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Choices

Offering choices significantly increases the number of words a child uses by encouraging imitation and conversation during play. Parents should create opportunities for children to ask for what they want through strategies like Communication Temptations, ensuring children can express their needs. It’s important to provide acceptable options and to guide children in making choices to foster language development.

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3 views3 pages

Choices

Offering choices significantly increases the number of words a child uses by encouraging imitation and conversation during play. Parents should create opportunities for children to ask for what they want through strategies like Communication Temptations, ensuring children can express their needs. It’s important to provide acceptable options and to guide children in making choices to foster language development.

Uploaded by

annaklosinska2481
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The best way to dramatically increase the number of words a child uses is by offering

choices. Although this is still usually an imitative task since you’re providing a model by
asking, “Do you want ____ or ____,” you’ll still significantly increase the number of
words a child says in a shorter amount of time.
Don’t just offer a choice to select each activity in sessions, but keep the choices going
throughout the play routine. For example, give a child a choice between playing Potato
Heads or a puzzle. Once he imitates the word to select his toy, continue asking for
every step of play by saying,
“Should we close or open the bag?”
Then ask,
“Who will unzip it, you or
me?”
Then as you take out the Potato Head, ask the child where to put it down saying,
“Where do we put it, up or down?”
“Here or there?”
Then offer the pieces one by one by asking,
“Do you want shoes or
hat?”
“What’s next – eyes or
nose?”
“Teeth or arm?
Continue with every single piece until Mr. Potato Head is assembled.
Once you’ve admired your finished product, give a child some initial practice with any of
the receptive language concepts you’re targeting with Mr. Potato Head. If you’re
working on understanding action words, let the child use Mr. Potato Head to
demonstrate action words after you’ve given him the choice offering,
“Should he walk or
run?”
“Fall or
jump?”

“Will he laugh or cry?”


If a child doesn’t participate, keep him interested by being silly as you hold Mr. Potato
Head and exaggerate each action.
Your goal here is to offer choices in a fast-paced way to keep him imitating and talking.
It’s not unusual for me to elicit 25 or more different words within a single play activity
using this technique. When you facilitate constant conversation like this, you’re building
a habit of using words consistently and frequently. Again, this usually has to happen
with imitation before it’s spontaneous.
The main reason choices are so powerful is that it gives a two-year-old the illusion of
control within a session. You’re honoring what he says. If he chooses an activity, he
gets to do it. The kicker is you can’t offer anything that’s not an acceptable option.
Remind parents of this important strategy. Sometimes during a session when a child is
having an off-day or is misbehaving a mom might ask him, “Do you want to play with
Laura, or do you want her to go home?” I interrupt her only to say, “If he says Go home,
then I’m out of here!” Teach parents that they should never give a choice when they
can’t live with the outcome.
Another pointer for parents is to teach them to offer the choice they really want the child
to pick as the last option. A child at this developmental phase often just echoes the last
thing he hears. Later you’ll probably want to help him learn to listen carefully to both
choices and say the one he really wants. Children with echolalia will struggle with this
for a while, and for them, you’ll need to use a non-preferred option as the last choice so
that they purposefully choose rather than imitate rotely. However, at this phase of
development, an adult can use word placement to steer a toddler. A really smart toddler
may catch on and trip up an unsuspecting adult despite our efforts. I just love it when
that happens! The child has finally learned that words have power!
Another powerful way to increase the words a child uses is by creating opportunities for
a child to ask for what he wants. This is referred to as Communication Temptations or
Environmental Sabotage. Set up situations so that a child is more likely to ask for the
object or event he wants. Some parents think of this as “playing dumb.” Begin a familiar
activity, but don’t give the child everything he needs to complete the task. For example,

 Put him in the bathtub, but don’t run the water until he asks.
 Put on only one sock and shoe leaving the other foot bare so that a child is
prompted to ask for the other sock and shoe.
 Eat his favorite food in front of him or give his siblings a snack, and wait for him
to ask for a bite.
 Give him an empty cup with nothing to drink to prompt his request.
 Play with his favorite toy, and don’t share until he asks, or store that toy out of
reach so that he’ll have to ask to get it down to play.
 Place his toys or favorite foods in clear containers so that he will have to ask for
help to open the container.
 Introduce a wind-up toy since a child won’t be able to activate it alone.

Carefully consider the existing words in a child’s vocabulary before you orchestrate
these tasks. The chief requirement is that a child must already be able to say the word
you’re trying to elicit. If he’s never before said “juice,” he’s probably not going to be able
to pop out “juice” for the very first time during this type of situation. A brand new talker
will need to imitate the word for a while before he’s able to use the word spontaneously
to request an item or event. Use withholding to encourage imitation on request. Once he
consistently uses a word during withholding, move the word to this kind of activity to
increase spontaneous use. If the child also exhibits a receptive language delay, be sure
you’re helping him understand the new word first, before you expect him to say it.

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