch-and-feel book. Point and name the picture. When your child touches the picture, name the texture.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child learns how to handle a book from your examples and shaping their responses.
Today’s activity: Help your child turn pages by putting your finger under the next page to make it easier for your child to grasp one page and turn it. When it’s time to turn the page, bounce the page a little to encourage your child to turn the page.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Reading a book together can be like a conversation. You are both looking at and commenting on the same thing.
Don’t dominate the “conversation.” Give your child a chance to do or say something after you, then respond to their topic of interest.
Today’s activity: Touch a picture and name it. Wait for a response from your child. Expand upon the meaning your child is expressing.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
At Level Three your child can explore books on their own, turning pages and looking at pictures. They can spend several minutes looking at a book together with you.
Gradually extend the amount of time your child looks at books. Don’t force it.
Today’s activity: Follow your child’s lead. Turn the page when they want, point to one thing and comment, wait for a response from your child. Talk about what your child is looking at or doing.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child is noticing the changes in meaning that can be expressed with your voice—intonation, loudness, speed, pitch.
Today’s activity: Play with your voice as part of vocal play. Add variety to your back-and-forth exchanges by changing your voice. Exaggerate your voice for emphasis.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child’s use of voice to call for you is shaped by your response. They learn to use a louder voice if you are out of sight.
They also learn they can control your action by using their voice—an important communication skill!
Today’s Activity: Consistently respond to your child’s call. Do it intentionally—respond when your child is using their voice.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Skills that develop at Level Three include responding to sounds by making a sound back, using their voice to get attention, babble the same syllable, babble varied syllables, and copy your intonation.
At Level Two, you practiced imitating a sound your child just made. At this level, you can use a sound your child makes to start a “conversation.”
Today’s activity: Do some back-and-forth vocal play. Say a sound your child makes and wait for a response. Don’t expect immediate imitation. Let your child respond in any way that keeps the “conversation” going.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will use some meaningful gestures before they start to use words.
At Level Three you interpret your child’s action as if it has meaning, and then you tell the child the word you think they mean.
Your child learns the meaning of a word after hearing it used many times in a meaningful situation.
At Level Three, model words that are useful in lots of situations like, “Help.”
We don’t expect your child to use a word at this level; however, your frequent use of the word helps them learn its meaning.
Today’s activity: When your child needs help with something, pause and say “help” as you are about to assist.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
You will develop the habit of responding to your child’s actions as if they have meaning. This is the first step in shaping your child’s use of meaningful gestures.
Over time, your child will learn to use an action or gesture to express that meaning. After months of practice with reaching, your child can refine this gesture into pointing.
Observe your child’s attention and movements that indicate they want something. When you give a desired item, you can say, “Want milk.”
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will hesitate or look at you when you say “No!” because of your tone of voice.
With more experience, your child will begin to learn that you want them to stop what they are doing.
Get in the habit of saying “No” one time then help your child do what you want them to do. Examples: Give them something to take their attention away from the object you don’t want them to touch. Move them to a safe location.
Today’s activity: When you say “No,” always follow up by showing them what you expect them to do.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child is learning that the word where means we have to look for it.
Today’s activity: When your child is looking at something, cover most of it or put it in a container and ask, “Where’s the ball?” Turn your palms up as you say the word where and look around like you are searching.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Today we expand upon your activity of partially covering an object and asking, “Where’s the toy?” with your hands raised and looking around.
In the past you covered something the child was already looking at. Today’s activity calls attention to something your child is not currently looking at.
Today’s activity: Call your child’s attention to a nearly object they haven’t been looking at. Ask, “Where’s the milk?” with your hands raised and looking around. Pick it up and say, “Milk!”
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
A question from Anne in New Jersey: My child is getting ABA therapy. Does he need speech therapy from a speech-language pathologist?
Joyce’s opinion: SLPs are trained to understand all aspects of communication development. Behavior analysts focus only on observable behaviors. A speech-language pathologist needs to be part of the team for any child with a communication delay.
At Level Three, your child will start to recognize words that are used frequently, like names, favorite objects and the word no.
When the object is present, your child will look toward the familiar object when you say its name.
Today’s activity: Call your child’s attention to an object that is nearby and name it. Use important, interesting or fun objects.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Independent movement helps your child become an independent learner.
Help your child learn all kinds of words (not just the names of things). Say a verb to describe the action that is happening, like “jump!” or “sit.” Use words that describe the action like “up” and “down.”
Today’s activity: Be face-to-face wth your child, on your tummies on the floor. Do a push-up sayng, “up, up, up!” Pause, then say, “Down!” Build in some anticipation and excitement. A variation would be to lie on your back with your child on your chest. Lift your child into the air and back down to your chest.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
At Level Three your child learns to sit with some support, and use their arms to pull or push themselves on their tummy. Movement helps your child be independent in learning more about their world.
Before your child learns to crawl, they need to strengthen their arms and legs. Tummy time gives them this experience.
If your child has motor weakness, consult wth a physical therapist about how to adapt activities so your child can explore more independently.
Today’s activity: Put your child on their tummy with a toy just out of reach. This encourages your child to use their muscles to move toward an object.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Play helps your child develop thinking skills they need for using language.
Today’s activity helps your child learn about cause-and-effect relationships. It also helps your child recognize they can get you to do something they want. Their action can cause an effect on what you do.
Use expectant waiting to show that you are waiting for your child to do something that means they want you to make it go. At first you can act like any of their actions meant “go.”
Be close enough so your child can touch the toy or touch your hand to show that they want the toy to go again. Always treat their touching action as if it means “go.”
Today’s activity: Use a toy that winds up or requires some other action to activate a sound or movement. Make it go one time and enjoy it together with your child. Get ready to make it go again, but wait and look at your child as if you are waiting for them to tell you what to do. Say “go” when the to starts to move.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Think ahead to things you want your child to do in the future. Model those activities now, to help your child get into the routine. You will be doing the activity. Your child can watch or participate with your help.
Routines help your child learn to anticipate what will happen next. Your child can learn that we always put away toys when we are done with them, or we put away our plate when we’re done eating.
A pick-up routine helps your child become comfortable with ending an activity. It’s also helpful to show your child what will be happening next when you’re done picking up.
Today’s activity: When done with an activity, encourage your child to help put a toy away. Say, “bye-bye, toy” or “all done, food” as you put things away.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Object permanence is the concept that things exist even when we can’t see them. Your child is starting to understand this idea when things are partially hidden.
Seeing something covered up and immediately revealed helps your child learn about object permanence.
Understanding object permanence will help your child understand that symbols, including words, can represent objects that aren’t present.
Today’s activity: When your child is paying attention to a toy, put it into a box. Close the box then open it again to make the toy magically appear. Make this a turn-taking game by encouraging your child to take the toy out. Use a word like “all gone” or “open” as you play.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child is learning about using a tool to accomplish a goal. (Down the road, they will use words for the same reason.)
Other animals use tools, too. The difference between other animals and humans is that we can use words for more than just getting an immediate result. Our social uses of language are where we learn to have ideas, be creative and understand the world around us.
Today’s activity: Use a child-safe pull toy with a short string. Show your child how to pull the toy using the string. Play together pulling the toy.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child enjoys learning about cause-and-effect by watching the outcome of their actions.
Today’s activity: Take turns while you play with blocks. Stack a few and a knock them down.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Skills that develop at Level Three include: use one action with object; put things in and dump them out; pull string on toy.
During their play, your child's doing little science experiments that show how things work.
Today’s activity: Make two toys: practice using pointer finger with sponges inside plastic bag; practice dump-and-fill with bath toy.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
If I do all these activities, does my child still need an SLP?
Read this blog post for an example of research on outcomes with and without support from a speech-language pathologist.
Children learn through actions with objects. They begin to recognize different textures and develop preferences for some textures.
You can help your child learn the vocabulary that goes with their preferences when you name it and encourage your child to feel it.
You can help your child expand their comfort level with different textures by exploring them in the context of fun, comfortable play activities.
Today’s activity: Use a collection of several pieces of cloth. Use the cloths to cover a doll to put to bed, or cover your face in a game of peek-a-boo. Demonstrate object permanence by covering a toy with the cloth and slowly uncovering it.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will develop more fine motor skills, with more control of their fingers and hands. They show an understanding of size and weight as they pick up small objects with one hand and larger objects with two hands.
Your child is starting to realize that things still exist when they disappear from sight. They are on their way to understanding object permanence, and will briefly search for a dropped object.
Understanding cause-and-effect relationships is starting to develop. Your child will learn to push a button or pull a handle to get something to happen (like make a sound, open/shut).
Focusing on your child’s preferences helps them focus on details that are most important to them. It helps to ensure you are building on your child’s current attention to objects. You can expand their knowledge of favorite things to build their understanding of concepts and vocabulary.
Today’s activity: Observe how your child expresses what they like and don’t like. Introduce more things that have characteristics of things they like.
Send your questions or suggestions to me at mail@InteractionCoach.com
Your child can learn to associate an object with the calming of sleep time. Use something you’ve observed your child to enjoy, like a soft texture or music.
Over time, your child will develop more ability to self-sooth as the practice settling and soothing with this comfortable experience.
Today’s activity: Consistently pair the soothing object with sleep time. Over time, your child will learn feel soothed by its presence.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Children’s definition of “fun” can vary. Be alert to how your child responds to different types of touch, sounds, sights, smells.
Use your child’s signals of enjoyment to build your social games that involve anticipation of something fun that comes next.
Today’s activity: Use an object or action in a social game. Start the presentation slowly so your child has time to anticipate the approaching pleasure.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Affect is how we show our feelings. Engagement is how we show we are involved in an activity.
By the end of Level Three, your child is showing a variety of affect and recognizes some different tones of voice.
When your child knows what to expect in a familiar routine, they can start to anticipate what comes next. Starting the routine starts them feeling the enjoyment of what comes next.
Learning to anticipate an outcome helps your child learn more about cause-and-effect by expecting an outcome.
Be observant of your child’s expressions of affect.
Today’s activity: Build expectation and anticipation during a play routine. Say, “Here it comes…” as you move something closer.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Did you cause your child’s communication delay? No!
Can we speed your child’s progress in learning communication? Yes!
Communication develops as your child grows connections in their brain. We can help them focus their attention on what they need to learn and help them get more frequent practice to build those connections.
Parents are the best mediator for building communication skills. You have a bond with your child that makes interactions with you the most meaningful and reinforcing. You have many opportunities to show your child how to use their skills in their daily life.
Natural interactions throughout the day, combined with your attention to developmental details and use of reinforcement and shaping, will speed your child’s progress in communication.
Using these methods also helps your child be effective in social situations because we don’t separate the what of skills from the who, where, when and why we communicate.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Today’s activity: Models an action your child can do with an object. Sniff a flower then hold it by your child’s nose. Pat a toy dog then hold it out for your child to pat. Do these actions back and forth for mutual enjoyment.
The more you respond to your child’s actions and sounds, the more they will use them. You are reinforcing their actions and showing them that their actions have an effect on their world.
Even though at first your child isn’t getting your attention on purpose, consistent practice helps them make the connection. They are starting to learn cause and effect.
Your child is also learning they can initiate an interaction. They can be the one who decides when they want to interact and what they want to interact about.
Today’s activity: When your child makes an action or a sound, treat it like your child meant to start an interaction with you. Repeat what they did and wait—act like you expect another response and keep the interaction going.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Your child will learn to imitate actions from familiar routines, try to attract your attention with their actions, and start to recognize some familiar cause-and-effect relationships.
Understanding cause and effect is important for a child to know that their actions (including speech) can have effects on other people.
Initiating (starting) a familiar routine shows your child understands they’ll get an effect.
At this level, respond to your child’s action as if it was intentional and had a meaning. For example, they put their hands together and you imitate that and say, “pat-a-cake!” This helps your child learn they can initiate a familiar routine.
You are teaching early conversation skills.
Today’s activity: Continue to use familiar social games and look for opportunities to use them when they come up in a new situation: “Peek!” when getting dressed, “pat-a-cake” when you see your child’s hands together.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
Learning joint attention helps your child learn that they can call your attention to an object. This will come in handy later when they need to ask you for help.
Today’s activity: Practice eye tracking by playing with a moving toy. Roll a ball or car in different directions. Make sure to do this in the context of a fun activity and share turns with your child.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you.
You can shape your child’s use of joint attention. Start when you are already engaged with your child in an interaction. Add one object and make it very noticeable and appealing.
Today’s activity: Encourage your child to follow your lead by introducing it with excitement. Name it or say something like, “Here it comes” or “Look!” Provide time for them to notice it and make a response.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
When your child is not using joint attention, they need lots of practice with you showing joint attention to their object of interest.
Today’s activity: Model joint attention by noticing what your child is noticing and adding to the topic: touch, point, name, exclaim, play.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Joint attention skills emerge by the end of Level Three. You’ll see your child look back and forth between your face and something they are touching that you are looking at.
Tracking a moving object helps your child learn to move their eyes to follow and find objects.
Your child needs you to model frequently. Notice what your child is paying attention to, then you pay attention to that as well. Comment and use actions that show you are noticing their focus.
Today’s activity: While your child is seated, interaction between an object placed between you on the table. Be animated and interesting so you are as interesting as the object.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Use a child-safe mirror for this activity.
Children enjoy watching themselves in the mirror. It’s another way to encourage attention to faces.
Today’s activity: Let your child watch their face in the mirror. Play together in the mirror with peek-a-boo or or other social games.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Do parents cause their child’s speech-language delay? Can we speed up a child’s development of skills? Joyce shares her opinions.
Music can stimulate your child to move, which gives you another activity to do together with your child. As you imitate your child, you are modeling how imitation works.
Today’s activity: Notice your child’s reactions to music. Mirror their actions.
Here’s the link to information about speech-language public services in the U.S.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Encourage mutual attention by be face-to-face and animated.
Today’s activity promotes motor develop when your child wants to move closer to engage with you.
Today’s activity: Be just out of reach from your child when they are on their tummy. Encourage them to try to reach you while you make sounds and faces.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Download the list of Level Three Skills and Activities to use as a checklist and guide.
Clapping is a great gesture to begin using with your child. It helps you be enthusiastic, and it becomes a way to reinforce whatever your child is doing.
At first you will do the action while your child watches. Use an action then wait; give your child a chance to imitate before you give any assistance. Accept any response to encourage your child to be engaged with you.
Patting is a basic movement that you can use in a back-and-forth game. Pat the back of your child’s hand and then wait for your child to pat yours.
Today’s activity: Add more social games with gestures like tapping, patting and clapping. Examples: clapping, pat-a-cake, pat-pat-pat.
Download the Level Three list of skills and activities to use as a checklist and reminder.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Remember that each of these levels takes at least three months for your child to develop. We’re going for quality—not for speed.
Social games with gestures are a great way to introduce imitation skills. Use motions you know your child can already do, and make it a fun back-and-forth exchange.
Today’s activity: Use familiar social games (like so big, peek-a-boo) in new situations to add variety.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Download the Level Three list of skills and activities to use as a checklist and reminder.
Download the Level Three list of skills and activities to use as a checklist and reminder.
Social interaction is the foundation for human communication. Your child is learning to enjoy interaction and all the different reasons we have for communicating. We must always teach speech and language skills in the context of social interaction.
Mutual attention means that two people are noticing what the other person is doing and is responding to that. It may or may not include direct eye contact.
At Level Three your child learns to actively indicate to you that they want to continue with a social interaction. They watch your face closely when you are engaged face-to-face.
Today’s activity: Put your face in your child’s line of sight before you talk or smile. Be animated with your voice, facial expressions and hand gestures.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Send your questions and requests to me at mail@interactioncoach.com
Your child needs to develop fine motor skills in their fingers before they are ready to use writing or pointing.
At Level Two, your child is developing more control of reaching and grasping. They need experience holding a variety of shapes.
Today’s activity: Encourage your child to play with toys, spoons, other objects they can wrap their fingers around.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com for more information and support.
Sharing a book can be a calming activity before bed.
Today’s activity: Use a book with one or two sentences per page. Use a soothing voice to help with a calm transition to sleepy-time.
Send your questions and requests to me at mail@interactioncoach.com
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com for more information and support.
Environmental print includes pictures, symbols and words that are found in the world around us.
At Level Two, real objects are the best way for your child to learn about the world. However, calling attention to environmental print helps your child begin to notice and recognize the information on flat surfaces.
Exploring a child-safe book independently helps your child learn about books and pages, and lets them explore the pictures that interest them.
Today’s activity: Point out and read pictures on a blanket, toy or other environmental objects (in addition to books).
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Early literacy skills include book handling and recognizing pictures.
Your child will enjoy interacting with books with you. You can model how to pat the book page or point to a picture while you name the picture.
On their own, a child will shake a book, pat the page, put it in their mouth, and open the book.
If you help your child point to a picture, avoid holding their hand. You can lift under their elbow to guide their arm into the area you want them to touch. We want children to learn they are in charge of their body and their actions.
Today’s activity: Encourage your child to look at the book by patting and pointing.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
You will notice your child has a favorite sound they use in babbling.
You can start to introduce the next step of imitation skills, but don’t expect your child to imitate consistently at this level.
Joyce describes how she shaped the wiggly game, which included vocal imitation, with her grandson Oliver. See the blog post and video.
Today’s activity: Use your child’s favorite sound to initiate vocal play. Make the sound and wait for a response. Accept any kind of response, and continue to model the sound.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Mouthing helps your child learn about coordinating their mouth muscles and articulators (like their lips and tongue) that they need for making speech sounds.
Children naturally put everything into their mouth, which gives them lots of opportunities for learning.
A speech-language pathologist can help when your child resists different textures in their mouth or rejects foods.
Today’s activity: Provide a variety of child-safe objects for the child to explore.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
You can help your child learn about the meaning expressed in your voice and facial expression by making them exaggerated. This calls attention to what you’re doing so it’s easier for your child to notice and make connections.
Helping your child notice the important detail is an important mediation method.
Today’s activity: During your interactions, put extra emphasis on your vocal intonation and your facial expressions.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Your child will do lots of babbling at this level, experimenting with many different sounds. They learn to control their voice and mouth movements.
If your child does not babble much, have their hearing checked.
Today’s activity: When face-to-face with your child, repeat back the sound your child just made. This is the first step in learning how to imitate.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
When you appear as your child is making a sound, they learn that they can call for you. They will learn they can make you appear when they use their voice.
Today’s activity: When you hear your child babbling or using a loud voice, move into view and say “Hi,” or say their name.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
We express meaning with words, but also with our intonation and body language. Your child is learning this from your examples at this level, while practicing the sounds they can make and the reasons they interact with you.
Your child is learning they can have an effect on other people. When they wiggle or make sounds, they can get you to look at them, or come to them or talk to them. They are learning to initiate interactions, which is really important at all levels of communication.
In older children, initiation can fade away (extinguish) because people no longer respond to their attempts. Make sure you are showing your child that you value their initiations.
Today’s activity: Give attention when your child wiggles or makes a sound. Look and smile and, if there’s time, do a short back-and-forth social exchange.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Object permanence is the understanding that an object exists even when we can’t see it. Knowing this helps a child learn that a symbol (word) can represent an object that is not present.
At Level Two, your child is starting to understand they can find a partially hidden object is still the object. (If you cover it completely, they will lose interest because it’s gone.)
Today’s activity: When you and your child are interacting with a toy, partially cover it with a blanket or other object. Ask, “Where’d it go?!” then slowly pull it from under the cover. “There it is!” Let your child take a turn.
Using a word consistently in a situation helps a child attach meaning to that word. Your child’s name is one of the first words they learn to recognize.
Today’s activity: Use your child’s name to get their attention and to greet them. This helps your child learn to recognize their name and know that you are paying attention to them and you want them to pay attention to you.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Your child must hear speech clearly so they can learn to make the sounds of speech clearly. Many children get fluid in their middle ears (otitis media) that can stay for weeks or months.
Today’s activity: Stay aware of how consistently your child responds to sudden or unexpected sounds. Get your child’s hearing checked if you notice a change in their hearing.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Language is the whole system we use for expressing our ideas, including sentences, words, grammar, sounds, intonation, etc. Speech (spoken words) is one modality we express language. Other modalities include sign language and picture symbols.
Level Two develops skills that are the foundation for language development. Your child is able to locate where sounds come from by turning to look. They are starting to turn to your voice and when you say their name.
Today’s activity: Hold a toy to the side and behind your child, make a sound with it and wait for your child to turn and look. If they don’t turn, move it to just within their field of view and make the noise again.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at mail@interactioncoach.com and I’ll track down someone for you!
Your child rolls over by lifting their legs in the air and then moving them to the side so they roll onto their side.
After your child starts raising their legs on their own, you can help your child get the feel for the rolling motion when you are playing in your face-to-face interactions.
You’ll see in later Levels that movement is important for helping a child be an independent learner.
Today’s activity: When your child has raised their legs into the air, gently roll them to their side using a playful sound then roll them back to their original position.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, send me an email and I’ll track down someone for you!
Your child can learn the opposite of a sit-up exercise, raising their feet up to their chin.
Movement skills are important for exploring to learn more about things around them. If you notice a delay in this area, seek advice from a licensed professional. A physical therapist works with large muscle movements (like arms, legs, back) and an occupational therapist works with fine motor movements (like hands) and sensory issues.
Today’s activity: During your face-to-face interactions, raise their feet to their chin and say. “beep!”
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, send me an email and I’ll track down someone for you!
Movement is important so your child can explore their surroundings and learn more about their world—so they have more to talk about!
At Level Two, you child spends a lot of time exercising their muscles. They’re building strength in their core muscles.
Today’s activity: Put a small rolled blanket under your child’s hips to slightly raise them. (Keep your child’s weight on their back and shoulders, not their neck.) Place a toy on their tummy, fastened between the snaps on their shirt.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, send me an email and I’ll track down someone for you!
Use child-safe toys that entice your child to try to reach them. When items are just out of reach, your child gets good exercise.
Encouraging your child to explore independently builds their initiation skills. As they explore, they they learn about things they want to communicate about.
Today’s activity: Put a small rolled blanket or pillow under your child’s chest. Their chest will be elevated about an inch, with their arms outstretched to reach toys on the floor.
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You’ll see your child’s skills at picking up and holding things as you play back and forth with a ball. At first they will pick it up and wave it. By the end of this level they will be swatting the ball on the floor and will easily pick it up.
Today’s activity: Use a ball in back-and-forth play. Model things to do with the ball: rolling, dropping, bouncing, sharing.
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When your child wants to accept a new toy from you, they’ll drop an object that’s already in their hand.
The activity for today is an example of how you can start a habit at an early level that will come in handy as a familiar routine to use at a later level.
Today’s activity: Offer an item to your child while you hold your other hand out to catch the item they are going to drop. It’s like you're trading objects.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find more resources you can use to help your child develop speech, language and communication skills.
Joyce talks about a course for parents who want resources, coaching or therapy services that directly address their child’s communication needs. Find out more here.
Today’s activity: Hold one object in each hand and offer both to your child. Encourage your child to take one object.
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Alternating attention between two objects helps your child learn to scan their vision between two objects, which will help them when they want to make choices between objects.
The activity helps your child learn to recognize your signals for what you want them to pay attention to. Use gestures, movements, tone of voice, facial expression to demonstrate your attention.
Today’s activity: Hold one object in each hand in front of your child. Make a noice and/or wiggle one object. If your child does not look at the indicated object, move that one object closer to the child. After they see the object, move it back even with the other object. Make that second object interesting and encourage your child to look at that object. After your child has noticed both objects, offer them both within reach and allow your child to take one.
Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
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Attention to objects helps your child learn about their world. They can pay attention with their vision or hearing.
Today’s activity: Use a variety of child-safe objects that make sounds to attract your child’s attention.
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Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
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Attention to objects lays the foundation for learning concepts. As they explore their world, they learn about the characteristics of objects.
Your child’s attention becomes more focused during this level. They learn new connections between what they are doing and the results they observe.
Today’s activity: Hold a toy off to the side, out of your child’s line of sight. Make a sound with the toy. If your child doesn’t turn to look, move the object into their line of sight and make the sound again. Move the toy slowly so they start to see it and may turn their head as they catch sight of it.
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Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
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Your child is refining and expanding the ways they can respond to you. At the same time, you are becoming more aware of the body signals they are sending that let you know their interests and preferences.
Today's activity: Use your awareness of your child’s body cues to decide when and for how long you engage in your social play routines. Extend the length of time without getting to the point of overload,
Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Music is another way for your child to learn about sounds and voices.
Today’s activity: Move in time to music to help your child feel the rhythm. Sing to associate your voice and intonation with the feeling of the music. Use a lullaby as a calming routine.
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Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Vocal inflections are the expressiveness you put into your voice—such as surprise, excitement, scolding, soothing.
Using exaggerated vocal inflections helps your child notice the importance of these subtle cues. They start to associate these tones of voice with the feelings and experiences you are sharing during your interaction,
Today’s activity: Use exaggerated vocal inflections during your interactions to model the meaning expressed with your voice.
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Joyce confesses to a mistake she made when shaping her grandson’s responses during a play routine in Level Two.
Extinction is when a behavior disappears from use because it is not being reinforced.
Extinction is very useful when you are aware of consciously using it, For example, if you do not respond to a behavior you do not want your child using, the behavior will extinguish if you consistently do not respond to it, Consistency is the key,
Extinction can be a problem when a child needs a skill but it is not reinforced. Joyce uses the example of when older children stop using their word “no” to make a refusal because people do not acknowledge the message. In that situation, children find a more effective way to refuse.
Today’s activity: Add a play routine into a daily activity you share with your child.
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A social game is a shared activity where you enjoy spending time together by engaging in a familiar back-and-forth routine. Notice that this skill emerges as children are just learning to get another person’s attention and before they learn how to intentionally request things from people.
This episode describes the process of shaping. When you shape a behavior, you need to know where you’re headed but have the patience to accept small changes over time rather than expect a behavior to happen immediately.
Today’s activity: Be face-to-face with your child. Help child raise their arms over their head while you say, “Sooo big!” Put your hands down, then you take a turn modeling how you raise your arms and say, “Sooo big!” Alternate turns like this, but sometimes don’t take your child’s hands so they have an opportunity to move their arms on their own.
Read the Level Two summary in the blog.
Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Turn taking with sounds develops after your child has been doing some turn taking with movements.
Imitating sounds doesn’t just happen as soon as you start modeling sounds. We “shape” that response by being patient and providing lots of models, and giving strong, immediate reinforcement whenever the child imitates our sound.
At first you’ll just get wiggles, because that’s what your child knows. Then you’ll get an occasional sound. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THE SAME SOUND YOU JUST MADE. We reinforce the behavior of making any sound after I make a sound.
If your child makes a different sound, feel free to imitate that one now.
Today’s activity: Be face-to-face with your child. When your child makes a random sound, repeat that sound with enthusiasm. Wait. When the child responds with movement or sound, make the sound again. With lots of modeling, your child will start to respond with a sound more often.
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I can’t provide therapeutic advice specific to your child, but I’d love to answer questions about the concepts and methods discussed in the podcast. And tell me what you think—what else do you want to know?
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Find more resources to support your child’s development of speech, language and communication at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Turn taking is an important conversation skill that started at Level 1. Now your child is showing more ways they can respond to you when they take a turn in your back-and-forth social exchanges.
Reinforcement increases the occurrence of a behavior. When you give something positive to your child (smile, touch, toy, food) immediately after they use a behavior (sound, movement, attention), your child is more likely to use that behavior again.
Your child has also been using reinforcement on you! The Serve-and-Return interaction is hard-wired into our brains. When we return the gaze of an infant, a brain chemical is released that stimulates the pleasure center of our brain. Then when the baby starts using a smile, that is another powerful reinforcer to keep us taking another turn in our back-and-forth social exchange.
In today’s activity, we use a smile, vocal expression and attention-getting sound to do something that interests your child. An excited child often wiggles, and we can build this wiggle into a more intentional response by continuing to reinforce it.
Or, here’s a question. Is the baby reinforcing us and getting us to repeat what they want? Hmmmm.
That’s the secret to a good conversation! Both parties are engaged, taking turns and doing things to encourage the partner to continue!
Today’s activity: Be face to face with your child. Make a sound with your lips or voice, then wait. When your baby wiggles, make the sound again. Be animated and fun when you make the sound.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Find more resources to grow your child's speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
We build joint attention by using objects the child finds interesting. You need to know how your child shows this interest.
Start building joint attention by engaging with objects your child finds interesting. You are modeling what joint attention is like by showing interest in their interests.
You can model words that are used during joint attention like “look!” or “oooohhh.”
Today’s activity: Notice where your child is interested. Show that you are interested and engaged with the same object, using your voice, facial expression and gestures.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Joint attention is when you both are paying attention to the same object or activity.
At Level Two, your child is building skills that are needed for joint attention such as recognizing things at a distance and tracking moving objects with their eyes.
Today’s activity: Encourage your child to watch an interesting object then move it from near the child to farther away.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
This activity allows tummy time and encourages your child to want to move toward you.
Today’s activity: Put your child on tummy on a blanket on the floor or a bed. Be face-to-face at your child’s eye level. Slowly pull them toward you while you show excitement and anticipation.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
We all enjoy looking at ourselves in the mirror. Your child will enjoy watching and peeking in the mirror.
Today’s activity: Use a child-safe mirror. You can move the mirror up and down to play peek-a-boo or allow your child to explore on their own.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Your child will learn to recognize your face from a distance.
Children learn through action and touch. When you let your child explore your face, it becomes even more familiar.
Today’s activity: Allow your child to touch and explore your face while you move your mouth and make sounds.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
Send your comments and questions to mail@interactioncoach.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Mutual attention is paying attention to each other, noticing what the other person is doing and responding to the other person.
Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child has researched the early Serve-and-Return interaction that starts in infancy. Our job is to keep this interaction going.
We communicate for the purpose of interacting with other people. We need to always emphasize why we’re using our skills when we practice communication.
Today’s activity: Engage in back-and-forth exchanges to share enjoyment together. Don’t expect a specific response but you give a response to any action or sound from your child.
Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.
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Read blog post summarizing Level One.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Writing requires using fine motor skills (small movements of fingers). Your child starts to develop these skills at Level One by grasping objects.
This “palmar grasp” is a reflex children are born with, and it disappears around 6 – 12 months. As you encourage your child to use the grasp, their hand muscles will gain strength. When the reflex fades away, they will be ready to control opening and shutting their fingers in a grasp.
Today’s activity: Face to face, with your child on lying on their back, put your index fingers into their palmar grasp. Slowly raise your child to a sitting position while you are enthusiastic and making eye contact, then slowly lower your child back down.
Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Children need coordinated eye movements for reading. This starts to develop at Level One, when your child starts to wave toward objects they see.
With practice, your child’s arm movements will be directed more accurately toward the object of their interest.
Today’s activity: Entice your child to look at an interesting object by wiggling it or making a sound with it near their face. When the child swats at it, put it by their hand.
Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Speech is a complex task that requires coordinated muscle movements of your lips, tongue, throat, breathing and more. Difficulty with feeding can be an early indicator of later problems with forming speech sounds.
Your child should have a good seal around their lips when drinking.They need to be able to swallow without choking. Any problems need attention because this affects the amount of fluids and nutrition they are getting, and choking can be hazardous to health.
Feeding issues should always be addressed by a specialist with knowledge of anatomy and physiology and advanced training in treatment of feeding disorders.
Today’s activity: Consult a specialist if your child has feeding difficulties. A lactation specialist is a good first step. For less common difficulties, find a speech-language pathologist with advanced training in feeding.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
During Level One your child goes from using an undifferentiated cry (sounds the same in most situations) to a differentiated cry (sound different depending upon the situation).
This develops with repeated experience between the two of you. For example, when you know when your child will start to feel hungry, you can give a bottle before or right as they start fussing a little. Your child learns that these milder sounds can be useful, and saves the full-throated cry for when the milder sound doesn’t work.
Isn’t it amazing how much a child can learn from these simple interactions?!
Today’s activity: Observe as your child refines this signal and celebrate the learning that is taking place!
Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Now that you are noticing the sounds your child can make, you can use them during your social interactions. Enjoy a back-and-forth exchange with you modeling a familiar sound.
Remember this guideline: Your child will respond with whatever they are able to do right now. Avoid having an idea in your head of the “one right way” to respond to you. You have plenty of time to practice and guide your child to a more advanced level. Celebrate all the little steps along the way!
Today’s activity: Take turns with your child. Make one of your child’s sounds, then wait expectantly. Your child might smile, or coo or wiggle. Accept any kind of response and make another sound.
Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Skills and Activities.
Your child will start to make cooing and babbling sounds during Level One. Even babies who can’t hear coo and babble at this level. They don’t get feedback on these sounds, so eventually this sound making fades away.
Your task at Level One is to practice repeating the sounds your child makes. Don’t expect your child to increase or change their sounds as a result—that will happen at Level 2. At this level, we want you to get in the habit of noticing and imitating the sounds.
Today’s activity: Look at your child and repeat the cooing and babbling your child makes.
Find more resources to help develop your child's speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Consistently responding to sounds your child makes helps them learn that making sounds get results.
As you practice this over time, each of you gets better at communicating with these sounds. Your child learns that they can use different loudness and sounds, and you learn to recognize differences in meanings between the sounds.
Joyce gives you a tip for calming your baby, from Larre the Baby Whisperer.
Today’s activity: Respond consistently to your child’s sounds: look, touch, pick up, give food, bounce, rock.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Motherese is a term used for the way people talk to infants. People use a higher pitch, simplified words, sing-song phrases, and exaggerated intonation.
Motherese is a type of mediation. Talking this way emphasizes important characteristics of speech and makes them more noticeable to young children. It also catches young children’s attention more effectively than “regular” talking so they are more likely to pay attention to what we are saying.
Today’s activity: Use characteristics of motherese when talking with your young child.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
At all eight levels in this series, your child will learn words from interacting with people who are using words. Later, when your child is using sentences, they will be ready to learn from books or media.
Learning takes place best when your child is focused on the relevant information. That means they are able to see and interact with a person and they are able to clearly hear what that person is saying.
Television and music that plays in the background masks what people are saying. This background sound makes people’s speech harder to hear and it’s harder to tell the difference between speech sounds.
Today’s activity: When you do your practice activities, eliminate background sounds that compete with your words. Think about what times of the day background noise will and will not interfere with your child’s learning.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
We can tell the location or direction that a sound is coming from. This is called sound localization.
At Level One, your child laying the foundation for later localization skills. Today’s activity shows your child that sounds come from objects and the objects may be out of sight.
Today’s activity: Use a rattle or other noisy object. Hold it about 12 inches from your child’s ear and make its noise. Continue to make the sound while you slowly move the object into your child’s field of view. (Test the sound at your own ear first to make sure you’re not using something that is uncomfortably loud.)
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Your child should be reacting to sounds consistently. They startle when there’s a loud or surprising noise. They pause to listen or turn to look when they hear a voice.
Many children get fluid in their ears (otitis media) that lingers for too long. It makes sounds muffled and it’s hard for these children to tell the differences between sounds. They may tune out to listening because it’s hard work.
Prolonged otitis media can result in difficulty learning to make speech sounds accurately or difficulty with listening skills.
Today’s activity: Be observant of your child’s responses to sounds. If they are not responding consistently, get a hearing check.
Find more resources to address your child's communication needs at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Your child will learn people’s names after hearing them over a period of time. By the end of Level 2, your child may not look at someone when you say a name, but is learning to recognize important names. Use the name when the person is within sight and doing something interesting so your child can associate the name with the person.
Save pronouns (me, you) for later. They are tricky. Consult with your speech-language pathologist if your older child is having difficulty understanding them.
Today’s activity: Use names instead of pronouns when you narrate activities. When giving a toy or food, say the person's name as you give it to each one.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Model, model, model. This is a mantra that speech-language pathologists use no matter what language level or mode of communication your child is using.
Model means demonstrate. When we narrate (using single words at this level) we are pointing out the most important language detail we want the child to focus on, and demonstrating to them the next step in their speech and language development.
Focusing and demonstrating are important methods used in mediation.
Today’s activity: Use a word to label the important thing you want your child to focus on. Smile and show a sock when getting dressed and say, “Sock” before you put it on a foot. Hold up the bottle and say with enthusiasm, “Bottle” before you give it. Say with surprise, “Kitty!” when the cat walks by.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Communication is any way we exchange a message or idea to another person. We can communicate with language, body movements, facial expressions.
Language uses symbols to represent objects or ideas (including icon, spoken word, written word, gesture, sign). Language also includes all the rules we use for combining words into sentences.
Speech is the use of our mouth to say words and sentences. This is just one way we can express our language.
Before a child starts to say words, they need to perceive other people using them over a period of time. For example, they need to hear people speaking, see people using sign language or see and hear people using a speech generating device.
Activities at this level focus on helping the child learn to tell when a sound is present (perceive the sound) and recognize where a sound is coming from (localize the sound).
Today’s activity: Say your child’s name when you’re off to the side, then move into their line of sight. Give enough time so the child has the opportunity to turn toward the sound.
Find more information and parent resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Leg movements and tummy muscles are important for rolling over. This activity helps your child feel the experience of raising their legs together into the air.
Your child needs these movement skills to explore and learn from the environment.
Today’s activity: Slowly raise child’s legs, bending at the waist until toes touch their chin. Say, “Beep!” and then lower the legs. Wait for a signal from the child that they want to continue (smile, wiggle, kick), then do it again.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Your child will develop arm strength during tummy time, and start to push up off the floor.
If your child has motor skill weaknesses, consult with your physical therapist and ask about ways your exercise can incorporate more social interaction.
Today’s activity: Slowly roll your child from their back to tummy. For example, just before you start dressing or changing diaper, roll child slowly onto tummy then roll back again.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Tummy time continues to be important at this level to strengthen the muscles your child needs for raising their head and the later skills of rolling over and sitting.
Today’s activity: Give short, frequent opportunities to be on their tummy. Spend some time sharing the experience and interacting with your child while on your tummies.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
The ceiling is several feet away but it’s easy for your child to notice a light shining on the ceiling in a darkened room. A nightlight that projects on the ceiling or a flashlight works well for this activity.
Today’s activity: Lay your child on their back in a darkened room. Move a light slowly on the ceiling while you sing or talk to your child.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
When your child is a little older, they start to anticipate things that will happen in the future. Learning to anticipate outcomes starts at this level by learning to recognize an object that’s approaching and associating the object with a result.
Today’s activity: When you are bring a bottle or food to your child, call attention to it (“here it comes”) and move it slowly toward your child. Take enough time so the child can focus on it and track its movement.
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Watching an object as it slowly comes closer is naturally interesting to your child. Children tend to show extra interest in unfamiliar objects. Keep it interesting and interactive by adding your voice, a tickle or new object.
Today’s activity: While dressing, hold an item over your head and slowly bring it toward your child to tickle their face, chin or tummy.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Mobiles are fun for little ones to watch and good exercise for their eyes. Think of ways you can also spend some time interacting with your child while you both look at the mobile (joint attention!)
Today’s activity: Talk and reach toward a mobile while you and your child are lying side by side.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Eye tracking is when your child moves their eyes to follow the movement of something interesting. It’s important for play development because we don’t want your child to lose interest in something just because it moves out of sight.
Today’s activity: Hold an object about 10-12 inches from child’s face. Slowly move it back and forth, up and down, and in a slow circle.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Your child will begin to show interest by waving their arms (and legs). With practice, your child learns to direct their arm movement toward the object. Later this practice will help them learn to reach directly for an object.
Today’s activity: Dangle a sock or interesting object in front of child’s face to get their attention. Tickle their hand with it and dangle it again.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Developing a grasp is important for your child so they can learn to pick up objects for play.
Today’s activity: Stroke your child’s fist or open hand with your index finger to encourage them to grasp it. Talk and smile back and forth while you shake your child’s hand.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
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Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Motor skills are important for well-developed play skills, which are important for well-developed language and communication skills.
Today’s activity: place a rattle or noisy toy in child’s hand as part of your social interaction
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com
Now that we’ve discussed social interaction, try this: Explain what is social interaction and why is it so important to communication development?
Always focus on turn taking and keeping the activity pleasant. You are both sharing the activity.
Today’s activity: tickle or walk your fingers up child’s tummy
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Everyone has personal preferences for what they find engaging and pleasant. Be aware of your child’s reactions.
For activities your child enjoys, encourage them to engage for an increasing number of back-and-forth exchanges.
For activities your child finds unpleasant, don’t push it. Build up to those gradually by doing it on yourself (demonstrating). Later, you might do something similar but less intrusive with your child until they become comfortable at that level. Build gradually; don’t push.
Today’s activity: Wiggle your finger, “here it comes,” and beep their nose.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
A person’s affect is how they feel and how they show their feelings. Engagement means how involved a person is in an activity.
You are building your awareness of how your child expresses their feelings and building their engagement with you.
Today’s activity: Hold your small child under their arms so you are looking face to face. Use their leg movements to help you bounce them up and down while you use engaging facial expressions, sounds and words.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Infants draw us to them with their eye gaze so we can engage in Serve-and-Return interactions with them. Their smiles give us extra reinforcement that keep us coming back for more interactions.
You can build longer back-and-forth exchanges with your child by responding to what they do.
Today’s activity: When your child smiles, smile and/or talk then wait for your child to respond with another smile. Repeat.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
We pay attention someone else and their interests when we are comfortable with that person and enjoy spending time with them.
Joint attention requires your child to notice your face and or body language that indicates where your interest lies, then they follow your line of sight or action to see what you are noticing.
We want your child to use joint attention without prompting (without needing to be told “look”). That means you need to build your child’s interest in you as a source of pleasant feelings and interesting experiences.
Today’s activity: Observe how your child responds to various soothing experiences like feeding, rocking, hugging, swaddling, laying down, music, sucking, soft texture, carrying. Pair your voice with soothing activities.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Joint attention is when both interaction partners are paying attention to the same object or activity.
Before joint attention can be used, your child must be able to use their vision to notice and track objects at a distance (i.e., follow moving objects with their eyes).
Today’s activity: Be face-to-face with your child as you smile and talk. Slowly move to the side to encourage your child to follow you with their eyes.
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Children need many opportunities to develop their muscles while in a prone position (on their tummy). You can still spend face-to-face time with your child while having them lay on their tummy or side. (Plus you get to lay down for a few minutes!)
Social interaction is the foundation for all communication. When we are teaching speech and language skills, we need to keep the social reasons for communicating at the center of our activities.
Today’s activity: Look at each other, talk and smile while your child is on their tummy.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Send your questions to mail@interactioncoach.com
Mutual attention is when both interaction partners are paying attention to each other.
Mutual attention may be demonstrated in many ways. Eye contact is just one of those ways. Mutual attention is developed through engaging, pleasant shared activity; it is not forced.
Today’s activity: Exercising with your child.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.
Social interaction is the foundation for all communication. When we are teaching speech and language skills, we need to keep the social reasons for communicating at the center of our activities.
Harvard University’s Center for the Developing Child coined the term Serve and Return to name the back-and-forth interactions between infants and adults. This social interaction is responsible for building the connections between brain cells that develop memory and learning.
Read about Serve-and-Return and social interaction here.
Watch a video about Serve-and-Return.
Today’s activity: Be face-to-face with your child as you talk or make sounds.
Find more resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Welcome to The Interaction Coach podcast. Seasons 1–8 focus on how to build children’s communication skills from using no words to using two-word sentences.
Use this link to get the checklist for finding your child's current communication level.
In later seasons we’ll address later communication development and also what can be done to support children who have difficulty with their communication skills.
These podcast episodes are short so you can do a quick listen and then try out a new activity daily during your everyday interactions with your child. You can use the ideas with your child to help strengthen their communication skills and get them to the next level of development.
These parent-child activities are based on the concept of mediation — we identify what a child can do independently, then give them a little support to help them practice a skill that’s a little more advanced.
Parents are the ideal mediators because they spend the most time with their child. You can make your mediation even more effective when you can do two things:
- recognize all the little details that tell you where the child is performing right now
- know what would be the next, little-more-advanced level of performance
That’s the information you get with these podcast episodes. You'll identify your child’s current performance in detail and know what to expect next. This knowledge helps you make the most out of every learning opportunity your child has throughout the day.
Another huge benefit of being able to recognize all the small details in development is that it helps change your mindset. Instead of worrying about what your child is not doing, you can celebrate the changes that happen every day that will build up to the bigger skills we are looking forward to.
How to use the podcast
Listen to one episode per day. I’ll give you a little pearl of wisdom about the area we’re targeting, and then I’ll describe one activity you can do together with your child to build a skill.
Don’t just do the activity that day, though. Think of a time you can integrate the activity into your daily or weekly routine. Repeated practice is what builds learning and gets your child to the next level.
IMPORTANT— Each of the eight levels in this series is based on typical development that requires at least three months.
You can cycle through the episodes so you listen to each one several times. You might run across some activities that don’t make sense for your home. That’s okay. Just skip to the next one.
The important idea is to do some of these activities every day. Try them all out and then use the ones that work best for you and your child.
Where to start listening
I recommend you start at the beginning and work your way through in order. Your child may be well beyond Level 1, but you can learn some important background knowledge by listening from the beginning. You can “speed-listen” through multiple episodes until you reach your child’s current level.
Another option is to use this checklist to help identify your child’s current performance level. Check off items in the column titled Skills until you find gaps. Start doing daily podcast activities at this level.
Monitor your progress
Each time you start a new level, you will download a table called Activities to Build Skills. Each table lists all the skills and activities for that level, aligned with the podcast episodes.
Each table divides the skills into four communication domains: social interaction, play, language and literacy.
Some other big skills areas (like motor movement) are listed inside these big four domains. That’s because I want you to see how all of these areas interact and support communication development.
The column called Targets lists skills we expect to see by the end of the level. Keep that in mind. Your child won’t start doing the skill when you start using an activity. Gradually, though, you will see small changes in how they respond until they get to the target level.
The column called Activities lists the one-a-day prescription of activities that help build your child’s skills and get them to the target level.
Keep the table somewhere handy so you can refresh your memory on the activities you’ve selected to use. Keep it some place visible to help remind you to use the activities.
You may also use the blank space in or near the Target column as a mini-diary of progress. Add a date and short note to describe how your child is currently responding to an activity. Your notes will help you notice and remember all the signs of progress that happen along the way.
Keep it up!
They say it takes two months to establish a new habit. One of these suggestions may help you form a daily habit of listening to the podcast.
Set a reminder on your phone to cue you to listen at a certain time of the day.
Integrate listening into an existing routine: before you get out of bed in the morning, fixing your hair, traveling to work, break time.
Invite a family member or friend to listen to the podcast and talk about it with you.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find more parent information and resources.
In this episode Joyce tells a bit about her 40 years of experience working with and on behalf of children in her roles as a speech-language pathologist, elementary principal and director of special education.
Now nearing the end of her career, Joyce shares a personal experience that motivated her to find a way to get more information and support out to parents who need it when their child is not learning speech, language and communication skills as expected.
Learn about Joyce's vision of how The Interaction Coach can connect parents with speech-language professionals and build a library of resources you need for every stage of your child's communication development.
Welcome to The Interaction Coach podcast, part of a collection of resources for parents of a child with a speech, language or communication challenge.
The podcast is for parents like you who want to know what to expect in their child’s development, how they can help their child at home, and how to make informed decisions if they need to find speech and language therapy services.
You’ll get practical, easy-to-use ideas that will help your child boost their communication development—starting today.
Stop worrying and start celebrating all the changes you’ll learn to recognize that your child is making as you interact together.
You’ll also feel more confident and informed if you need to search for therapy services, so you can work as an equal part of the team if your child is receiving therapy.
I’m speech-language pathologist Joyce Olson. I’ve got over 40 years’ experience working with children from birth to age 22 and with adults with significant communication challenges.
My mission is to get information and support to as many parents as possible by removing roadblocks that so many parents experience. You’ll find the podcast helpful if
- You wonder or worry if your child’s speech & language development is on track
- You believe your child has a communication difficulty but don’t know where to turn for help
- You want to know what you can do at home to support your child’s communication development
- you want to learn about recommended, research-based therapy approaches that would best meet your child's specific needs
Season 1 starts with essential information every parent should understand about how communication skills develop and what you can do in your everyday activities that will help build those skills faster and stronger.
Future seasons will explain later language development and effective therapy approaches that address a variety of communication challenges. The field of speech and language is huge, so we’ll also have guests to explain their areas of specialization in diagnosing and treating communication disorders.
Learn about more parent resources at www.TheInteractionCoach.com
Welcome to The Interaction Coach. I’m looking forward to communicating with you!