Stop Asking “What Do You Want?” to Your Child

You already know the answer most of the time

It’s annoying to the child

It’s not helping the kid

[bettyhaile]

My kid tries to get it, stands near the object and points. I describe the description of the object before handing it to her. I try to force her to repeat the description and sometimes I get a word or two and that is it 😅

[Thegoddessesignature]

I don't recommend teaching gestures, in my experience, it reinforces that they don't need to speak or verbalize what they require. We can not escape frustration in therapy, it's unrealistic. A bit of frustration helps them to use expressive language. They will pair the elimination of frustration by saying what they want!

I've had a nonverbal child who had one and two words and for a year who has made remarkable progress in speech without the use of gestures.

It's ok for a child to be mildly uncomfortable to achieve the goal. Frustration is a part of life!

[ice]

Is it such a true statement and I’ve seen a lot of this happen, and now I understand how to do it better

[rajeshoberoi]

Hi the problem is when we ask him what do you want he repeats what do you want…then if i say give xyz he says give xyz..how can we overcome this

[ranjanid]

What if the kid is able to point to what they want? Isn’t that considered a gesture?