The Interaction Coach Joyce Olson

Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.
Your child’s mutual attention skills have helped them learn how to observe your actions and pick up on important information. Now they can use those skills to imitate new actions.
Teaching some gestures and sign language is a perfect fit for this level. Your child can watch your model and imitate. We’ll talk more about this when we get to the Language domain.
Today’s activity: Continue to use social games, songs and finger plays to strengthen your child’s ability to do actions along with you. Add in a new action and encourage them to try it.
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Joint attention is sharing the focus on some other location—a shared point of focus. An important part of sharing the focus is that we check in with the other person’s face to see what they are looking at and how they are reacting.
Your child established joint attention for nearby objects during Level 5. Now we need to help them move that attention to objects farther away. This supports your child’s skills in following directions. It also helps them practice thinking about 2 things at the same time—you and your reactions plus the other thing and what you want them to do with it.
Today’s activity: Blow bubbles. Wait for your child to turn and show interest in getting you to do it again (using attention, gesture, sound or word). Help them notice a bubble by pointing and acting excited. Help them notice what your finger is pointing at by moving your finger closer to the bubble. If they don’t follow your point, move your whole body closer to the bubble while you keep pointing.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find courses for parents that help you target your child’s specific needs.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!
Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level here.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.

You can extend your child’s attention to places far away by pointing to an object of interest. Your child is used to taking turns putting objects into a box near you. Now you can extend that familiar activity to putting away in a location that’s farther away.
Your child depends on your gestures to help them understand your directions at this level.
Today’s activity: Give your child an object and point to a location where you want them to put it. Say, “Put it in,” as you point.
Download the quick checklist to find your child’s current level here.
Download the list of all skills and activities for Level 6. It’s a summary of each episode content that you can use as a reminder or checklist.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find courses for parents that help you target your child’s specific needs.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!

6.185 SOCIAL INTERACTION: Turn Taking: Take this to someone nearby
At this level your child will learn to deliver an object to someone nearby that you name, do joint play with an object, and hand you a toy if they need help to make it work. You can expand the ways your child takes turns with different objects, more people and extending the distance they go.
Earlier practice with turn taking has helped your child learn that they enjoy giving things to other people (sharing) and they know how to show they want something back. This makes them more comfortable when using toys together with another person.
Today’s activity: Use a wagon (or box with a pull string) to deliver toys to someone. Your child can roll a car down the ramp then you retrieve it, put it in the wagon and pull it back to your child. Change roles, so your child gets turns to deliver with the wagon. Expand this to delivering toys to other family members.
Learn about the parent course — Help your child talk: Six strategies that boost your child’s communication skills.
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find courses for parents that help you target your child’s specific needs.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!

Your child will play together with you, sharing a toy. Don’t think of this as “work” because then you will start to think there’s a “right” way for your child to play. You can model things to do with the toy, but your child doesn’t have to do the same thing. You are PLAYING: go with the flow and have fun.
Today’s activity: Play side-by-side or face-to-face with your child. Share some toys and model things to do with them: feed doll with cup, put doll in bed. Offer a toy to your child so you can take turns. Add a new action or object sometimes to extend the variety of things your child knows about playing with the toys.
Learn about the parent course — Help your child talk: Six strategies that boost your child’s communication skills
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find courses for parents that help you target your child’s specific needs.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!

You can add variety to turn taking by using some new materials. Variety adds more interest for your child.
Remember, when taking turns you need to wait for your child to take a turn. Avoid saying, “Do this” because you’re not doing a direction-following activity. Your child can do what they want to do when you are interacting socially. By making this fun and interesting, though, your child is more likely to do the action you are showing them.
Today’s activity: Cut a slot in the top of a shoe box. Take turns putting a playing card into the box.
Learn about the parent course — Help your child talk: Six strategies that boost your child’s communication skills
Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to find courses for parents that help you target your child’s specific needs.
Help more parents find the podcast—leave a review in your app. Thanks!