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Topic “Inititation”  

This shows how much, and the different ways, a pupil investigates a stimulus or activity in order to bring about a desired outcome. The pupil will act spontaneously and independently during a familiar activity without waiting for direction.

Initiation becomes more established when the pupil shows they understand how to create an impact on their environment in order to achieve a desired outcome.

Initiation is important to establish how well the pupil is developing independence, which is required for more advanced progression.

Make a choice at snack time

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Snack activity

Food items - in small pieces - which the children like, for example banana, apple, orange, crisps;

Something uninteresting - e.g. a piece of paper;

Pictures of the food items.
  1. Introduce the food items by saying and signing the word for each item;
  2. Check for which items the child is interested in having: offer some of the food items for the child to take. Re-inforce the language by saying and signing (at the same time) the food items that the child takes;
  3. (Initially) use a forced alternative (see right) to give the child a choice. E.g. "banana or orange", say and sign each option, and indicate the item as you do so. See the comments on the right for using forced alternatives;
  4. Always respond to what you think the child has communicated (see right for developing this).
  5. Wait, to give the child an opportunity to make a request spontaneously, if they don't you can continue from step 3 (offering forced alternatives).

Key strategies - you may need to come back to these as and when necessary:

Introduce each food item;

Check which ones the child is interested in;

Demonstrate the asking for and getting of an item - e.g. with another member of staff;

Wait - give time for the child to respond or initiate;

Offer a "forced alternative", e.g. "apple or orange?" - swap around the order in which you give the alternatives to check that the child is not just saying the last thing you say;

Make it difficult for the child to communicate by pointing by having the choices close together and out of reach - so if they point you actually don't know which one they pointed to;

Be sensitive to if the child is getting frustrated - think of ways to help them get it right first time - e.g. by reducing the choice down to one item (temporarily).

Using forced alternatives:

Always give the child the thing they said/signed for. If they are having difficulties with this - for example always say the last thing in the alternative, try the following:

Have one of the forced alternatives being something uninteresting (e.g. the piece of paper);

Have the last alternative as something the child doesn't want (if the child always says the last thing);

Give more emphasis to the desired item, e.g. "Banana or paper?", you could also try only signing the desired item. Over time, reduce the difference in emphasis.

Improving clarity

Sometimes the child may say/sign what they want, but you don't feel it is clear enough (perhaps you can understand it in this context but might not be able to in another situation). To try and improve this, you can try:

Saying 'pardon?' or something equivalent;

Look confused and say, for example '(Do you mean) apple or banana?' (saying and signing these) - this will often encourage the child to produce a clearer version;

Simply re-inforce with the clear version, e.g. you say "Oh, banana" (saying and signing it then passing it over);

Try to avoid simply asking the child to repeat after you as there is no communication and it's not a natural way to communicate - by asking the child to repeat you have shown them that you have understood, and so this is now a different repetition activity - it also has the danger that it could reduce the accuracy of what the child originally said or signed as they didn't get a direct result from this.

 

Makes a choice from two items

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Choosing between food items 1
  • Small pieces of desired food
  • Small pieces of less desired food
  1. Find a quiet place to work and sit opposite the child.
  2. Get the child's attention by calling their name or stroking a cheek or clapping your hands.
  3. Present pairs of food items the child must choose from (one desired and one less desired item).
  4. Put them on a small tray and place the items as far apart as possible.
  5. At first give choices between favoured and hated food items e.g. crisps and raw onion!
  6. Draw the child's attention to both the options. You may need to take the child's hand and reach their hand in the direction of the options. Say "Look ... ... crisps ... ... onion. Choose".

Give child time to settle and see the items to choose from.

Work for short bursts.

Give lots of praise for making a choice or starting to make a choice.
Choosing between food items 2

Small pieces of 2 different desired foods.
Choosing between toy items 1
  • One desired toy
  • One undesired toy.
Choosing between toy items 2

Two desired toys

Indicates wanting more of an activity

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Bubbles/balloon

Blow some bubbles to get the child's attention / Blow a balloon up and then let the air out to make a noise.

Get ready to do the activity again, but wait for the child to indicate that they want some more.

Use a phrase to encourage anticipation (for example "ready, steady......go!")

Initially encourage eye contact to communicate wanting more. You can do this by holding the bubbles up near your face.

As the child becomes more consistent in using eye contact encourage them to use the "more" sign by modelling this for them.

The activity must be motivating for the child for this to work: do not labour the activity if the child is not interested in it.
Building a tower

Bricks or stacking beakers.

Work in a quiet distraction free place.

Make this activity fun and snappy!

The activity must be motivating for the child for this to work: do not labour the activity if the child is not interested in it.
Making sand pies with a twist

Small bucket

Sand in a sand pit

Spade

Small animal to hide at the bottom of the bucket.

Have fun!

The activity must be motivating for the child for this to work: do not labour the activity if the child is not interested in it.
Filling transparent container with bottle tops (or other items)

Several containers

Large amount of bottle tops (or other similar material)

Have fun!

Rattle the bag with the bottle tops, and give a lot of encouragement and praise. Make sure the child knows they are going to be rewarded with the desired object if they indicate more.

Reach to indicate wanting more of an activity

Activity/strategy name and materials required How to do the activity Key principles for doing the activity and comments
Water play
  • water tray or washing up bowl;
  • containers of various sizes;
  • sponges;
  • apron(s).

1. Try actions that the child might enjoy, for example squeezing out the sponge, pouring water over their hands, flicking a little bit of water towards the child;

2. Stop and wait;

3. Look for any sign that the child might want the action repeated, this could be looking, smiling, a slight movement. For some children the only indication they might make is not moving their hands away;

4. Repeat the activity.

The purpose of this activity is to encourage children to use a developmentally early method of showing that they want some or more of an activity. This activity may be too low level for the child if they are beginning to make some other indication that they want some or more of an activity, for example using a gesture or sign, using some kind of vocalisation.

Keep each go short so that the child has plenty of opportunities to indicate that they want the activity repeated.

Do not continue the activity if there is any indication that the child does not want to do the activity.

A helper sitting behind the child to assist them in making the reaching response can make this activity easier.
Personal battery operated fans

Hand held battery operated fan.

Comments - see above.
Textures/messy play

One or materials with different textures, for example:

Comments - see above.
Noise makers

Musical instruments, for example:

  • percussion instruments,
  • battery operated musical toys.

Comments - see above.
Cause and effect toys

Any toys which have a quick response, e.g. a jack in a box.

For comments - see above.

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