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Hi Catherine! I work in a similar program and this is something our teacher's struggle with as well. I would encourage you to look through the video examples of instructional support on this site and really focus on the ones where teachers work with infants/toddlers. These videos give a good idea on how to have those back and forth conversations with a child who is not speaking yet. This is a really good one: https://community.teachstone.com/viewdocument/toddler-exemplar-video-quality-of?CommunityKey=00b2dc35-30ad-4ef3-8020-f722c650f5d1&tab=librarydocuments
Also, we know with children who are non-verbal and struggle with social interactions it is going to take a lot of time, practice, and extra supports to get them to grow, and that is okay! Give yourself grace and meet your students where they are.
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