About this activity
Twelve yes-or-no questions: do you want a snack; do you want more; are you all done; do you want to go outside; is this yours; do you need help; are you tired; is the light on; do you want a break; are you hungry; do you want to stop. Reliable yes and no is the most powerful thing a communication system can offer, and it is often assumed rather than taught.
How to use it in a session
Ask questions where both answers are genuinely possible and where the student's answer will be honoured. Do you want more, asked when they might not, teaches that the answer matters; asked when the answer will be ignored, it teaches the opposite. Mix the preference questions with the factual ones — is the light on — since a student may have reliable yes and no for wants and not for facts. Five minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Watch for a yes bias, which is extremely common and often reinforced by adults. Asking a question where no is the obvious answer — do you want to go to bed now — tests whether the response is real. Notice whether the student's yes and no are consistent in form: a system that uses a different signal each time is not yet reliable, however clear each instance seems.
Carrying it home
Honouring the answer is the whole intervention. A no that changes what happens teaches that communication works; a no that is overridden teaches that it does not, and that lesson is learned quickly.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through second grade, and any emergent communicator establishing yes and no.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve questions play with no account.
- How do I know if yes and no are reliable?
- Ask questions where you already know the answer, and where no is the true one. A student who says yes to everything has a response and not yet a reliable one.