Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/

Communication Development

Activity: Bath Time

Bath time or shower time is a necessary, frequent occurring activity. As such, it presents numerous
opportunities for learning with little pre-planning.

Of course, put the emphasis upon getting clean, smelling nice, feeling relaxed, and completing a routine that
leads to bedtime. However, bath time can also be a natural time for language/communication learning.

If the play stimulates your child, he may be more communicative (especially if he is a low arousal child). If your
child gets too over-stimulated and active, then you may wish to move the bath to an earlier time in the daily
routine and put something that is more relaxing into the pre-bedtime time slot. It all depends on what
communication skills your child currently has and what needs to be fostered.

Vocabulary
The following words are naturals within this activity time. Rather than focus on all of the vocabulary, choose a
few words and use them often within the given activity. Show multiple examples of the vocabulary or concept,
when possible. Whenever your child seems to have made the association of the label with an action or object,
move on to target new words. Be sure to review old words periodically. If your child does not seem to
understand the words you selected after a few weeks, choose some others that may better match his/her
interest or focus during bath time.

Possibilities include:
◻ Tub, bathtub or shower (place)
◻ Bath or shower (action/activity)
◻ Water
◻ Faucet/tap
◻ Hot/cold/OK (temperature of water, room, child)
◻ Body parts- face, arms, hands, chest, tummy, feet, back, ears, hair, and so forth
◻ Names of toys available for play
◻ Towel
◻ Soap
◻ Shampoo
◻ Rug/mat
◻ Wash, splash, pour, sink, float, and other actions with toys or child
◻ Clean/dirty
◻ Wet/dry
◻ Bubbles (appearance), bubble bath, bubbles (solution)
◻ In/out (child or water in tub)
◻ Empty/all gone (water); drain
◻ Take off clothes (names them, name colors, characteristics of shirt- logo, favorite, etc.)
◻ Dry various body parts (review the name as you dry them)
◻ Put on pyjamas and other items of clothing (name them as you put them on)
◻ Hamper or basket

Use any of the vocabulary as single words or in short sentences with emphasis on the key word. Do not
overwhelm your child with words or he/she will tune out your sincere teaching attempts.
Expressive Skills​ ​(May be verbal, gestural, sign, or pictures)
Quoted directly from: Vicker, B. (2007). Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/Communication
Development. ​The Reporter 12​(3), 11-14.
 Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/
Communication Development

Expressive communication use stems from opportunities to give a message such as:

◻ Agreeing that the clothes are dirty or smelly while taking them off.
◻ Expressing a preference for one vs. another coloured towel for the bath or shower.
◻ Expressing a choice of which body part Mom or Dad should wash next (out of a choice of two).
◻ Playfully correcting Mom or Dad who washes the wrong body part after a choice had been made.
◻ Selecting an action for a toy from a choice and announcing it as one does it – pour, sink, splash.
◻ Show something to parent who has not been part of the bath time activity.
o For example, Mom models how to call “Dad” so the child can show what he did with arranging play
shapes on the tile or painted pictures from a paint- with-water book.
◻ Predict what will happen if toy boat is pushed down and let go- will float.
◻ Tell Mom or Dad to blow more bubbles to pop in the tub area.
◻ Tell Mom or Dad what favourite toy is missing from the bath toy net in the tub area. (Mom or Dad can
deliberately but secretly remove something before bath-time to promote a need to communicate.)
◻ Violate a routine way your child plays with a toy and give him an opportunity to mildly protest.
◻ Introduce the idea of taking turns with play with a toy or pouring water. Ask whose turn it is.

Initiation
Allow time (at least 10-15 seconds) for the child to initiate before providing a model or cue. Use a gestural cue
rather than a verbal cue when possible. For example, when asking about what to wash, a follow up cue, after a
pause might be a point to the body parts in question and an exaggerated shoulder shrug/arm gesture for “I
don’t know.”

Interaction
Depending on the challenges of a specific child, other novel routines can be introduced into the bath routine:

◻ Introduce short songs or finger-plays.

◻ Have competition over who can make the biggest splash (with adequate towels on the floor outside the
tub) or blow the biggest bubble.
◻ Float empty plastic Easter eggs in the tub and take turns requesting by color or pointing; Mom or Dad and
child take turns putting eggs into a bucket; parent comments on colour.
◻ Race plastic fish in the tub by pushing them with one’s hand or with a spoon.
◻ Blow bubbles, as mentioned earlier. The child can request more bubbles or request a turn. Say “pop” as
each bubble is burst.
◻ Take turns retrieving “treasure” from the bathtub and sort the loot. Put red, white, and blue poker chips
into the tub. Take turns selecting a chip and putting it into a 6 unit muffin/cupcake pan. Guide the sorting
treasure by making the task a matching task. Ahead of time, tape one chip into each of the 6 cupcake slots.
Scoop up the chip for sorting with a miniature strainer or with one’s hand.
◻ Have a basketball hoop attached to the tile and take turns making baskets with a soft ball.
◻ Take turns squeezing out a sponge. Have a small plastic dish with a little water and a sponge. Put the
sponge in and allow it to absorb all of the water. (It looks like the water is all gone, but with one or two
squeezes, the water is back.)

Quoted directly from: Vicker, B. (2007). Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/Communication
Development. ​The Reporter 12(​ 3), 11-14.
 Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/
Communication Development

Activity: Laundry Time

Whether you are encouraging your child to do social activities with you or whether you are teaching your
student a daily living skill, doing laundry can be a time for language and communication growth.

Receptive Vocabulary
The words modeled within the activity depend on the present vocabulary of the child and novelty of the task of
doing laundry. Consider focusing on a few words until your child appears to understand them. Present the
words in a teaching or information-sharing manner. Avoid asking questions since this strategy does not teach.
Say, “There’s a spot. Let’s spray the spot. Looks like spaghetti- a spot of spaghetti. We’ll clean the spot.” Do not
ask, “What is that?” unless you are sure the child has the target word in his or her spontaneous expressive
vocabulary.

Possible words to target include:

◻ Washer
◻ Clothes and characteristics- zipper, buttons, pockets, belt, Names of specific clothes
◻ Colors of clothing- stay with the basics
◻ Selective patterns of clothing- stripes, dots, specific logos Ownership of each piece of clothing
◻ Dirty vs. clean vs. torn or needs to be fixed Spots- spray it, rub it
◻ Soap
◻ Water- hot, cold
◻ Dark vs. non-dark clothing-sort into piles
◻ Name of brand of detergent- logo
◻ Action words- sort, throw in, take out, close/open lid, spray, rub Set dial/timer
◻ Smell of clothes/detergent- yucky, nice
◻ Hamper/clothes basket- full/empty
◻ Buzzer- all done

Expressive Vocabulary/Expressive Skills

See the list of receptive vocabulary for expressive vocabulary possibilities. What is selected depends on the
expressive system used and the amount of vocabulary the child presently has. With expressive vocabulary
opportunities, the child is given time to comment, remind, provide information, and request.

For example, Mom could start the sorting activity by saying “Daddy’s” as she puts his pyjamas into a pile. After
a few models, she might prompt the child by saying, “Whose is this? This belongs to _____?” She can pause for
about 5-10 seconds and then answer the question herself as she models the response, “Yup, this is daddy’s.”

Another option for a non-talker would be to have a display of family member photos. The child could point to
the appropriate family member photo when given various pieces of clothing.

Other types of supports might be needed to assist the child to encourage expressive messages. For example, if
Mom taped a picture of the dryer on the front of the appliance, the child could bring the picture to her when
the dryer buzzer sounded.

Quoted directly from: Vicker, B. (2007). Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/Communication
Development. ​The Reporter 12​(3), 11-14.
 Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/
Communication Development

As an example of literacy woven into the laundry routine, Mom could look at clothing instruction labels after
the washing is complete. She could say “Yes, into the dryer” vs. “Nope, no dryer.” Once the child knows the
routine for the latter, he/she could be prompted to say a portion of, or sing something like “Rack, rack, rack;
we need the rack.” (i.e., For items that can not go into the dryer). The child could also just point to show where
that wet piece of clothing must be taken.

Outcomes
Potential outcomes within the laundry activity include:

◻ Both the child and parent can enjoy a positive time together during what can otherwise be a
non-favoured-chore. Child can learn many new words and concepts.
◻ Child can become familiar with a routine; once familiar, he/she can cue Mom or whomever, if she misses a
step or can remind of what comes next. Child could also eventually follow pictured sequence to promote
independence.
◻ Child expands understanding of the world by noticing characteristics of clothes and ownership.
◻ Child can have a sense of pride about being a helper.
◻ Child can hear and practice syntax and word pronunciation, if that is a goal, in a naturalistic situation.
◻ Child can generalize concepts and vocabulary labels to real world items.
◻ Child can learn to read words that always occur within a particular context, for example, the word Tide on
the familiar orange detergent container. (Environmentally based words are usually the first words a child
learns to read).
◻ The young child will particularly like the concept of putting something into a container, i.e., dirty clothes
into the washer or wet clothes into the dryer.

Many other natural language/communication opportunities are lurking in the home and in the community. The
trick is to outline the possibilities and to make a good match with what is known about your child. Sometimes
one can do these outlines in one’s mind, as an activity occurs, and other times, it is helpful to see the
possibilities on paper.

Quoted directly from: Vicker, B. (2007). Using Activities of Daily Living to Foster Language/Communication
Development. ​The Reporter 12​(3), 11-14.