I learned this technique from our child psychologist a few years back and tried it again this morning with my PDD daughter. She thinks I have to help her with all of her chores, like making her bed and picking up her room and I usually do for time sake and to keep things moving.

But today I thought I would try the “announcer technique”. Basically you narrate every action the child does with some fun comments. Example; when I told her to make her bed this morning all by herself she asked me to watch her (which is very hard for me to do.) I would rather do the chore myself than stand there and watch. But the interaction is what she was looking for she knows how to make her bed. So when she started stacking her pillows I counted “There she goes one pillow stacked, two pillows stacked…”. She started to move faster anticipating my next narration. Then she even combined steps while walking by her window she pulled the curtains back and straightened them. My narration sounded like this, “wow she is even doing two tasks at once and look how speedy” the next step was the covers. “Now the sheets get pulled up look how smooth she does this.” The comments go on until the task is complete. Then a big compliment and a high five, “you did it!” She is motivated now to complete the rest of her routine for a great start to the day. It’s hard to do at first and feels awkward but it’s better than constantly nagging which I often have a tendency to do.