Three step directions

Teaching How To Follow 2- and 3-Step Sequential Directions

This is a guest blog post by Holly, a school-based SLP, all about teaching how to follow 2 and 3-step sequential directions!

Teaching Sequential Directions

Do you have students on your caseload that can follow one-step directions pretty well, but–as soon as the complexity increases–that accuracy goes out the window?

If that’s the case for you and your students, you’re not alone! There are plenty of factors that influence the ability to follow complex directions: hearing/vision, executive function skills, language comprehension, grammar, student level of interest, task complexity, and sequencing, just to name a few. These areas were reviewed in further depth in a previous post on following simple directions — a lot of that info applies here, too!

Complex instructions are relevant for students across the grade-span. Like many domains of communication, the milestones related to following directions are geared towards younger children:

– Between 1-2 years of age, kids generally follow familiar one-step directions with support (Linguisystem, 2014)
– Between 2-3 years, children can follow two-step commands (Linguisystem, 2014)
– Around 4-5 years old, kids typically understand sequential terms (e. g., first, next, last) and respond to three-step directions at home or school (ASHA)

We know, of course, that the importance and complexity of instructions don’t end at age 5. Whether you work at an elementary, middle, or high school, following instructions serves as a major foundation for learning. These skills are also incredibly valuable for students working on vocational skills and transition plans. (Imagine your first day at a new job! There are countless tutorials to follow and procedures that you’re expected to get the hang of!) So how can we support our students no matter what level they’re working at?

In a previous post on following simple directions, we outlined the process of assessing this skill, selecting meaningful targets, using visuals and strategies, plus designing structured and contextualized intervention.

Now we’re taking it a step further by teaching how to follow multi-step, sequential directions! We’ll review different types of complex directions, plus how to teach and strengthen this skill in therapy.

Types of Complex /  Multi-Step Directions

Not all directions are equally complex — that’s why it’s important to figure out what strengths and challenges are impacting a student’s ability to follow along with instructions. Here are a couple examples:

Conditional Directions: If you ride the bus after school, line up here. 

Spatial Concepts: Take a seat at the nearest table and face your chair towards the front of the room. 

Temporal Concepts: Before you sit down, hang up your bag on the wall.

One Action, Multiple Objects: Grab a packet, glue stick, and a pair of scissors from the table.

Multiple Actions, One Object: With your pen, circle the word you don’t know, then underline any clues that will help you figure out what the word means.

Multiple Actions, Multiple Objects: Pick out a book, bring it to the checkout counter, and present your student ID card to the librarian.

The more concepts embedded into a set of instructions, the higher the demands placed on language and working memory will be.

For a deeper dive into assessing these skills, check out the prequel to this blog post and browse through the assessment materials available through the SLP Now membership! There’s a Smart Deck to quickly probe students’ accuracy in following 1, 2, and 3-step directions.

Teaching Multi-Step Directions in Therapy

How do you feel about using anchor charts, visuals, and compensatory strategies in therapy? From kindergarten through high school, I’ve found that these kinds of support make a huge difference for students.

When teaching a new skill, it can be helpful to use visual aids to represent a concept. This is because many of our students are already challenged by auditory or written comprehension (Law et al., 2017), so we can use this teaching phase as an opportunity to play to any strengths! This might involve using pictures, symbols, photos, or other visual supports when teaching a skill. Here are some of my favorite visuals to use with complex instructions:

When helping students strengthen skills in an area, it takes time and practice. Strategies can be taught, practiced, and used the very same day — that kind of success can be really motivating for our students when they’re starting out! Over time, using rehearsal/visualization techniques has also been found to improve students’ abilities to follow directions (Gill et al., 2003).

These handouts (included in the SLP Now membership) are great for partnering with teachers and working on self-advocacy skills for students.

Targeting 2 & 3-Step Sequential Directions (In Therapy & Beyond!)

Once you’ve selected your targets and reviewed the skills and strategies you’ll be working on with your students, now comes the fun part… Practice!

Introduce a new game or tweak a familiar one, emphasizing the importance of listening to the instructions

Can you think of a multi-step activity that is more functional than following a recipe? Our speech-language rooms don’t often come equipped with extra space, so your recipe could be as simple as making trail mix. However, if your school has an area dedicated to cooking skills or a kitchen space that you can borrow, try incorporating it into your therapy activities!

Try filling out a planner, agenda, or calendar with students. The working memory demands are high here (e.g., note that your spring break is from April 4th-8th, and your book report is due the following Monday), so it emphasizes the importance of using external strategies, such as writing down details!

When working with older students and developing transition plans, identify what kind of job skills involve complex directions (e.g., bagging groceries involves sorting items based on weight/shape/temperature, organizing them into a bag, and placing the bags into the cart). This is a great opportunity to incorporate your students’ interests!

To support carryover throughout a student’s school day, collaborate with other teachers to see what activities involve complex directions. In a framework developed by Wallach (2014) and Kamhi (2014), we see that a contextualized approach to targeting these skills can be the most effective!

I hope this post has been helpful for you! Do you have any other questions or ideas for targeting multi-step directions? Feel free to comment below — thanks for stopping by!

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.) What should my child be able to do? Four to Five Years Old. Retrieved from https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/45/.

Gill, C. B., Klecan-Aker, J., Roberts, T., & Fredenburg, K. A. (2003). Following directions: Rehearsal and visualization strategies for children with specific language impairment. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 19(1), 85-103.

Kamhi, A. G. (2014). Improving clinical practices for children with language and learning disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 45(2), 92-103.

Law, J., Dennis, J. A., Charlton, J. J. V. (2017). Speech and language therapy interventions for children with primary speech and/or language disorders. Cochrane Database Systematic Review.

Wallach, G. P. (2014). Improving clinical practice: A school-age and school-based perspective. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 45, 127–136.

Unrelated 2 Step Directions - Speech Therapy Activities — Toddler Talk

Receptive Language Lessons

Jan 14

Written By Stephanie Keffer

Toddlers typically begin to follow directions with two unrelated steps just before their third birthday.

These directions include 2 different actions that are completely separate from one another. You can think of these directions as following this template: First do action 1 with item 1, Then go do action 2 with item 2. For example, “Push in your chair and go to the sink,” or “Take off your shoes and hang up your coat.”

These types of directions are more complex and therefore more challenging than two-step directions with a single item.

As you practice, keep in mind that your toddler’s success in following directions will vary based on how tired they are, their general mood, and their current level of attention. Day-to-day fluctuations are expected and completely normal. 

Speech therapy tips for practicing with 2 step unrelated directions

Tip 1 - Create two-step unrelated directions

In this lesson, we’ll focus on following directions that:

• Have two or more steps (two different actions with two different items)

• Have not been practiced before and are not part of a daily routine

• Are __NOT__ related to an activity your child is doing when you give the direction.

For example, if your child is coloring on the floor, you could tell them, *“Sit at the table and open the Play-Doh.”* If they’re playing with a babydoll, you could say, “Oh no, your shark looks hungry and sleepy! *Feed the shark* and *put him to sleep*.” 

Tip 2 - Offer the minimum amount of help your child needs

As you practice following directions with your child, it’s best to practice at a level where your child can successfully complete a direction with minimal help. Follow this step-by-step breakdown to help wean your child off of needing your assistance to complete directions. If your child completes the direction at any point, you do not need to continue with the remaining attempts. Praise your child for completing the two-step direction correctly. (“Yay, you got the cow and gave him a cookie!”).

Here are the steps:

1. Say your child is playing with a toy turtle. Start by giving the direction, “Get the cow and give him a cookie. ” Don’t offer any visual clues about what you want them to do, like motioning with your eyes or hands.

2. If your child is unable to complete the direction on their own, repeat the direction and offer one piece of help, such as pointing to what you want your child to do. Say, “Get the cow and give him a cookie,” point to their cow, and then point to the cookie.

3. For your third attempt, repeat the direction again, but break it into two parts. First, say “Get the cow.” Once they grab the cow, then say “Give the cow a cookie.”

4. Finally, you can complete the direction together. Repeat the direction, and then actually help your child through the actions. Say “Get the cow and give him a cookie” as you guide your child to get the cow and feed it a cookie.

You’ll know your child has mastered this skill once they can consistently follow your directions in at least four out of five tries. 

Tip 3 - Expand your child’s vocabulary to help them follow directions

Following directions is a perfect opportunity to teach your child the meaning of new words. If you discover during practice that your child does not understand the meaning of a particular word, incorporate that word into your daily activities. For example, if you discover that your child doesn’t know what “scrub” means, talk about SCRUBBING your hands in the sink while you wash, and have them help you SCRUB pots and pans after dinner. As always, practice learning just a few words at a time to prevent you AND your child from feeling overwhelmed. 

And I will be the first to admit that thinking of these directions on the fly when you’re playing isn’t easy! We created 3 different activities with items and toys most people have. For each activity we’ve listed out directions you can practice with for this lesson!

Download our PDF activities guide for practicing with 2 step directions - speech therapy at home practice ↓

Practicing with 2 step directions - speech therapy at home activity

Washing Hands Before Snack

Gather the items you need for your snack so that your child sees that it is almost snack time.

In this activity, you will be helping your child understand 2-step directions where the parts are unrelated. The second part of the direction is “wash your hands” and the first part is something else in your home.

You will practice this skill before snack time, if your child likes snacks. If they don’t, pick another daily activity that your child looks forward to. You will tell them something simple to do, and then to go wash their hands. You will say, “it is almost time for snack! But first, put your shoes in your room and wash your hands.” Or “throw the wrapper in the trash and then wash your hands”, “put the cars in the box and then wash your hands.” The first part of your direction should be something your child already does, but maybe they don’t always do it routinely before washing. 

If they follow the direction correctly, celebrate that your child did it correctly by repeating what they did (“Yay, you put your shoes away and washed your hands!”) If your child does not do it, repeat the direction again.  

If they do not follow the direction the second time, break up the direction into two parts. Say, “put your shoes away” and wait for your child to put their shoes away. Then say, “go wash your hands.” Then celebrate by repeating what they did (“Yay, you put your shoes away and washed your hands!”)

Here are examples of 2 step directions you may use:

• “Throw the wrapper away and go wash your hands.” 

• “Put the book away and go wash your hands.” 

• “Give me my phone and go wash your hands.” 

• “Put the banana on the table and go wash your hands.” 

Download our PDF activities guide for practicing with 2 step directions - speech therapy at home practice ↓

© 2020-2022. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.

The content offered on ToddlerTalk.com is for informational purposes only. Toddler Talk is not engaged in rendering professional advice, whether medical or otherwise, to individual users or their children or families.  No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor, speech language pathologist, or other health professional. By accessing the content on ToddlerTalk.com, you acknowledge and agree that you are accepting the responsibility for your child’s health and well-being. In return for providing you with information related to home speech and language practice, you waive any claims that you or your child may have as a result of utilizing the content on ToddlerTalk.com

Stephanie Keffer

3 steps to help you find your calling in life

February 2, 2021 Books Motivation

A simple method from the author of the book "Destiny" Alexander Ray.

Alexander Rey

Author of the book "Destiny", psychologist, screenwriter, illustrator. Developed an effective test training that helps people find their calling.

Every person has his calling, there are no exceptions. Everyone has the ability to do the job in which he can best show himself. The problem is that it is not so easy to understand what it is. After all, you won't know until you try. nine0003

Psychologist Alexander Rey offers a three-step methodology: awareness, direction and action. Let's briefly talk about it and the exercises that you can do right now.

Everything worthwhile has been brought to life through the three steps method. Without even knowing it, through trial and error, people themselves go through these three steps and improve their lives.

Step 1. Awareness

There will be no changes in your life until one fine day you wake up with the thought that it is time to change something. In order not to wait for this beautiful day, you can do smarter - ask yourself the right questions. nine0003

You need to start with three main questions:

1. What is wrong in life and in you?
2. What do you not like?
3. What and how would you like to change?

And here is the first exercise. Write 3-5 points about each area in your life. If nothing immediately comes to mind, think about each item for as long as it takes.

What do you not like and what do you want to change?

• In a relationship with a partner: __________
• In family relationships: __________
• In relationships with children: __________
• In relationships with parents: __________
• In work: __________
• In your abundance: __________
• In your own character: __________
• In your body: __________
• Healthy: __________

This list is your starting point. Rey advises turning to him from time to time to track progress and remind yourself which areas of your life need change. nine0003

Step 2. Direction

Just realizing that there are things in your life that you don't like is not enough. You need to understand what to do with this fact next. At this point, it is important to find the right direction.

One possibility Rei talks about is finding purpose through action. When you don’t know what you want to do, try everything at random, someday you will be lucky. But it takes too much time and resources.

Another way is to connect your own experience. To do this, do a simple exercise. nine0003

1. What would you do if you were rich?

Imagine that you are obscenely rich. You can write down this amount - the amount of money you need to feel completely secure. You are so rich that you can do whatever you want.

Write down five things you would like to do. But it should be just a matter (and not idle activities like “lying on the ocean”) that requires your participation. Your goal is to come up with a job that will make you happier. nine0003

1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________

2. What would you do if you were poor?

And now let's go from the opposite. Imagine that you were fired and you had absolutely no means of subsistence left. Think of five things you can do to make a living. Keep in mind that this is your chance to start over with a clean slate, so pick things you love.

1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________

3. What activities make you happier?

And the last task. Write down five favorite things that you are ready to do for hours on end. List your hobbies and interests, inactivity does not count.

1. __________
2. __________
3. __________
4. __________
5. __________

The correct course is hidden in these three lists. Read them carefully again and decide where you will move. nine0003

Step 3. Action

The most important step. Without it, the previous two steps will remain just dreams. Choosing a direction will help you set specific goals. Break goals down into specific actions. And act.

All that is required is measured daily work, tiny but real steps.

The Purpose Training Book is a collection of helpful tips with illustrations, exercises, and a diary to track progress. Perhaps it is she who will give you the necessary impetus and inspire you to change. nine0003

Buy the book

Read also 🧐

• A simple question that will start a change in your life
• 3 phrases that harm your happiness and success
• 5 things that kill our self-confidence

Volleyball. Forward blow

MUNICIPAL BUDGETARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF IRKUTSK

SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL SCHOOL №28

Research work

“Volleyball. Forward blow "

Completed:
7B grade student Angela Papoyan

Head:
teacher of physical culture Agafonova A.R.

2018

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Theoretical part