More Than Trick-or-Treating: How Halloween Creates Natural Communication Opportunities

When thinking of Halloween, most children think about what costume they want to wear, how to decorate their jack-o’-lantern, or the different types of candy they will collect. Speech-language pathologists, however, think about the countless natural communication opportunities Halloween presents.

Halloween is filled with opportunities for children to practice and develop their communication skills. When speaking to families, the question I get most often is: how can I fit one more thing onto my plate on Halloween? The good news is families do not need to create elaborate activities or turn Halloween into a therapy session. Many of these opportunities are already built into experiences children look forward to. The question is: how can we make the most of them?

Communication develops through everyday experiences children share with the people around them. Talking about a costume, following directions while decorating a pumpkin, or deciding which house to visit next can encourage communication. Instead of adding another activity to an already busy October, families can be intentional about communication opportunities that already occur. 

Before Halloween

• Halloween Costumes: Having the child pick their own costume can help them express preferences, make choices, and describe ideas. Instead of only asking, “What do you want to be?”, talk through the possibilities together. For children who are combining words, target longer phrases (i.e. “I want…”, “I like…”), descriptive words (i.e. big, small, red, blue), and comparisons (i.e. they both can fly). For children who have emerging communication skills, offer choices (i.e. “Dinosaur or superhero?”). The child can respond by saying a word, pointing, using a gesture, or using a communication device. The goal is not a particular response. It is to create an opportunity for the child to communicate.
  

• Walking Through a Pumpkin Patch: A trip to the pumpkin patch provides natural opportunities to build vocabulary and expand language around what the child is already experiencing. Rather than asking question after question, “What is that?” or “What color is the pumpkin?”, parents can model language by commenting on what catches the child’s attention. For children who are combining words, parents can use the experience to model descriptive words and longer phrases (i.e., “big orange pumpkin,” “I found a pumpkin,” “That pumpkin is heavy”). If the child says, “Pumpkin,” parents can expand on what they said by responding, (i.e. “Yes, a big orange pumpkin!”). For children with emerging communication skills, parents can follow the child’s lead and label what they look at, point to, or show interest in. Hearing language connected to what they are seeing and doing is meaningful without added pressure.

During Halloween

• Trick-or-Treating: Going trick-or-treating creates natural opportunities to work on expressive language and social communication skills. Children can practice greetings, requesting, making choices, turn-taking, waiting, and responding to others. For children who are combining words, parents can practice using phrases such as “Trick or treat,” “I want that one,” “Let’s go there,” or “Thank you,” as well as commenting on what they see. For children with emerging communication skills, model simple words such as “go,” “more,” “open,” or “candy,” or offer choices such as, “This house or that house?” Children can participate using words, gestures, pointing, waving, or a communication device. The goal is not for every child to independently say “trick or treat” at every door, but to give them opportunities to participate in the interaction in a way that works for them.

• Pumpkin Decorating: Decorating a pumpkin is a fun way to work on vocabulary, following directions, requesting, and sequencing. Parents can talk about the materials they are using and what they are doing as they decorate. Targeted skills can look like using descriptive phrases (i.e., “big eyes,” “orange pumpkin,” “scary face”), requesting materials (i.e., “I want the marker,” “More stickers”), and following directions with multiple steps (i.e., “Get the black marker and draw two eyes”). Parents can also model functional words such as “more,” “help,” “open,” “on,” and “off,” while providing opportunities to point to or choose between materials. Words such as first, next, and last can be incorporated as you move through each step. Rather than focusing on the finished pumpkin, use the process of creating it together as an opportunity for back-and-forth communication.

• Halloween Baking: Baking Halloween treats provides opportunities to work on following directions, sequencing, vocabulary, requesting, and describing. Children can help gather ingredients, pour, mix, decorate, and taste what they make. Target action words (i.e., pour, mix, roll, cut), descriptive words (i.e., sticky, sweet, hot, cold), and longer phrases such as “I need more,” “Pour it in,” or “I want the orange one.” Children can practice following one- or multi-step directions. Functional words such as “more,” “help,” “mix,” “eat,” and “done,” along with offering choices between ingredients or decorations can help our younger kiddos. Parents can use sequencing words such as first, next, then, and last to talk through the steps. Simply talking about what they are doing together provides meaningful exposure to new language.

After Halloween

• Talking About Halloween After It Is Over: The communication opportunities do not end when the candy is collected. Talking about Halloween afterward provides an opportunity to work on recalling information, sequencing events, answering questions, and developing narrative language skills. For older children, targeted skills can look like describing their favorite part of the night, recalling a funny or unexpected event, or putting events in order using words such as first, next, then, and last. Looking through pictures can provide visual support to help children remember and organize what happened (i.e., “First, we put on your costume. What happened next?”). For younger children, parents can use pictures to offer choices or model simple words and phrases related to their experience (i.e., “costume,” “candy,” “I liked it,” “so fun”). Since the children are talking about something they personally experienced, they already have meaningful information to share, making it a natural way to build communication and early storytelling skills.

Supporting communication during Halloween does not mean turning every activity into a therapy session. By talking about what their child is interested in, giving them time to respond, and remembering that communication can take many forms, including gestures, AAC, sounds, words, and sentences, parents can support their child’s communication. Halloween gives children so many natural opportunities to communicate because there is always something new to see, do, or talk about. These opportunities do not disappear when Halloween is over and can be found in everyday routines and activities. Most importantly, let your child enjoy Halloween and use the moments that come up naturally to talk, interact, and connect.