Creating Opportunities

A student cannot practice communicating if nothing in the day calls for it. Creating opportunities means setting up situations that naturally invite a message, so that spontaneous communication has somewhere to happen. The classic version is communication temptations, described by Wetherby and Prizant in 1989, and it takes some patience and a little creativity.

A few that work:

• Out of reach. Put a favorite toy on a shelf the student can see but not reach.
• Interrupted routines. Start a familiar story and stop just before the good part.
• Something unexpected. Wear sunglasses indoors or a hat upside down, and wait for the comment.
• Missing pieces. Serve the snack with no spoon, or hand over a fork for cereal.
• Hidden objects. Tuck a toy under a blanket with one corner showing.

Each one creates a reason to request, comment, protest, or ask, and each one pairs naturally with the other practices: the device is within reach, you model the words, and you wait. Opportunities like these can run across settings and partners all day, and a student who gets them regularly becomes a more confident and more independent communicator.