When we think about speech therapy for toddlers, a behavior management plan might not be the first thing that comes to mind—but the reality is, the two go hand in hand. While we aren’t writing formal behavior plans, every time we model a new word, teach a sign, or give a child a way to express their wants and needs, we’re shaping a behavior.
By encouraging and building functional language and communication, we actually prevent a lot of challenging toddler behaviors. Once we understand why a behavior is happening we can encourage communication in a more functional way.
Helping toddlers with functional communication is the foundation of both behavior change and language development. And when communication becomes part of their daily routines, those challenging behaviors often start to fade away.
Functional Communication
Functional communication is the ability to communicate in everyday life. It is about effectively communicating information in a way that the listener understands. Whether it’s mealtime, bath time, or getting dressed, familiar moments give toddlers the perfect opportunity to learn functional language in a natural context. Familiar routines are predictable, comfortable, and full of opportunities for functional communciation.
As part of functional communication, we want to empower parents and caregivers to use daily activities intentionally. By doing this, we are showing toddlers how to replace their behaviors with communication skills. After all, those day-to-day interactions are the best times to model new vocabulary, offer choices, or narrate what’s happening.
Behavior Management
For toddlers, behaviors are often a very effective form of communication; behaviors always elicit some type of response. It can be difficult to transition that form of communication into something more functional. To be completely effective, parents must be on board with the process. Everyone must work together to help the toddler transform their communication from behaviors to functional [and safer] forms. This process can be taxing and extremely challenging, depending on the situation. But if everyone is on board and works together it will be beneficial.
Truth is, the changing of the behavior doesn’t start in the heat of the moment. When you have a toddler who’s behavior has exploded to tantrum level- that’s not the time for reasoning and strategizing. The key to helping children learn to communicate is find the function of behavior and introduce communication strategies all day everyday, not just in the midst of challenging behaviors.
Encouraging Parent Involvement
Here are a few different ways you can talk with parents about how they can improve their child’s communication while addressing those challenging behaviors:
- Power Words/Familiar Words
- Power words are words that a toddler uses or is exposed to every day. These are words that can be used in a variety of communication contexts.
- Words like ‘help,’ ‘more,’ ‘finished,’ ‘eat’, or ‘go’.
- Choices:
- Choices are a great way to encourage communication while reducing frustration.
- Ways to encourage the child to make a choice include:
- Choice of toys
- Choosing books
- Choose their t.v. shows
- Pick out clothing
- It may take some time to teach a child how to make a choice.
- Visual Supports:
- Incorporating visual aids help a child understand transitions or requests. When you know what to expect, you can better respond to situations.
- Visual Supports include:
- Communication Boards
- First/Then boards
- Choice Boards
- Daily Schedules
- Social Stories
- Parents as Partners
- One of the main goals in early intervention is to help parents become communication partners with their children. This can feel overwhelming for parents who may not know exactly how to ‘do therapy’ at home.
- Ideas include
- Narrating Daily Activities
- Turn-Taking [conversation and play]
- Celebrating Small Wins
Sometimes, determining the why behind a behavior can take time. Implementing communication strategies will take time. It can be difficult to transition that form of communication into something more functional. Keep the dialogue with parents open and willing to make changes as necessary.
Supporting Behavior Management
The biggest obstacle we often hear is that parents are overwhelmed. Working together will help parents begin to encourage functional communication and decrease the challenging behaviors.
Here’s how we can help:
- Keep strategies simple: Focus on 1-2 ideas at a time, such as 1-2 new words per week or offering choices during routines.
- Open Conversation: Check in with parents during your sessions—ask how things are going, and tweak strategies as needed. You cannot be afraid to ask them questions and be okay with what they have to say.
- Be patient and empathetic: Understand that life is busy, there is no one size fits all answer, and progress will not happen overnight. Remind parents that every small step is progress, and they are doing a great job supporting their child’s communication.
By implementing strategies that fit into their daily lives and showing them how communication can naturally fit into daily routines, we can empower parents without overwhelming them.
Final Thoughts
If we want to encourage a more functional form of communication to reduce challenging behaviors, we must come up with some strategies to implement: introducing functional language, visual communication systems, offering choices, or maybe a combination of several. The key to success is encouraging parent involvement, implementing the communication outside of the behavior, and celebrating the small wins.
If you’re ready to support toddlers in building functional communication skills while reducing those tricky, challening behaviors, Communicate & Connect is here to help. Whether you’re a parent, educator, or SLP, it’s is packed with practical resources to help little ones build build language and communication skills.
You’ll find easy-to-share handouts and activities that promote language development while decreasing frustration and challenging behaviors.
Start turning challenging behaviors into meaningful communication – grab your copy HERE!
