You can structure your daily routines to elicit responses from your child and in the process, build vocabulary and learn the basic rules of interaction, specifically:
- Respond when another person initiates
- Take a turn at the appropriate time
- Give the other person a chance to take a turn
Choose an activity that stays the same from day-to-day, for example washing hands before snack or getting in the car seat. Build in a time for your child to take a turn and some kind of signal so she knows it’s her turn. You’ll be pleased to see her respond with less prompting and even start to anticipate her turn.
- Make it fun
- Use simple songs to establish a pattern
- Start and end the routine the same way
- Repeat, repeat, repeat.
