Tempt Your Child to Talk

      Today I want to talk about some ways to help your child begin to talk.  

      For a child to become an active participant in communication, there must be a need, an opportunity, and a reward for their efforts.  Creating a reason to communicate is one of the most important things we can do to help children develop communication skills. In other words, we DO NOT have to anticipate their needs! I know, it sounds harsh, but think about it… By not anticipating, we give a child an opportunity to show and tell us what he or she wants or needs. When a desire is fulfilled, this is rewarding for a child, and there is a great chance that he or she will try the communication method again.

        Creating Communicative Temptations (this term was formalized by Wetherby & Prizant in 1989) is one way to create a need for communication. This is exactly what it sounds like: setting up the environment in such a way as to tempt a child to communicate with us.

     Here are some ways to tempt your child to request:

• Give your child a toy that requires your help to operate and wait.
• Give your child a coloring book, but nothing to color with. Hold a crayon out of reach and wait.
•  “Forget” to give your child a spoon for her yogurt and wait
•  Put him in the swing and wait.
•  Give a favorite book to her, and wait.

     Here is an example:

• Give your child a hard to open container of bubbles or a tub of playdough. DO NOT OPEN IT.  WAIT…  
• Waiting is an important part of this process. We want to give a child a chance to communicate first, to initiate the communication.
• When he communicates (through a gesture, a grunt, a point, a sound, a word)

          - provide a MODEL of what you want him to say: “Open” or “Open bubbles” or   “Mommy open bubbles” or “More bubbles please”.  Say it as a statement, not with a rising intonation of a question
         - Give him what he wants
         -and cheer him on!

• Next time wait just a little bit after you provide a model and see if your child will repeat. Don’t wait too long (we want to give him opportunity to communicate, not become upset and distressed).

 
Here is another one:

• Have a favorite snack visible, but in out of reach place (put it in a clear hard to open box or on top of the refrigerator).
• When your child indicates that she wants a cookie (maybe she points or reaches),

         -Provide a model (“Cookie”, “Want cookie”, “I want cookie”),
         -Wait for her response just a bit before giving her the treat.
         -Cheer her on!
 
A model you are going to provide for your child depends on his or her level.

• if your child is not saying words yet, model one word (“open”),
• if he uses single words, model two words (“open bubbles”),
• if she is combining 2 words together, provide 3 words phrase (“green play dough”)

 
Do not get discouraged if he or she does not repeat on your first attempt to implement communicative temptations. Be persistent and it will work.
 
Here are a few more ideas
(from http://childdevelopmentprograms.ca/elearning-modules/the-power-of-play/story_content/external_files/Communication%20Temptation%20Ideas.pdf):

• Hold a ball as if to throw or roll it, and wait.
• Pour only a little water in your child’s cup let him drink it all and wait.
• Give your child a little bit of food at a time let her eat it all and wait.
• Put the food in large family style serving bowls on the table, give your child an empty plate and wait.  
• Give your child food in a package he cannot open on his own, and wait.
• If your child likes toys in his bath, let her get into the water with no toys, and wait.
• Play with a puzzle. After your child has put in 2 or 3 pieces, offer your child a piece that does not fit and wait
• Initiate a familiar and an unfamiliar social game with your child (like "peek-a-boo") until she expresses pleasure, then stop the game and wait.
• Engage your child in an activity with a something that can be easily spilled (or dropped, broken, torn, etc.). Suddenly spill some of the substance on the table or floor in front of your child and wait.

Remember, you are not being mean! You are creating the environment for your child to become an excellent communicator!