When my son started saying “yes” & “no” I was so excited! This was going to open up more communication possibilities by expanding his abilities to share his wants & needs. But I soon found that getting a straight answer out of him wasn’t as easy as I first thought it would be. I soon realized he was answering ALL question types with yes or no. Enter the “yes/no trap”
The yes/no trap is a phrase I like to use when early communicators who show emerging comprehension and use of yes/no start OVERUSING their newly acquired skill! Has this ever happened to you? “what do you want to eat?” “Yes!”
First off, this is okay. They aren’t just learning an isolated new skill but they are also learning when and where to use it. In the example of “what do you want to eat?”- if they missed only ONE word (what) it completely changes the expected question response! “What do you want to eat?” becomes “do you want to eat?”
Here are 3 tricks to try:
1. Ask the question + quickly insert a sentence starter- “what do you want to eat? I want ___”: This allows for a prompt (hint) & model (example) of a requesting phrase BEFORE they jump right into a yes/no.
2. Offer choices with emphasis: “do you want to eat BANANA or MUFFIN?” By doing this you are emphasizing the item choice vs. the rising inflection of your voice (indicating what you said was a question). We are focusing on content vs. intonation to improve comprehension. PROTIP- hold the items in each hand and put them by your face when you label the word (It helps with imitation skills!)
3. Swap your question for a statement: This completely bypasses the question format and goes right into a model of a requesting statement. Instead of “what do you want to eat” try “I want banana.” Again- emphasize the target that you want them to say- BANANA. *This tip is also important because it aligns with our ultimate goal of creating INITIATORS of communication! At the end of the day, we don’t want them to only rely on US asking a question to get their needs met.
How does your child indicate yes/no? Mine nods his head for yes and verbally says “no” (I think it’s his favorite word
The yes/no trap is a phrase I like to use when early communicators who show emerging comprehension and use of yes/no start OVERUSING their newly acquired skill! Has this ever happened to you? “what do you want to eat?” “Yes!”
First off, this is okay. They aren’t just learning an isolated new skill but they are also learning when and where to use it. In the example of “what do you want to eat?”- if they missed only ONE word (what) it completely changes the expected question response! “What do you want to eat?” becomes “do you want to eat?”
Here are 3 tricks to try:
1. Ask the question + quickly insert a sentence starter- “what do you want to eat? I want ___”: This allows for a prompt (hint) & model (example) of a requesting phrase BEFORE they jump right into a yes/no.
2. Offer choices with emphasis: “do you want to eat BANANA or MUFFIN?” By doing this you are emphasizing the item choice vs. the rising inflection of your voice (indicating what you said was a question). We are focusing on content vs. intonation to improve comprehension. PROTIP- hold the items in each hand and put them by your face when you label the word (It helps with imitation skills!)
3. Swap your question for a statement: This completely bypasses the question format and goes right into a model of a requesting statement. Instead of “what do you want to eat” try “I want banana.” Again- emphasize the target that you want them to say- BANANA. *This tip is also important because it aligns with our ultimate goal of creating INITIATORS of communication! At the end of the day, we don’t want them to only rely on US asking a question to get their needs met.
How does your child indicate yes/no? Mine nods his head for yes and verbally says “no” (I think it’s his favorite word
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