Tell me about your day...

Have you ever had a hard time getting your school-age child to talk to you about their day?  This is a really common issue parents share with me.  I have the opportunity to work with wonderful, involved, and creative parents who share the different ways they try to ask their child about their day, but their attempts are usually met with one word responses...PARENTS WANT MORE! :)


At the beginning of most of my speech/language sessions, I pull out my WH questions cards.  These cards are made on cardstock or flash cards and I wrote "What", "Where", "Who", "When", and "Why" on the cards.  I start with all the cards facing up with the question word showing.  I ask the students to tell me one thing they did over the weekend/last night/today in school...but just one thing.  The student might say, "I went out to dinner".  I then tell the other students in the group that it is our job to be detectives and use our questions to find out more information.  Each student takes a turn picking a "WH" question, asking the question, listening to the response, and turning the card over after the question is answered.  We continue until all the cards are flipped over.  If we have more questions, we can go for another round of asking questions or we can move onto the next student.
The students love this because it feels like a game.  Parents/teachers find value in it because not only are you getting great information about your child's day, but your child is working on asking/answering questions, developing listening skills, social skills, and more.
Try it at home and make it part of your routine...before homework, at dinner, before bed...
Let me know how it is working for you! :)