Responding to Name | Therapy Toolkit for Helping a Child Respond to His/Her Name

This 3-step program will help a child learn to respond to his/her name. This no-prep toolkit is ready for use in speech/language therapy sessions or by parents for home use. Includes one page for each phase of therapy that can be used by therapists or sent home as homework.

How to Help a Child Respond to His/Her Name:

Welcome to your no-prep therapy kit for working on helping a child respond to his/her name. Children with significant social delays, such as those with autism, often don’t respond to their name when called. This makes it difficult for adults to get their attention or call them away from what they’re doing. It also makes it difficult for them to participate in social interactions with peers as they may not be aware that someone else is talking to them.

Keep in mind though, that just because a child is not responding to his name, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has autism. There are many symptoms of autism that must be present before that diagnosis can be made. Children without autism can also have difficulty with this, especially if they have significant communication delays or cognitive delays.

These steps will help you increase a child’s ability to respond to his name.

How to Use this Kit:

1. Print this packet and put it in the child’s folder or notebook.
2. Work on the first phase in therapy.
3. When the child has mastered that phase, take out that page and send it home as homework.
4. Work on the next phase in therapy while the parents are reinforcing the previous phase at home.

Therapy Overview:

This kit is broken down into the following phases:

1. Respond in Isolated Setting: Client will respond to his name being spoken in the quiet, speech therapy room by looking in the direction of the speaker.
2. Respond in a Structured Setting: Client will respond to his name being spoken in a structured environment with some distractions by looking in the direction of the speaker.
3. Respond in an Unstructured Setting: Client will spontaneously respond to his name in the natural environment by looking in the direction of the speaker.

Who is this For?

• Speech-Language Pathologists, Special Educators, and ABA Therapists: This kit is perfect for working with your clients who are struggling to respond to others. Follow these steps in therapy and then send the pages home with parents to practice as well.
• Teachers: Do you have children in your class who aren't able to attend and respond? You can use these same steps throughout the day to encourage responses from these students.
• Parents: If your child doesn't respond when you call his/her name, you can use the steps from this toolkit at home to help your child. Stay on phase 1 until your child is consistently responding in the isolated setting. Then, start on phase 2. If you need further help, contact your child's speech-language pathologist for help! Remember, in the United States, there are free and low-cost services available through State early intervention programs and the public schools. Ask your child's pediatrician if you need a referral to one of those programs.

Additional Information:

For a video walkthrough of how to teach this skill, go here: https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/child-not-responding-to-name/