Help your child talk: Use sabotage

This is one of my favorite strategies to get children to talk.  Sabotage sets up the need for a request.  Here is a scenario from a parent/child interaction that I witnessed:

Child:  “Bubbles”

Parent:  “Here you go” (takes the lid off and starts blowing)

Child: (quietly pops bubbles)

I explained sabotage to Mom and here is what she did:

Child:  “Bubbles”

Parent:  “Here you go” (gives the container, lid intact, to the child)

Child:  Looks at Mom then hands her the bottle and says “open”

Parent:  Mom opens the bottle.

Child:  Tries to blow bubbles.  After about 5 minutes of trying, she gives up and says to Mom:  “Bubbles”.

Parent:  “Blow bubbles?”

Child:  “Blow”

With a little patience and “sabotage” the interaction was longer, the child initiated more, and used more words to get her needs met.