Why does the child need to understand WH questions?

Children need to understand wh questions as an essential part of language development. They will have a conversation through wh-questions and answer them. They need to answer such questions to convey information and ask things.  Asking and answering questions is key to progress in children. Most children begin this process between the age of one and two. They will develop the necessary expressive and receptive skills.

Wh questions are an essential part of children’s verbal skills. They need to understand them so as to take part in daily conversations.

The article explains the wh-questions, their importance, and how to use them in speech therapy for children.

What are Wh questions?

The average child asks more than 200 questions per day. They ask questions to know the world around them and find out how it works. The typical questions are the wh-questions;

• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• and how

Asking and answering wh-questions leads to a higher level of comprehension level. Children learn new and more information through speech therapy wh-questions.

To find out if the child is meeting the developmental goals, you need to know at what age children can answer different types of questions.

Some of the questions are easier to learn. For the others, the child needs verbal and thinking skills. In addition, there is an age standard for the child to understand certain types of questions.

Age 1-2

Children can answer the “where” questions. They can pick what they want from the two given objects. Then they become able to ask yes-no questions and will begin asking “what” questions.

Age 2 to 3

In this age group, children can point to objects when described. They often can provide longer answers to “where” questions.

By asking the type of mentioned questions, you can find out if the child is progressing with the verbal skills. You will know what areas to practice and focus on.

Asking the question will not suffice. Determine if the child can answer the child can ask and answer the question correctly.

In case you see that your child doesn’t ask any questions, ask straightforward questions to start light.

Why are WH questions so important?

A child needs to understand the wh-questions to:

• Take part in conversations with family and peers.
• Answering asked questions in a class
• Showing knowledge and understanding on tests
• Understanding assigned tasks and projects
• Ability to follow directions & stay safe

Why does the child need to understand WH questions?

Understanding wh-questions is a language skill children must-have. A child needs to understand;

• The question word
• The grammar
• vocabulary word
• The context and the formation of conversation.
• Prepare a response
• Form the words together in a meaningful way
• Give appropriate response

What is the root of the problem?

Why is it that a baby cannot answer WH questions? This can be tricky to figure out. The important questions to ask your baby are: Does the youngster have difficulty:

• Do you understand inquiry words?
• Recognizing the grammatical structures?
• Do you understand the vocabulary?
• Making a grammatically accurate response (showing knowledge)?
• Making a linguistically correct response (displaying knowledge)?
• Are you paying attention long enough to hear and grasp the question?

The method you choose to improve the child’s capacity to answer WH questions will be determined by the cause of the issue. But, again, a consultation or evaluation by a certified SLP is the best place to start to figure this out.

Teaching Wh-questions in speech therapy

According to American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the first step in speech therapy and the rehabilitation of speech for children is to evaluate their situation. After the assessment, you know the situation and where to begin. You have a clear understanding of the areas your child needs help with. When you do, start with the easiest questions. “What” questions are the easiest ones, while the abstract ones like “why” are the last ones.

You would better make the wh-questions direct and explicit. Repeating questions and similar questions during the day is also helpful. For instance, you can ask “what” questions in the kitchen bedroom or going to the park.

Questions about the activities the child did during that day are also helpful. “When did you eat” or “What did you eat for lunch” are among them.

Pictures are helpful to a great extent. You can gather related pictures from books, magazines, and newspapers or print them from the internet. You should ask the question and ask the child to point out the related pictures in a series.

Wh-questions Teaching Steps for Speech Therapy

Visuals should be matched to the template. During the sorting process, they notice:

• “Where” refers to a location.
• A PERSON is defined as “who.”
• “What” refers to an ACTION.
• Recognizing the piles. “Point to the who/what/where”
• Expressive component. When you pose the question, stimulate the learner by pointing to the appropriate graphic.

For instance, assign photographs of “boy,” “playing,” and “school” to the appropriate templates. Then say, “Point at ‘who.'” Then, while referring to the school picture, ask the question, “Where is the boy?” and the youngster replies, “school.” Then, gradually diminish the point and prompt until the youngster can respond to questions concerning visuals, text, aural, and new stimuli.

We then proceed with receptive and expressive tests with the images before them once they’ve organized the pictures. Once learned, the sorting process fades away, but the errorless instruction remains. Point to the proper response (e.g., playing) when asking the question (e.g., “What is the kid doing?”) while the learner is looking at the images (for example: “The boy is playing at school”). Gradually fade out the prompt until they can answer the proper ‘wh question’ with the picture. Then, focus on expanding this to include text, audio, and new stimuli.

Wh questions for kids’ speech therapy

The list of wh-questions for speech therapy in children is as follows;

What Questions for Speech Therapy

1. What do we wear on our heads?
2. What do cows eat?
3. What do dogs eat?
4. What do we need when it snows?
5. What do bees give us?
6. What is a spoon for?
7. What do we use to eat cereal?
8. What does a green light?
9. What do you like to do when you go out?
10. What was the greatest fun you had today?
11. What is your last birthday gift?
12. What does your room look like?
13. What does your room look like?
14. What is funny about your dog?
15. What makes you happy?
16. What movie did you watch last week?
17. What makes you happy?
18. What do you eat when you wake up?
19. What do ants make?
20. What did you do at school?
21. What is your favorite color?
22. What is on TV at the moment?

When Questions for Speech Therapy

1. When do you get up in the morning?
2. When do you go to school?
3. When does your daddy take you to the park?
4. When do we eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
5. When do we turn on the lights?
6. When is your birthday?
7. When do we wash our hands?
8. When do you brush your teeth?
9. When do you take a shower?
10. When do you wear a cap/hat?
11. When do you need to wear a hat/coat/gloves/swimming suit?
12. When do we see a doctor?
13. When did you play with your friend?
14. When did you last go on vacation?
15. When was the last time you eat at your friend’s house?
16. When do we sleep?
17. When does school finish?
18. When is spring back?
19. When is New Year?
20. When do people brush their teeth?
21. When do we water the flowers?
22. When do leaves fall from trees?
23. When do people laugh/cry?
24. When do we go to the beach?
25. When do we go shopping?
26. When do we need new clothes?
27. When do we drink water?
28. When do people turn on the PC?
29. When do people use their cellphone?
30. When do we dance?

Where Questions for Speech Therapy

1. Where are stars located?
2. Where do we live?
3. Where do we make breakfast?
4. Where do kids go to play?
5. Where can people buy food?
6. Where do we swim?
7. Where do people drink coffee?
8. Where do we watch movies?
9. Where do people play football?
10. Where do fathers buy toys?
11. Where do people clean their teeth?
12. Where do we take sick people?
13. Where do fish live?
14. Where do we do exercise?
15. Where do people buy chocolate cake?
16. Where do you buy fruits?
17. Where do spiders live?
18. Where do nurses work?
19. Where do people go camping?
20. Where does honey come from?
21. Where do we put our shoes?
22. Where do you eat breakfast?
23. Where can we play games?
24. Where do a king and queen live?
25. Where do we bake a cake?
26. Where do we keep food?
27. Where can people sleep?
28. Where do we put gloves? (on our hands)

Why Questions for Speech Therapy

1. Why do we wear clothes?
2. Why do people eat food?
3. Why do we go shopping?
4. Why do fathers go to work?
5. Why do people feed the dog?
6. Why does it snow?
7. Why do cats meow?
8. Why do people walk?
9. When does a cat eat milk?
10. Why do we wear clothes?
11. Why do we work?
12. Why do people wear glasses?
13. When do fathers go to work?
14. When do people use an umbrella?
15. When do people go to restaurants?
16. Why do people smell food?
17. Why do people turn off lights?
18. Why does a tree grow?
19. Why do people watch movies?
20. Why do people go on vacation?
21. Why do people take a shower?

Who Questions for Speech Therapy

1. Who makes chocolate cake?
2. Who teaches children to write?
3. Who cooks food in your home?
4. Who arrests thieves?
5. Who puts out a fire?
6. Who takes care of sick people?
7. Who makes formula in a bottle?
8. Who takes care of people when swimming?
9. Who works in a school?
10. Who feeds the dogs?
11. Who cooks food at a restaurant?
12. Who takes care of patients in a hospital?
13. Who grows food for people on farms?
14. Who takes a photo?
15. Who cuts your hair?
16. Who plays music on TV?
17. Who drives a bus?
18. Who brings food home from the restaurant?
19. Who makes you breakfast?
20. Who plays a movie?
21. Who fixes cars?
22. Who works in a restaurant?
23. Who drives a bus/cab/plane?
24. Why do we visit when we are sick?
25. Why do we feed animals in the zoo?
26. Who delivers the mail?
27. Who brings things for you in stuff?

How Questions for Speech Therapy

1. How do people ride a bike?
2. How do we turn off a TV?
3. How do people make a home tree?
4. How do people eat food?
5. How do we make a sandwich?
6. How do people take a shower?
7. How do we sleep?
8. How do people dance?
9. How do people tie their shoes?
10. How much water do you want?
11. How many apples/oranges do you eat a day?
12. How many friends do you have?
13. How do you wear your hat?
14. How much ice cream did you eat last week?
15. How much do you drink a day?

Activities that Help Children Understand Wh-questions

Ask your baby questions such as, “Who is this?” when reading simple narrative books with images or photos. You can ask other questions like What are they up to? What is the child’s destination? When will they return? “What is he/she doing leaving?” Practice asking and answering these sorts of questions.

Wh-questions can be used to ask about your child’s day at school. For example, “Who did you eat lunch with?” Where did the students go for music class? When was the last time you played outdoors? So, what did you have for lunch? Why did you bring your books home?

Cut out images from magazines/books. Build a Wh-question graph with a column for each sort of inquiry. Show your children a picture and ask them to place it in the appropriate column. For instance, if you show the children a guy’s photo, they will put the image in the Who column. They place an apple in the What box and a park picture in the Where column.

Why does my Child have Difficulty Learning WH Questions?

If your youngster is having difficulty learning how to respond to wh- questions, something is most likely preventing him from learning. Here are some of the obstacles to consider:

• The youngster does not grasp what the query words mean (what, who, when, etc.). For example, he may be unable to distinguish between where and when.
• The Child does not understand the terms used in the query. For instance, when you question them about the helicopter, they have no idea what it is.
• The Child cannot correctly develop a response because he lacks the requisite semantic and grammatical expertise. Begin by focusing on sentence structure and grammar and expanding the Child’sChild’s vocabulary.
• The Child is having difficulty concentrating long enough to grasp the topic and produce an answer.

These are challenging questions to answer. If your kid is still failing to learn wh-questions after using the resources listed above, seek the advice of a trained speech therapist for a full examination and action plan.

Is Answering WH Questions Receptive or Expressive?

Answering “Wh” questions is another key aspect of teaching our pupils. Responding to “WH” queries involves receptive and expressive language abilities. The Child must comprehend and analyze the “WH” question before being able to respond using expressive language abilities. Therefore, it is critical to recall how children communicate. 

There are many different ways you can work on “WH” questioning skills with your students, depending on each student’s current level. I usually include a “WH” question goal into many of my students’ IEPs because it is an important skill to target.

Speech therapy in Las Vegas

Children might have difficulty with verbal and language skills. Speech therapy and language disorder treatment can help them to get better at speaking and communicating with others. If they can’t speak well with family and friends, their self-confidence could decrease. It could lead to other social problems as well.

Ask and answer questions are an essential part of communication for children. They must be able to answer or ask questions by a certain age.

The article explained the importance of wh-questions for speech therapy among children. You can use the guide to work with your children.

If you need speech therapy for your children or loved ones, Health and Care professional Network is at your service in Las Vegas in your place of residence. The child or loved ones feel comfortable and relaxed by receiving services at home.

We have provided the best in-home caregiver services in Las Vegas since 2006. Contact us at (702) 871-9917 to order services or receive further information.