Skills that develop during Level Four include: imitate unfamiliar actions they can see themselves making, extend arm or leg to assist when dressing, play social games and finger plays, exchange objects back and forth, start a familiar social game, and repeat an action to see the reaction.

Turn taking is the foundation for having a conversation. You have a joint focus on the topic, and take turns back and forth sharing the topic.

You can count how many times your child responds to your invitation and how many turns your child takes in this back-and-forth exchange. Doing this once a week will help you see the progress your child is making.

Today's activity: Do something you know your child can do then wait for your child to do it back. Act like you are waiting for a response.

Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at [email protected] and I’ll track down someone for you.