Turn taking is an important conversation skill that started at Level 1. Now your child is showing more ways they can respond to you when they take a turn in your back-and-forth social exchanges.

Reinforcement increases the occurrence of a behavior. When you give something positive to your child (smile, touch, toy, food) immediately after they use a behavior (sound, movement, attention), your child is more likely to use that behavior again.

Your child has also been using reinforcement on you! The Serve-and-Return interaction is hard-wired into our brains. When we return the gaze of an infant, a brain chemical is released that stimulates the pleasure center of our brain. Then when the baby starts using a smile, that is another powerful reinforcer to keep us taking another turn in our back-and-forth social exchange.

In today’s activity, we use a smile, vocal expression and attention-getting sound to do something that interests your child. An excited child often wiggles, and we can build this wiggle into a more intentional response by continuing to reinforce it.

Or, here’s a question. Is the baby reinforcing us and getting us to repeat what they want? Hmmmm.

That’s the secret to a good conversation! Both parties are engaged, taking turns and doing things to encourage the partner to continue!

Today’s activity: Be face to face with your child. Make a sound with your lips or voice, then wait. When your baby wiggles, make the sound again. Be animated and fun when you make the sound.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.

Find more resources to grow your child's speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.

We build joint attention by using objects the child finds interesting. You need to know how your child shows this interest.

Start building joint attention by engaging with objects your child finds interesting. You are modeling what joint attention is like by showing interest in their interests.

You can model words that are used during joint attention like “look!” or “oooohhh.”

Today’s activity: Notice where your child is interested. Show that you are interested and engaged with the same object, using your voice, facial expression and gestures.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities. 

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

Joint attention is when you both are paying attention to the same object or activity.

At Level Two, your child is building skills that are needed for joint attention such as recognizing things at a distance and tracking moving objects with their eyes.

Today’s activity: Encourage your child to watch an interesting object then move it from near the child to farther away.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities. 

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

This activity allows tummy time and encourages your child to want to move toward you.

Today’s activity: Put your child on tummy on a blanket on the floor or a bed. Be face-to-face at your child’s eye level. Slowly pull them toward you while you show excitement and anticipation.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

We all enjoy looking at ourselves in the mirror. Your child will enjoy watching and peeking in the mirror.

Today’s activity: Use a child-safe mirror. You can move the mirror up and down to play peek-a-boo or allow your child to explore on their own.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities. 

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

Your child will learn to recognize your face from a distance.

Children learn through action and touch. When you let your child explore your face, it becomes even more familiar.

Today’s activity: Allow your child to touch and explore your face while you move your mouth and make sounds.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities.

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

Mutual attention is paying attention to each other, noticing what the other person is doing and responding to the other person.

Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child has researched the early Serve-and-Return interaction that starts in infancy. Our job is to keep this interaction going.

We communicate for the purpose of interacting with other people. We need to always emphasize why we’re using our skills when we practice communication.

Today’s activity: Engage in back-and-forth exchanges to share enjoyment together. Don’t expect a specific response but you give a response to any action or sound from your child.

Download the list of Level Two Targets and Activities. 

Send your comments and questions to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!

Read blog post summarizing Level One.  

Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.

Writing requires using fine motor skills (small movements of fingers). Your child starts to develop these skills at Level One by grasping objects.

This “palmar grasp” is a reflex children are born with, and it disappears around 6 – 12 months. As you encourage your child to use the grasp, their hand muscles will gain strength. When the reflex fades away, they will be ready to control opening and shutting their fingers in a grasp.

Today’s activity: Face to face, with your child on lying on their back, put your index fingers into their palmar grasp. Slowly raise your child to a sitting position while you are enthusiastic and making eye contact, then slowly lower your child back down.

Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com 

Children need coordinated eye movements for reading. This starts to develop at Level One, when your child starts to wave toward objects they see.

With practice, your child’s arm movements will be directed more accurately toward the object of their interest.

Today’s activity: Entice your child to look at an interesting object by wiggling it or making a sound with it near their face. When the child swats at it, put it by their hand.

Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com 

Speech is a complex task that requires coordinated muscle movements of your lips, tongue, throat, breathing and more. Difficulty with feeding can be an early indicator of later problems with forming speech sounds.

Your child should have a good seal around their lips when drinking.They need to be able to swallow without choking. Any problems need attention because this affects the amount of fluids and nutrition they are getting, and choking can be hazardous to health.

Feeding issues should always be addressed by a specialist with knowledge of anatomy and physiology and advanced training in treatment of feeding disorders.

Today’s activity: Consult a specialist if your child has feeding difficulties. A lactation specialist is a good first step. For less common difficulties, find a speech-language pathologist with advanced training in feeding.

Download the list of Level One Targets and Activities.

Find more resources to help develop your child’s speech, language and communication skills at www.TheInteractionCoach.com.