Environmental sabotage is a speech therapy technique where you manipulate things in your child’s environment so that they don’t make sense. This causes your child to react with surprise or confusion, encouraging them to use their communication skills. It’s kind of like playing a practical joke on your child and it is a whole lot of fun!
The really great thing about environmental sabotage therapy is that it really motivates your child to communicate with you. They will want to let you know what you are showing is silly, it does not make sense, or it is a problem that needs to be solved. Here is how you can use environmental sabotage to spark communication between you and your child.
Sabotage works because it quickly captures the child’s interest by providing a break from the expected. They think: Hey! Something weird is going on here! It creates a situation that requires the child to communicate, giving them language practice. This speech therapy technique can be used for children of any age, from babies (where the communication might just be vocalization to call or recognise such as "ahh!" or gestures such as to pointing) to children with advanced language skills (where you might expect them to fully explain what is wrong with this situation). It’s easy to do, it’s tons of fun, and it can spark some great language interactions!
The key to sabotage is for your child to think that you don’t know something has been sabotaged. Once your child notices that something is out of the ordinary, expect them to use language (at whatever stage of development) to fix the problem. Don’t be a mind reader or anticipate their response, wait until it happens. You put a sock on your hand; Stop, Look and Listen. Then your child points. Great! Acknowledge your child understands something is wrong, but don’t move that sock. Wait it out for a count to five: 1-2-3-4-5 for their response. You won't see improvement in their language skills unless you give the child time to process and respond before continuing the game.
Here are some fun activities using environmental sabotage to help children with speech delays work on their language development:
Where is my toy?
Take your child’s favourite toy, for example a soft toy monkey. Hide the monkey under your child’s pillow on their bed. Tell your child: "We are going to find Monkey." Now look for monkey all around the house and especially in places were monkey would not usually be found.
"Monkey, Monkey where are you?
"Not in the fridge."
"Not in the bath"
Now suggest you look under the pillow, where you have hidden Monkey. Your child might look confused so you can add "No Monkey you don’t belong under the pillow!”.
Where is my shoe?
Put one of your child’s shoes in the refrigerator on a shelf that they will be able to see. When it is time to get dressed they only have one shoe. Together look for the other shoe. Question as you go:
"Is it under the bed?" "No."
"Is it on the kitchen bench?" "No."
Take your child to the refrigerator and with a puzzled look say: "I wonder if your shoe is in the fridge?" They will probably look at you with a look that says: "It can’t be in the fridge". Let them open the fridge and Stop, Look and Listen – how does your child react? Acknowledge their reaction whether it is verbal or nonverbal and give them the language to help them build their speech skills: "That’s not where my shoes go. Not in the fridge!"
The water is cold
When you fill the bath with water ready for your child to take a bath, only put cold water in.
Ask your child to feel the water – they will look at you.
Stop, Look and Listen – what does your child do? Acknowledge any reaction from them. They might look at you with a puzzled look. Wait for a count to five: 1-2-3-4-5. If they do not say anything give them the language: "Oh the water is too cold. Brrrrrr! We need to make it warm". Add the hot water.
The next time you do this they might point to the hot water tap and you say: "Yes we need some hot water, it’s too cold".
After doing this a few times your child might say: "brrrrr" and you give them the language: "The water is cold. Brrrrrr".
Let’s blow bubbles
You will have most likely have played a simple game of bubbles before, so your child will understand that this is the bubble game. Most children just love bubbles, they love trying to catch or pop the bubbles.
After you have done this activity a few times without environmental sabotage you can now give him the bottle of bubbles that you have already tightened the top so you know he cannot open it. Your child will probably try and open it and soon realise that they cannot. They will probably then turn to you. You can model the language: "Mummy open it."
Pretend to open and say: "The top is soooo tight. It’s too tight".
Give the bottle back to your child and say: "open the bottle" (you are giving them the language you want them to say in the future). They will give the bottle back to you. Stop, Look and Listen. Does your child try to give you a verbal request: "open it"? If they do, Acknowledge by opening the bottle. If they do not say anything try giving it straight back to them without attempting to open it. Do this three times before you actually open the bottle and play with the bubbles.
Other sabotage therapy ideas:
• Craft is a great way to introduce environmental sabotage. Bring out a box of old markers that are dried out, or bottles of glue that have sealed shut, or you have the craft supplies but no paper to glue onto.
• Give the child a toy to play with that is broken, or a game with missing pieces.
• Try different things when having a snack. Attempt to pour juice into a cup from a closed bottle. Give everyone a plate except the child. Give the child a fork (instead of a spoon) for eating yogurt.
• Play dress up. Put on clothes that are too big or too small. Put clothing on the wrong place (e.g. a hat on your foot, a sock on your arm).
• Put a stuffed animal on your head, or a sticker on your nose. Pretend not to notice until the child points it out to you.
• Try to blow up a balloon that has a hole.
If your child has the language, he can sabotage something that belongs to mum or dad or grandparents. Now your child needs to help you find the missing object.
Tips for successful sabotage
1. Make it fun! Purposefully make yourself look and sound fun. The whole idea of environmental sabotage therapy is that it is fun, engaging and not stressful. If your child is not enjoying this activity then stop and go onto something else.
2. If possible, model the activity with a sibling or another adult so your child understands you want them to communicate.
3. Hold out for your intended word or gesture only 3-5 times.
4. Stop, Look and Listen to your child. If they are becoming frustrated, Acknowledge by giving them the solution to start to bring the game to its conclusion eg: "Oh I think your shoes are in the fridge".
3. If your child tries to communicate by gesture or vocalising, accept what they give you even if it is not perfect.
For more speech therapy ideas download Spokle app. It includes hundreds of speech therapy activities designed by speech-language pathologists to help children reach their language goals.
