Communication temptations

Also called Sabotage, Environmental arrangement, Engineering the environment, Tempting communication

The wrong cup. The lid that won't open. The bubbles you blow once and then hold. Small setups that make saying something worth the bother.

What it is

A communication temptation is a situation you engineer so that the person has a reason to communicate. You give them the yoghurt with no spoon. You put the favourite toy on a high shelf in full view. You blow bubbles, screw the lid on tight and hand over the pot. Something is wanted, and something has to be said, signed, pointed at or touched on a board to get it.

It's sometimes called sabotage, which sounds unkind, and the point isn't to frustrate anybody. The point is that a person whose every need is met before they express it never has to express anything, and never gets the practice.

Who it can help

People at the early stage of communicating on purpose, whatever their age: children beginning to use first words or a core board, people with a learning disability, and anyone whose partners are, with the best intentions, too good at anticipating them. Classrooms and care homes are full of anticipated people.

It's the wrong tool for a person who is already communicating readily; they need more to say, not more obstacles. And it must never tip into withholding: if the person is distressed, they get the thing.

How it works

The classic list, from the work of Wetherby and Prizant in the late 1980s, includes: eat something desirable in front of the person without offering; activate a wind-up toy, let it stop, and hand it over; open a pot of bubbles, blow, close it tightly and pass it; put a wanted object in a clear container they can't open; give them a task with a piece missing; start a familiar social game and pause halfway.

Each one creates a gap that a message fills. What counts as a message depends on the person: a look, a reach, a sound, a sign, a symbol touched. You accept the smallest one they have, respond immediately, and over time model the next one up.

The wait is the crucial bit. Set up the temptation, then use wait time for real. Ten seconds with an expectant face, and no rescuing.

Getting started

Pick two routines a day where something is wanted, and remove one piece. Breakfast without a spoon. A drink with the cup out of reach but visible. The coat with one arm in.

Have the person's system in your hand before you set the temptation up. If they use the Talk board, have the needs cards showing, so HELP and MORE and OPEN are right there to touch or for you to model.

Whatever they do to get the thing, give it. Then say the word for what they did: "Help. You asked for help."

Where to get help

Any speech and language therapist working with early communication can build a temptation list for the person's real days. Speech and Language UK has free early-communication advice for families. Pyramid Educational Consultants train the same principle within PECS. The National Autistic Society explains motivating communication for autistic children.