Have you ever found that your child can answer simple questions but struggles with others? Questions, like everything else to do with language develops with age. So let's explore this a bit further!
Blank Level Questions (Blank, Rose and Berlin, 1978)
This document explains the different levels of question types and what is expected at each level. As you can see they are split up into 4 different levels which can take most children until the age of 6 to master.
Level One
Level one questions are generally about naming things. Try questions like:
What is this?
Can you pick up a x?
Show me a x
Find another one like this
Level Two
Level two questions are generally about describing things. Try questions like:
Who is it?
What are they doing?
Where are they?
Show me something you can eat drink
Which of these things go together?
Tell me another fruit?
What colour is it?
What size is it?
What shape is this?
How many are there?
Level Three
Level three questions are generally about telling and talking about stories or events. Try questions like:
Re-tell the story, what happened?
What do I need to do next?
What will happen next?
give me another example but...
what did x say?
How did x feel?
When did this happen?
Level Four
Level four questions are generally about problem solving and answering why. Try questions like:
How did this happen? Justify why.
Why did this happen? Justify why.
How do you know it happened? Justify why.
How to support children who are struggling to understand different question types?
The most important thing to do is establish which level of questioning your child is consistently following and from there you can work on other levels together. The best way to do that is to ask a Speech Therapist to assess your child and give you advice on where their difficulties lie and what support they may require.
Initially, an assessment of your child's overall understanding will need to take place to determine if support is required at the lower levels of understanding e.g. following instructions which contain multiple pieces of information, understanding of prepositions (on, under, above, next to etc.) or concepts. If these areas are all age appropriate then looking at specific question types, blank levels and other areas related to understanding of language will be assessed. This will create a profile from which a therapist will be able to support you and your child at the right level.
How do I link Blank Level Questions into everyday activities?
At home, at school or at nursery you can link blank level questions and informally test child's abilities at different levels by asking different questions. Let's take playing a tea party; here are the types of questions you could ask at different levels to look at a child's understanding of different blank level questions*.
Level One
Find one like this (cup, knife etc.) What colour/shape is that?
What's this Is this a jug or a teapot
What's in the saucepan? What are you making/using/doing?
Show me the glass/saucer? What can you see?
What has x got? What is x doing?
What am I doing with the teapot? Show me another fork.
Pour the tea.
Level Two
Which one can you drink from? Where are the plates?
Who has the teapot? Where is the blue sugar bowl?
Find one that you can stir the spaghetti with. Show me the saucepan that is small and blue.
What other things could we cook? What happened?
What else can we drink? What is this for?
How is the fork different from the knife? What will I do with this one?
Find one that can mash the potato. How many forks are there?
Level Three
What goes in the cake first? Find one I can drink out of that is not a cup.
Which one tastes best? What else goes into the cake?
What could we put in the oven? How did you make that dinner?
Find me a knife that's not blue. Stir the cake then put it in the oven.
What do we need to do next? What can x say if he wants to wash up?
How are the cup and glass the same? Where do all the things go?
What are all the things you've made? Tell me about the teapot?
Level Four
Why can't we touch the hot oven? What will happen if I drop the cup?
What will happen if the tea goes cold? What will happen if we burn the biscuits?
Why can't we put the hot tea in the glass? How did the tea get on the table?
Why did that happen? How will we know when the dinner is cooked?
How did you make that pattern? How would you feel if the dinner spilt?
If you were to cook what would you make? Why is this called a teapot?
Why does the saucepan have a handle? Why do we need to wash up?
Why do we need to use that?
What do I do if my child hasn't started school yet?
If your child is under the age of 5 it may be appropriate to try different strategies to support their understanding of questions. See my other blog on questions for further support.
If you require support or advice on any of the above please do not hesitate to contact Treetops Speech and Language Therapy for a free 20 minute telephone consultation where your concerns can be discussed and advice given or further support provided.
* Examples have been taken from a resource sheet "Blank Level Questioning" created by Provide - Delivering NHS and Local Authority Community Services (Children's Speech and Language Therapy). The full document can be accessed here:
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