About this activity
Twelve single-step directions: touch your nose, stand up, clap your hands, pick up the red block, put the pencil on the table, give me the blue crayon, open the book, point to the window, close your eyes. Some are pure actions and some involve an object and a location, which is a real difference in difficulty even though both are one step.
How to use it in a session
Say the direction once. Repeating it turns a listening task into a memory-supported one, and the point is what the child can do with a single hearing. Start with the body-action directions — touch your nose, stand up — and move to the object ones, which require identifying the item, the action and often a place. Eight minutes covers all twelve.
What to listen for
Watch where a direction breaks. Put the pencil on the table has three elements — object, action, location — and a child who picks up the pencil and stops has processed two of them. Notice whether the child watches your face for a cue, which is a good strategy and can mask a comprehension difficulty if you are gesturing without realising.
Carrying it home
Directions happen all day at home. Giving one at a time, saying it once, and waiting rather than repeating is a change that costs nothing and tells a family a lot about what their child understood.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through second grade, and any student at the start of directions work.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve directions play with no account.
- Should I repeat the direction if the child doesn't respond?
- Wait first — processing time is often the whole issue. If you repeat, say exactly the same words rather than rephrasing, so you learn whether repetition or simplification is what helped.