RL.D.42 FOLLOWS TWO-WORD DIRECTIONS INVOLVING 2 ACTIONS AND 2 OBJECTS WITHIN EACH DIRECTION

In RL.C.52 the child shows that she can follow directions which have 2 parts. When given a choice of 4 objects, she gives you 2 when asked ‘Give me the . . . and the . . .’.

In this activity she will learn to follow directions which involve 2 different actions, as well as 2 different objects. It follows that you should wait until your child has mastered RL.C.52 before starting this new activity.

Directions of the form ‘Do this and then do that’ are a big step forward from simple one-step directions. It is important the child learns to follow these directions, because they occur so often in everyday life. We are using such two-step directions when we say ‘Get your school bag and wait at the door’ or ‘Take off your shoes and put on your slippers’ or ‘Kiss Daddy goodnight and climb into bed’.

This activity (RL.D.42) teaches the child to follow such directions at a table or in a quiet play setting away from distractions. The next activity in this sequence (RL.D.65) extends this skill to the ‘real’ round-the-house world.

How to Assess

Materials: 4 objects known to the child.

Method: The actions you use will depend on the objects you have chosen. If your objects are ‘characters’ such as Dolly, Puppy, Teddy and Cow, you will be able to use actions such as jump, pat, sleep and sit. If your objects are ‘inanimate’, such as block, car, spoon and cup, choose actions such as push, blow, give and take. Be guided in your choice by what your child has learned earlier in this sequence.

Each direction you give will involve 2 of the 4 objects, and you will direct your child to do something different with each object, linking the 2 actions with ‘and’. Here are some examples:

‘Sit Dolly and jump Teddy.’

‘Sleep Cow and pat Dolly.’

‘Push block and give me car.’

‘Blow the cup and take the spoon.’

Give 5 such directions. Give your child plenty of time to respond, but don’t help her halfway through – or, if you do, don’t count that try towards a plus score.

Score plus if your child follows at least 4 out of your 5 two-step directions.

How to Teach

It is essential that your child is looking at you, and listening to what you say, before you give your direction.

Demonstrate first, describing what you are doing. ‘Look, I can jump Dolly AND kiss Teddy.’

If your child carries out the first step and then gets stuck, replace the first object without comment, regain your child’s attention and repeat the whole direction.

If she gets stuck again this time, remind her that there is something else to follow by saying ‘And .. .???’ or ‘Jump Dolly AND… ???’.

If she still does not remember the second part of your direction, replace all objects, regain her attention, repeat the whole direction and help her through each step.

Dividing your direction in 2 (‘Jump Dolly .. . Good, now kiss Teddy’) will not help your child learn this skill. This gives practice at following one-step directions, but does not teach the child to remember 2 steps.

Playtime and Round-the-house Activities

In the early stages of learning this skill, try to avoid situations which involve too many distractions. But, keeping this in mind, there is no reason why you can’t practise in the doll corner and elsewhere. In RL.D.65, we will talk about ways to help your child use this skill in everyday situations.

Remembering and Extending

This skill is directly extended by RL.D.65.