Page 52 - Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook
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Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook
Teaching how to make requests 3.4
Reques ng is a natural experience that happens all day long. Kids are heavily
dependent on adults which makes it even more frustra ng when a child is struggling to
communicate their wants and needs. Here are a couple ps for children who are struggling in
this area and ways to find opportuni es to support request making throughout the day.
Tips for Highly Unintelligible Children
1. Use visual cues for frequently requested items. Children will have an easier me making
a request if they can see pictures of the objects or loca ons. Teachers can keep pictures in
their classroom of all of the loca ons in school such as the playground or centers. Parents
can have pictures on their phone or tablet that a child can scroll through to choose from.
2. Give the child a choice of two objects if you do not understand her. Some mes a child
will point in the direc on of an en re wall of toys and get frustrated when we don’t know
what they want. Show the child two objects and have them make a choice between this
reduced number.
3. Acknowledge the communica on a empt. Children grow increasingly frustrated if they
don’t get what they want and know that they are not understood. Begin by saying: “I see
you are telling me you want something, is that correct? What is it?”
4. Separate the communica on a empt from saying “No.” We can’t give children
everything they want. However, children who struggle making requests feel like they
never get what they want. We need to acknowledge that we understood them, tell them
why they can’t have it, and/or when they will be able to have it.
The Best Opportuni es for Making Requests
1. Moving between loca ons: “Do you want to go to the park, pool, library…?”
2. Choosing between ac vi es: “Do you want to read a book or write?”
3. Choosing within ac vi es: “It’s art me, do you want to paint, draw, color?”
4. Giving them two choices when you want both outcomes: Do you want to clean up
or do homework first?”
5. Choosing between foods: “Do you want to eat X or Y today?”
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