Helping Children Express Their Wants and Needs
by M. M. Ostrosky, M. L. Hemmeter, J. Murry, and G. Cheatham

Facilitating Communication to Prevent Challenging Behavior

Teachers and other caregivers can use several strategies to facilitate a child’s communication skills and help prevent challenging behavior. These strategies include (1) reading the child’s body language, (2) providing the child with choices, (3) providing picture schedules to help the child move easily between activities, (4) segmenting multiple-step directions and providing cues so the child better understands the expectations, and (5) modeling communication skills. When using these strategies, it is suggested that teachers and other caregivers consult with families to determine what is culturally appropriate for the child and the family. It is also essential to identify strategies that parents can naturally use to support the child’s communication skills and decrease challenging behaviors at home and in the community.

• Reading a child’s body language is essential, especially when the child has limited ways to communicate. Children who have a limited vocabulary might use gestures (e.g., pointing to an object) or eye gaze to let others know what they need or want. When there is a consistent and immediate response to nonverbal behaviors by caregivers or peers, a child is less likely to become frustrated and engage in challenging behavior. For example, Dante has limited verbal skills but often communicates by looking at what he wants and then looking at an adult. When his parents or teachers are busy and do not respond to his attempts to communicate, Dante begins whining.
• Providing a child with choices gives the child the opportunity to communicate what he wants rather than using inappropriate behavior to communicate. When teaching children to make choices, the adult provides the child with different objects, activities, or photographs from which the child can choose. The adult should select items that are motivating or reinforcing to the child and that are accept-able to the adult (e.g., if one choice is to go outside and play baseball, the adult has to agree to play should the child select this option). The number of items to offer depends on the individual child. Typically offering only two choices is an ideal starting point. Too many options can increase a child’s frustration.
• Using picture schedules can also benefit many children with challenging behaviors. Children often use challenging behaviors when they do not understand what is going on in the environment. Presenting the child with a picture schedule prior to a change in activity increases the likelihood that the child will understand what to do and will engage in appropriate behaviors during the transition from one activity to the next. This strategy takes time and consistency until the child understands the purpose of the picture schedule (receptive communication). The entire class can be included in this strategy to facilitate transitions. For instance, Jeffrey has a difficult time following the schedule of the classroom. His teacher, Mr. Jung, makes a picture schedule for Jeffrey. Mr. Jung takes pictures of things in the room that represent every activity throughout the day and posts the pictures in a line on the wall. Prior to each transition, an adult takes Jeffrey to the pictures, shows him which activity is finished, prompts him to turn the picture of that activity over, and then points to the next activity. Sometimes Jeffrey will go over and look at the pictures on his own.
• Segmenting multiple-step directions and providing cues can help children understand the direction and thus increase the likelihood that they will follow the direction. When children do not follow directions, it may be because they do not understand the direction. Segmenting involves breaking a task down into smaller, more easily understood, parts. For example, rather than telling Jacob “Go wash your hands,” Jacob’s mother could walk him through the steps associated with the more general direction: “Let’s get our hands wet. Now let’s put soap on our hands” and so on. Cues are behaviors provided by caregivers or peers to help a child understand what is expected in a particular context. Cues can be verbal (e.g., “Turn on the water first”), pictorial (e.g., showing a picture of a child turning on the water), or nonverbal (e.g., demonstrating how to wash hands, pointing to the faucet when telling the child to turn on the water).
• Providing language models and labeling (e.g., single-word vocabulary and multiple-word combinations) is another strategy to increase children’s communication skills and decrease the likelihood of challenging behavior. By modeling simple phrases and supporting children’s use of more complex phrases, children can learn new communication skills, which can be applied in different contexts. For example, labeling tasks, activities, and objects, and incorporating the labels into classroom activities, increase the likelihood that children will understand and be able to talk about things in their environment. Repetition across different contexts can increase the likelihood that children will use vocabulary appropriately (e.g., “Want more juice,” “More book,” “Need more music”).