Information carrying words (ICWs) provide a structure which helps us to control the number of words in a sentence that a child has to understand in order to carry out the instruction. Your speech and language therapist will have assessed the level of ICWs that your child is currently able to understand at, so that then their understanding can be improved in small, achievable steps.

An ICW is a word in a sentence that carries meaning. Many words in a sentence are not needed in order for the child to understand what they need to do.

Provide a 6 key word instruction in a slow, clear voice e.g.

Draw a big red circle and a small green square1 2 3 4 5 6

Draw a yellow star, a blue triangle and a purple dot 1 2 3 4 5 6Point to the small green square and the big blue circle 1 2 3 4 5 6Touch your nose, wiggle your fingers and point to the bin 1 2 3 4 5 6

Note: if you are asking a child to point to items as opposed to drawing/generating them, there must be a range of items for the child to choose from i.e. each item must be in each colour, both big and small. This is because if you ask the child for a big red square when there is only one square on the table, the child only has to understand ‘square’ to get the instruction correct, so is only following one key word and not three.

Key words can take the form of different objects, verbs (action words), prepositions (e.g. in, on, under, in front, behind, above, below, beside, etc.), and other concepts can be added to the instruction to increase complexity.

The easiest instructions will be where the child is asked to point to items already in front of him. This will allow the child to visually track the items as they are being said, which is the first step in visualising. The more complex instructions will be where the child is asked to draw items, with only coloured pencils/pens and a piece of paper in front of him. The child

Activities to develop a child’s ability to follow instructions containing 6 information carrying words

must use auditory rehearsal (repeating the instruction back to himself) and/or visualisation (where he pictures the items in his head) to correctly complete the instruction.

The child should be encouraged to use both strategies and shown how to do them. They will naturally choose the one they prefer to use in the future.

o For auditory rehearsal, you repeat the instruction over and over and get the child to join in when possible. Do this for a few instructions, then see if the child can repeat one back on his own – they may require help initially. Once the child is successfully repeating the items without needed the instruction repeated over and over, encourage them to do so whispering/under their breath/in their head.

o For visualisation, encourage the child to imagine the objects as if they were a photo, or imagine the actions as if it were on a video.

Once the child can carry out a series of 6 key word instructions correctly, you can move on to 7 key word instructions.