Supporting Children's Language

and Preventing Challenging Behaviors at Home

Erin E. Barton, PhD, BCBA-D

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Justin Lane, PhD, BCBA-D

How does a child share wants & interests?

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• Eye Gaze
• Vocalization
• Guide Another Person
• Speech
• Body Orientation
• Gesture
• Signs
• Facial Expression
• Low-Tech or High-Tech Output
• Challenging Behavior
• Multiple Modality

Creating a Language Rich Environment

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Plan Opportunities for Communication

Modeling?
Young children learning to communicate may require adult support to learn how to use words or phrases during typical activities.

1. Be responsive to the child's communication and interests:

2. Establish Routines

3. Be responsive to the child's communication and interests:

   • Consider establishing routines when communicating with the child.

4. Once the child communicates a desire or needs, acknowledge it and use an environmental arrangement to support the child.

IMMEDIATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNICATION

Children learn new words and phrases by hearing (verbalization) or seeing (e.g., manual signs) another person model how to communicate and then imitating that model.

• Open-ended questions (non "yes" or "no" questions) or statements requiring information from the child are crucial.

STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING COMMUNICATION

1. Manage materials (e.g., withhold access to preferred items; be self as a gatekeeper) and ask an open-ended question.
2. Wait for the child to respond (e.g., pause for 5 seconds).
3. If the child does not use the target word or phrase, show the child how to use the target word or phrase (e.g., model car on track).
4. Reinforce communication by providing items/actions based on responses.

Additional Strategies

• Provide frequent positive attention.
• Use time delays to teach.
  • One of the goals in teaching communication is for a child to initiate and share interests during play.
  • Children may require support to learn how to respond to others during play.

For more information and resources, visit Barton Lab.

Conclusion

Providing opportunities for children to express and develop their language skills is essential in preventing challenging behaviors at home.