Routines That Encourage Reciprocal Communication Part 1

Routines provide a consistent schedule for your child, helping them to know what to expect and remember what to do. They also keep you, the parent, organized. The question is how routines can be used as a therapeutic strategy to encourage active engagement and communication.

Think about how children often engage in activities in a more passive way, simply watching or being entertained. With carefully planned routines, you can shift your child into an active participant in the activity, which significantly increases their opportunity for learning.

These routines are smaller, repetitive, and predictable activities that you can incorporate into your day. These are not the mundane “gotta-get-it-done” routines, but rather fun and interactive activities you can use to engage your child.

These routines help children learn a script for when and how to interact. Once they learn the routine, they know exactly what they need to do, which makes them more relaxed and able to participate and communicate.

Here are some examples of the types of routines you can implement:

• Song-Gesture Routines:
  • Use songs with repetitive words and gestures.
  • Sit face-to-face with your child.
  • Sing a familiar song with gestures, or add gestures like clapping or knee patting.
  • Use exaggerated facial expressions while singing and gently guide your child’s hands with the gestures if needed.
  • Pause at key points to allow your child to take a turn (eye contact, smile, fill in the word, or perform the gesture).
  • Start with just a few songs and stick with one gesture until your child has learned it. Then, add more as they progress.
  • Examples include: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “Wheels on the Bus”, “Row-Row-Row Your Boat”, “Ring Around the Rosie,” and “Itsy-Bitsy Spider”.
• Action Routines:
  • These are playful routines where two or more people are engaged in the same predictable activity.
  • Start the same way each time, plan your child’s turn, adjust the routines so your child can take a turn, repeat the same actions, sounds, and words each time, and keep the end the same.
  • Examples include: tickle games, peek-a-boo, chase, airplane rides, and other horse-play.
  • Adjust the routine to create opportunities for your child to interact, not just be a passive participant. For example, during airplane rides, instead of just flying them around, fly them briefly, put them down, and pause with hands out for them to ask “up”.