Gestures are fundamental for communication, especially for children with developmental delays, serving as a vital bridge to spoken language and an effective communication modality in their own right. As a more holistic behaviorist, I prioritize gestures for early communication and teach them using naturalistic and developmentally informed methods. By embedding gesture learning within play and daily activities, children learn to associate gestures with meaning in a functional context. This promotes generalization and ensures that gestures are used meaningfully in real-life situations.

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Gestural requests can coexist with other types of functional communication, and they should. Widely used Augmentative and Alternative Communication modalities like speech-generating devices and picture exchange programs hold tremendous value and can be offered concurrently to ensure the client’s needs are met. However, in practice, AAC use often requires specialized apparatus and skills that must be taught in isolation. The devices can be lost, taken or broken. Additionally, their exclusive instruction denies our clients the qualitatively rich contextual learning offered through naturalistic strategies. Fortunately, we don’t have to choose! Where one communicative modality underperforms, we can support another modality. As communicators, we switch modalities all the time.

Total communication not only reduces frustration for non-verbal children but also builds confidence and fosters positive interactions. Developmentally informed sequencing aligns instruction with a child’s current abilities, gradually introducing more complex gestures. Here, you will notice that I initially focus on natural gestures, movements incidental to the client’s action on their environment. Through their caregiver’s responsiveness, they take on social meaning and establish the foundation for symbolic communication.

And so, while making every effort to support communication in whatever manner the child is capable, I choose to integrate gesture instruction into everyday routines, reflecting how children naturally learn. This approach emphasizes the importance of joint attention and supports sensory integration, both of which are crucial for language acquisition.

Program Goals:

Client will make requests with natural and socio-communicative gestures

Objective 1:

Client will use 4 natural gestures to indicate wants and needs

Examples:

• Reaches toward desired item
• Reaches to adult to initiate or resume a preferred interaction
• Pushes non-preferred item away
• Puts arms up toward adult as a request to be picked up
• Turns head to refuse 
• “Bounces” body to request an adult continue bouncing them
• Bangs on something to gain another’s attention

Objective 2:

Client will use 8 natural and socio-communicative gestures to indicate wants and needs

Examples:

• Nods or bobs head up and down to express approval
• Waves imitatively in a greeting
• Motions with both hands outwards to indicate “big” as in requesting a big piece, not a little piece
• Hands an item to an adult to request they continue an activity with it (toy car rolls towards them or down a ramp, a spoon delivers a preferred food, a bubble wand is used to blow bubbles)
• Says “Let’s go” (Look at adult’s face then gesture in the direction they’d like to go. Taking adult by the hand does not “count”.)
• “Asks” for help by handing object to adult
• Puts hand out to request something the adult is holding

Objective 3:

Client will respond to 4 gestures 

Examples:

• When a trusted adult kneels near them and opens their arms, client approaches 
• “Gives” an item to an adult by putting it inter outstretched hand
• Follows a point to locate a desired item
• Sits next to an adult on the floor when the adult motions to the space next to them and invites them to do so
• Stands when an adult seated next to them stands and gestures with them to do the same

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Objective 4:

Client will combine 10 mastered natural or socio-communicative gestures with a vocalization. (Select targets from early-occurring speech sounds or a recent sound inventory.)

Objective 5:

Client will combine 10 natural or socio-communicative gestures with mastered vocal mands to form 2-part utterances. (Master this prior to introducing 2-word mands.)

Data Settings

Collection Type: Opportunity Based Mastery Criteria: min 2 trials 100% across 4 consecutive Sessions

Maintenance Mastery Criteria: min 2 trials 100% across 5 consecutive Days

Trigger Maintenance For Mastered Targets: Yes

Maintenance Schedule: Weekly

Automatic Phase Change Line: Yes

Automastery: Yes

Other socio-communicative gestures:

• Tugs at article of clothing and looks at adult for help removing it, as when it is too hot or scratchy
• Covers ears to say “it’s loud” as a request to lower the volume or go somewhere quieter
• Shields their eyes from light to say, “it’s too bright” as a request to get the light out of their eyes
• Points to self to say “me” as in “mine” or “my turn” or “that’s me.”
• Gestures for adult to put something “in” as when packing their backpack to go home from school
• Looks at adult’s face and gestures away from the instructional space to request a break from work 
• Says “Help me up” (look at adult’s face and reach up to them)

Exercise

• Teach these in context and deliver naturally occurring reinforcers or thematically related reinforcers
• These are taught through differential reinforcement rather than discrete trials
• Do not physically prompt. Offer time delay prompts or end the trial and move on
• If non-delivery of the item or action will interfere with the session, offer a small quantity and attempt to transition to a new activity

Notes

• It is helpful for the client to have some motor imitation skills but these are not necessary to start the program. 
• For clients who do not reach to request, consider beginning with the program in my Free “Pointing to Request” Lesson Plan. 
• For clients who do not effectively direct others’ attention, consider running this program concurrently with my Free Joint Attention & Parallel Play Lesson Plan.

More Resources for Professionals

• For Therapists & Educators: A Free “Pointing to Request” Lesson Plan (ReThink Compatible)
• For Therapists & Educators: A Free Joint Attention & Parallel Play Lesson Plan (ReThink Compatible)
• Linguistic Mapping: Enhancing Child Language Skills
• Exploring Learning Channels: Interpretation and Integration
• Autism Diagnosis & ABA: Understanding Criteria, Coverage, and Your Options