Ming from Agents of Speech shows how to teach kids to imitate gestures as a stepping stone to communication. Put toys in a clear container they can see but can't open, then prompt them with an open-palm gesture to ask for help. Gesture imitation is easier to prompt than speech and builds toward real communication skills.
Number one is like open palm like that. So that we want them to settle down and put their hand out and stuff snatching, right? So once your child is winning nicely like this, instead of trying to actively grab everything, the next step is to teach a gesture. Usually we do open because open is the easiest that you can create a language communication opportunity where you close something and lock something up and they need your help to get what they want. So therefore they have to communicate and therefore you can do open to do it. We want to put it inside of a clear container, and we talk about this a lot. We. We actually have courses and training for parents that we do the exact thing right. We put it inside of a clear container that the child can see but cannot get and therefore need our help. Right. So we teach the concept of imitation through using gestures. Teach them first because that's a lower skill and it's easier to. To prompt, right?
