Back and forth

The sheet

Four cards to cut out, for the back and forth that helps babies and toddlers learn to talk: notice, answer, name it, wait, and let them end it.

Pocket card · A4, four cards to cut, two sides · Two pages · PDF, 63 KB

How it helps

Babies and toddlers learn to talk through back and forth with the people who look after them: your child does something, you answer, they answer you. The card holds the five steps for moments already in your day, such as the bath, the shops and the stairs.

How to use it

1. Print it on both sides, flipping on the long edge, cut out the four cards, and keep one where you spend time with your child: on the fridge, in the buggy, by the bath.
2. When your child looks, points, babbles or reaches, answer it, name it, and wait for their turn.
3. Let them lead, and let them end it. A few moments here and there all count.
4. If you’re worried about your child’s talking or hearing, speak to your health visitor or GP. Talk to them too if you find it hard to enjoy or to feel close to your child, or you feel low most days, and if you have thoughts of harming yourself or your child, act that day: ask the surgery for an urgent appointment, and if it is closed, use the routes at theparentbook.com/urgent-help.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with Big Feelings and Co-Regulation.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.