Ask for help

Why this matters

Asking for help is an advanced and very useful skill. It comes into play when the learner meets a task they cannot solve alone and, instead of refusing or protesting, turns to an adult: "help".

How to introduce

1. 1Introduce the "help" card — alongside refusal and protest, not instead of them.
2. 2Create situations where help is genuinely needed: a tricky fastener, a closed jar, an out-of-reach object.
3. 3Respond to the help request right away — the skill takes hold when help actually arrives.

How to advance

Once requests work in all these forms, the communicator alone becomes too narrow: it is time to move to the message feed, where the learner sees everything they have said and can repeat a phrase.

Common mistakes

• Introducing "help" before the other action verbs and refusals: it quickly replaces everything else — the learner says only "help" in every situation. "Help" is introduced last.
• Helping before the learner has asked — then the request is unnecessary.

Examples

• Cannot open something — the learner taps "help".