Begin with an activity  that can be “sabotaged”--blowing bubbles, winding a toy radio, or having a snack--any activity that might require a young child to ask for help.  

Examples:

• Screwing the lid on a bottle of bubbles too tightly.

• Using a toy ‘wind-up’ radio that is naturally difficult for young hands to wind, requiring a child to ask for assistance.

• Putting a piece of a favorite food in a clear plastic jar and screwing the lid on tightly.  

Because a young child cannot easily open tight lids or wind toys, they have to ask someone for help in some way.  They must therefore communicate intentionally.

Here’s how a training session might proceed:

Scenario: The child is frustrated because he cannot open the bubble bottle.

Aided by an “assistant ", the child will push the bottle toward the “communication partner” (CP) to communicate the desire to have bubbles blown.  As soon as the child moves the bubbles toward the CP, the CP will immediately reward the child by opening the bottle and blowing the bubbles.

The goal of the training sessions is to gradually decrease the amount of guidance provided by the assistant until the child is able to initiate and complete the object exchange by him/herself.  For example, as described above, the assistant begins by guiding the child's hand and bottle of bubbles to the CP.  Eventually, the assistant will guide the child's hand and bottle of bubbles only halfway to the CP, allowing the child to complete the action on his/her own.  Then, the assistant might only use a tap on the elbow to provide the child with a cue to complete the action of pushing/handing the object to the CP.  Eventually, the assistant will provide no physical assistance and will no longer be part of the process. 

Repeat this routine with several different activities until the child understands that by handing the communication partner an object, the child is communicating that he/she needs help.

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