Involving your child when chatting to family or friends

Many people now contact friends and family through photo/video messages or video chats. Some children are happy to be in a video call while they are doing an activity or playing a game (the focus is on the activity rather than trying to think of conversation). Some children find video calls really difficult. It is good for your child to also get involved in this and stay connected with their loved ones. Sending photos (or a short video) to family members/friends can be a nice way to keep in touch.

How to try this at home:

1. Take a photo of your child doing an activity.
2. Show your child the photo and talk about it together.
   • If your child doesn’t talk you make a simple comment about what you can see.
   • If your child talks support your child to make a comment about the photo (see below) and put this in to the message to the family/friend.
3. Show your child the message before pressing send.
4. The family member/friend should then reply with a photo and comment on what they have been doing.
5. Don’t forget to show your child the responses from the family member/friend!
6. This can then turn into a conversation between your child and the family member with photos and texts going back and forth.

Give your child plenty of time to say something about the photo. If (s)he has a communication book then have this available, you could turn to a relevant page). If they need some help then you can point to something in the picture and pause, if your child doesn’t say anything you could make a comment (e.g. “sticky cake!”.  Or “fun!”). Wait for your child to say something.

Keep the activity fun and enjoyable for both you and your child. Don’t worry if your child doesn’t respond, stay positive and give your ideas instead.

Enfield Speech and Language Therapy, Specialist Education Team