Download the handout for this episode here!

Join us inside The Child-Led Collective! childled.org/collective

If you have been doing this work for a while and you are still mostly targeting requesting... I need you to hear this episode.

Not because requesting is wrong. But because there is so much more your student could be doing, and one specific communication function might be the exact thing that shifts the dynamic in your sessions.

This episode is about directing actions: what it is, why most of us skip it, and how to start building it in without overhauling your whole approach.

This is Part 3 of the expanding communication functions series, and today we are talking about directing actions. Directing actions is when a child tells another person what to do, things like push me, open, stop, go, come here. It is different from requesting because the child is directing a person to do something, not asking for an object. Nicole shares why this communication function matters for autonomy, vocabulary growth, and real social back-and-forth, and why she spent way too many years ignoring it. She also walks through practical strategies for modeling in context, working with teams, and supporting both gestalt language processors and early communicators who use AAC.

What You'll Learn

Why teaching only requesting can accidentally teach kids that communication is just a transaction for getting things
What "directing actions" actually means, and how it is different from the requesting you are already targeting
The moment Nicole realized she had been sitting across from kids and making them earn pretzels they both knew they wanted, over and over
Why giving kids the words to direct other people is one of the most powerful autonomy moves you can make with autistic students
The starter verbs that make this easier to teach (open, stop, go, push, jump, pour, spin) and why they work when more abstract verbs do not
How to model directing actions without drilling, and why you should never make a child repeat what you just modeled to get the action
What to do with the "verbs are too abstract for my kids" objection, and why it is less true than we think
How to use playful sabotage (doing the wrong thing on purpose) to actually give kids a reason to direct you
How to bring your para and team with you without making them feel like they are starting from scratch
Why boundary-setting still applies: directing actions does not mean the child runs everything

Your next steps:

Join The Child-Led Collective at childled.org/collective
Subscribe to Let Them Lead so you do not miss the next episode in this communication functions series
Share this episode with a para or team member who works snack time, swing time, or any routine where directing actions could show up naturally