Following directions involves listening to an instruction, understanding it, and completing it correctly. Directions may include vocabulary like spatial or temporal concepts, or multiple steps to complete the direction. To follow directions successfully, children need to understand vocabulary, sentence structure, and step order. If any of these areas are difficult, following directions can be a challenge. Some children may also need support with remembering directions. So, how do you teach following directions in speech therapy or at home? Let’s dive in! Here’s a step-by-step guide for supporting students with this skill.
Why is it Important to Work on Following Directions?
Following directions is an important skill for classroom tasks, daily routines, and everyday activities. It’s important for:
- Following classroom instructions
- Participating in structured activities and games
- Completing academic tasks independently
- Listening comprehension
- Sequencing skills
What Age do Children Learn to Follow Directions?
Typically, children learn to follow directions in the toddler and preschool years, starting with simple directions. As language develops, children begin following more complex directions with more than one step or modifier. Here are some developmental milestones for following directions. Please note that these age ranges are meant as a general guide.
- 1–2 years: Follows one-step directions
- 2–3 years: Follows two-step directions, and directions with modifiers (e.g. “Grab the yellow ball.”)
- 3–4 years: Follows three-step directions
Foundational Skills for Following Directions
Following directions is a complex skill that relies on several underlying abilities working together. To follow a direction successfully, students need both language skills and cognitive skills.
If a child has difficulty with one of these skills, they may need extra support in that area to help them understand and complete directions more easily.
Language Comprehension
First, students need to understand the vocabulary and concepts used in the direction. If they do not know a key word, they may appear to have difficulty following directions when the challenge is actually understanding the concept within the instruction.
For example, if you say, “Put your boots under the chair”, but the child does not yet understand the word “under”, the difficulty is with the spatial concept rather than with following directions.
Students also need to understand the sentence structure, since words like “before” and “after” can change the order of the actions.
Many directions include specific types of vocabulary or concept knowledge, including:
- Spatial concepts: e.g., under, between, behind
- Example: “Stand behind your chair.”
- Temporal concepts: e.g., before, after, first, then
- Example: “Before you go outside, put your mittens on.”
- Qualitative concepts: e.g., big, small, same, different
- Example: “Grab the small spoon.”
- Quantitative concepts: e.g., all, some, few, many
- Example: “Put all the blocks in the bin.”
- Negation: e.g., not, don’t
- Example: “Grab a box that is not open.”
- Comparatives and superlatives: e.g., biggest, tallest, most
- Example: “Find the biggest rock.”
- Categories: e.g., food, animals, clothing
- Example: “Color the animals.”
Attention and Executive Functioning
Following directions also requires attention and executive functioning skills. Students need to stay focused long enough to hear the full instruction, hold the information in working memory, and complete the steps in the correct order.
For example, a child may understand the vocabulary in the direction but forget the second step or become distracted before finishing the task.
Working memory, attention, and the ability to stay focused on a task all play an important role in helping children follow directions successfully.
Identifying Where the Breakdown Happens
When a student has difficulty following directions, it can be helpful to look at where the breakdown occurs.
For example:
- If a student hears “Put the book next to the bin” and places it inside the bin, the difficulty may be understanding the spatial concept “next to”.
- If a student hears “Before you start painting, grab the stickers” and begins painting first, they may not yet understand the temporal concept “before”.
- If a student hears “Get your pencil, open your book, and underline the title” but only completes one step, the challenge may be working memory or attention.
Identifying the underlying difficulty helps guide intervention so we can target the specific skill that needs support.
How To Teach Following Directions in Speech Therapy
When teaching following directions in speech therapy, it can be helpful to focus on the underlying skills needed to understand and carry out the direction. Rather than simply practicing longer or more complex directions, we can support students by teaching the language and strategies that help them succeed.
1. Start with Simple Directions
It can be helpful to begin with simple directions that don’t include complex vocabulary and concepts, such as motor directions (e.g., clap your hands, touch your nose) and gradually increase the complexity as the student becomes more successful.
These types of directions can be helpful to see if the child can follow directions (one-step or multiple steps) when language demands are minimal. This may suggest the child would benefit from support for working memory and attention, as well as strategies we will mention below.
2. Teach the Vocabulary and Concepts in Directions
As mentioned earlier, students need to understand different concepts such as temporal and spatial concepts to follow directions. Please refer to the Foundational Skills for Following Directions section above for more detail!
When students understand the vocabulary used in directions, they are more likely to complete the task accurately.
You can start by teaching the vocabulary, then continue practicing directions with embedded concepts. Start with simple directions, then gradually increase the difficulty.
3. Teach Strategies to Help Students Remember Directions
Some students benefit from learning strategies that help them remember and carry out directions.
- Rehearsal: the student repeats the directions to themselves.
- Visualization: the student visualizes completing the steps.
- Asking for repetition: this helps with self-advocacy.
4. Adjust How Directions Are Given to Support Students
As communication partners, we can support children by adjusting how we give directions to make them easier for students to understand and follow. For example, we can support students by:
- gaining the child’s attention before giving the direction
- keeping directions clear and simple
- reducing background distractions
- giving one or two steps at a time when needed
- repeating or rephrasing the instruction
- pairing directions with visuals or gestures
Activities To Practice Following Directions
Here are some of my favorite ways to teach and practice following directions in speech therapy sessions:
Toys and Play-Based Activities
You can use toys and play routines to practice following directions naturally while keeping it fun and engaging for students. For example:
- Toy animals: e.g., “Put the sheep in the barn.”
- Play food: e.g., “Put the pizza in the oven after you add cheese.”
- Blocks: e.g., “Grab the longest block.”
- Cars and vehicles: e.g., “Put all the trucks in the bin.”
Obstacle Courses and Movement Games
Obstacle courses can be a great way to practice following directions while moving around! For example:
- “Touch the door, then hop on one leg across the room.”
- “Jump on the red circle, then spin around.”
Coloring Activities
Coloring activities are fun and don’t require prepping materials or a lot of space. They’re great to use on busy days and can help target directions with different kinds of concepts! For example:
- “Color the dog before you color the cat.”
- “Draw two clouds, then color the sun.”
These coloring activities are from the Following Directions Activity Packet.
Crafts and Hands-On Projects
Crafts are also great because they naturally involve multiple steps and sequencing! For example:
- “Color the hat, then cut out the shapes.”
- “Glue the shape at the back and put the stickers in the front.”
- “Fold both sides, then turn it around.”
Adapting Activities for Older Students and Virtual Sessions
If you’re working with older students or providing teletherapy (or both!), you may need to make a few adjustments to your activity selection.
Older students
When working with older students, you might want to use worksheets, reading passages, or any homework or classroom activities they have as a material source. This can help the student practice following directions and using their strategies in a functional way that matches their age and interests.
Teletherapy
In virtual sessions, students can practice following directions using motor directions (e.g., Simon Says), digital worksheets, picture scenes, or interactive slides. Many videoconferencing platforms also include annotation tools that allow students to draw, circle, or color items on the screen.
Following Directions Carryover and Home Practice
Practicing across different activities is great, and practicing across different settings and with different people is even better for carryover! Encourage families and teachers to practice during daily routines whenever possible:
- During meals: “Wash your hands before you sit at the table.”
- During cleanup: “Put all the blocks in the bin and put the book on the shelf.”
- While reading: “Point to the dog that is not sleeping.”
You can also use information handouts and simple worksheets to encourage consistent practice at home and in the classroom to support generalization. The goal is for the student to apply the skills across different contexts outside the therapy room.
What’s Next After Following Directions?
Once students become more successful with following directions, they may continue developing related language skills such as:
- Answering WH questions
- Sequencing
A Step-by-Step Resource for Following Directions
We’ve discussed how to teach following directions in speech therapy step by step. Whether you’re a speech therapist, parent, or educator, I hope this has been helpful for you.
Teaching following directions can involve many different skills, including understanding vocabulary, concepts, sentence structure, and using strategies to help retain instructions in working memory. With the right supports and practice opportunities, students can become more confident in understanding and completing directions.
To make this process easier, I created a Following Directions Activity Packet that includes structured activities designed to help students practice following directions step by step.
The packet includes activities targeting different types of directions and concepts, making it easy to teach following directions and support students as they build confidence in this skill during speech therapy sessions, at home, or in the classroom.
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