Practicing Taking Turns: Holiday Edition
Depending on your family traditions, doing a little ‘turn taking’ modeling and practice could really beneficial for your little ones. During the holidays, turn taking comes into play while playing games, opening gifts, in conversation, while passing food, and beyond!
Practicing turn taking may already be part of his or her goals, but this is the perfect season to continue to practice and improve their skills!
Here are our top tips:
Start with a story- telling a story about fictional friends or animal characters taking turns completing a step-oriented process such as building a snowman or wrapping a gift for their neighbor.
With another person’s help, model turn taking for your child. Do something simple such as playing a board game or adding ingredients to a basic recipe.
As you model taking turns, use kid-oriented language, like ‘my turn, your turn’ or ‘daddy’s turn, Jimmy’s turn.’ Adding a physical cue, such as placing your hand on their hand to visually indicate when it is their turn, along with the words ‘your turn’ can provide reinforcement for when it is their turn.
Use other visual cues for indicating turn taking, such as a small hourglass timer, a countdown timer on a phone, a cue card that indicates who has the turn, a talking stick for the person’s whose turn it is to hold.
While your child waits for their turn, it may be helpful to have a fidget toy/object to absorb some of their turn taking energy and turn it into patience.
If turn taking is proving to very challenging at your home, an Occupational or Speech Therapy evaluation may be beneficial for your child! Give us a call to discuss this option.