Ming explains why some children repeat questions instead of answering them. Language-delayed kids often catch only the final words, so caregivers should model the answer directly. If a child repeats "are you okay?" after a fall, show them how to respond: "ouch" or "I'm okay."
I have a vivid memory of a client of mine who fell down. The kid, I mean. And then the mom would say, are you okay? And then the child would repeat, are you okay? It becomes a routine. The next time he falls down, he says, are you okay? And points like me. And then he's making a sad face. What that means is that they think that the question means that ouch. I told the mom to do was, hey, stop saying are you okay? Or even if he's asked by accident, you instantly, at that moment say, ouch. Or like, I'm okay or it hurts. Very quickly, after two weeks, the started to use like, ouchie, it hurts, mom. Instead of saying are you okay? Because when you model using question, you need to model also the answer. It's fine to ask a question, but you need to model a response or answer so that the child knows that, oh, there's a second part to it. That's great. And because children who are delayed cannot really hear all of the words in the sentence because of language level, therefore, we will stick our attention to the last few words, which is the answer itself.
