WH Questions: the ultimate guide for Speech Therapy

Asking and answering WH Questions is a key milestone in language development for children and crucial to be able to communicate with each other.

In this guide, you will learn everything there is about WH questions; when to teach them, how to assess the child, how to teach them, and in which order, a list of 200 WH question examples, and other free resources to practice with your child.

1. What are WH questions?

 

Wh- questions are questions people ask in order to get information or communicate their wants and needs with each other. WH Questions are frequently used in our daily lives either at home, at school, at work, in the doctor’s office, and even while playing in the playground.

There are two main types of questions:

• Yes/No questions that require a simple answer with yes and no.
• WH- questions are questions starting with WH words that require a more complex answer about specific things, places, times, people, choices, etc.

 

These are the main WH Questions that we teach children with autism, speech delay, or special needs in speech therapy:

• When-questions ask about time (when do you sleep?)
• Who-questions ask about people (Who cut your hair?)
• Why-questions ask about reasons or causes (Why are you crying)
• What-questions ask about things (What is that?)
• Where-questions ask about places (Where do you buy bread)
• Which questions ask about choices (Which jacket is yours?)
• How-questions ask about quantity, number, or process (How do you sharpen a pencil?)

 

2. Why is teaching WH questions important?

 

a. When should a child be able to ask WH questions?

The answer to “when the child is able to understand, ask and answer WH questions?” is very important but can slightly change from one child to the other. But, you can typically expect children to be able to do the following by each one of these time frames:

         1 to 2 years old toddlers

Children begin to learn wh- questions at the age of 1 or 2. They usually start with concrete questions like ‘what’ questions that are the easiest to learn. What questions that children learn first are mostly related to objects from their daily life like body parts for example and they are formulated as “What is this?”.

In other words, at 1 or 2 years, your child should be able to

• answer what questions verbally by naming the object.

• answer where questions verbally or by pointing using his finger.

• ask what questions like for example “what’s that?”.

           2 to 3 years old children

Once children get a grasp of what questions, they can focus more complex questions on places, people, and actions. At the beginning of the learning curve for this type of question, children usually point toward the answer.

Gradually, your child should start answering verbally to questions that start with ‘where’, ‘what'(objects and actions), and/or ‘who’.

Your child should also be able, at this point, to answer more abstract critical thinking questions like “what should you do when you need to pee?”.

Finally, by this age, your child should be able to ask where and what questions like for example “where are we doing?”, and “what are you doing mom?”

         3 years old children

Why and how questions are the last to be mastered because they are more abstract and require advanced verbal skills and complex thinking.

Therefore, by the age of 3, children have enough critical thinking to answer why and how questions. They can answer questions like “how do turn on the light? or “Why are you upset?”.

Children are also able to ask a new set of questions starting with Why, When and Whose, such as “Why isn’t grandma coming today?”, “When is she coming?” or “Whose shirt is that?”.

           4 years old children

At the age of 4, children are able to answer all the above questions plus questions starting with how many. They can also ask more elaborate questions like “can you…?” or “are you going to…”.

 

 

WH Questions’ Assessment Worksheet.pdf

 

 

c. How do you target WH Questions in speech therapy?

Based on the comparison between what the child is supposed to know (age-appropriate use of WH questions as discussed before) and your assessment of what he actually knows (using the worksheet above), you can start to practice WH questions using the free resources and flashcards provided below.

Keep in mind that you need to target easy WH questions first like what, then work your way up to the more difficult ones.

 

Here are free downloadable resources and flashcards to teach your child WH questions:

 

1. WH Questions starting with ‘WHO’

 

“Who” questions are the easiest questions to teach in ABA or speech therapy sessions for children with autism or speech delay. Here are free flashcards to learn Who Questions.

 

 

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2. WH Questions starting with ‘WHAT’

 

Learning to answer What Questions mainly helps your child develop his conversation skills and enables him to collect information on his environment and enrich his vocabulary. You can download What Questions flashcards here.

 

 

 

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3. WH Questions starting with ‘WHERE’

 

Where questions teach children about places we find and do things. Follow this link to learn how to teach them to your child with a lot of other free educational tools.

 

 

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4. WH Questions starting with ‘WHEN’

 

When questions are one of the most difficult WH questions to teach. But don’t worry, here is a complete guide with everything you need to teach them to your child with autism or speech delay.

 

 

 

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5. WH Questions starting with ‘WHY’

 

You will get access to a free Why Questions guide to help you teach children to properly answer why questions through 120 flashcards designed to make the learning process fun and intuitive.

 

 

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6. WH Questions starting with ‘HOW’

Teach How Questions through 24 thoughtfully crafted task cards that focus on the “how” aspect of WH questions. This resource provides diverse scenarios and situations, encouraging children to think critically and develop their understanding of “how” things work.

 

 

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7. WH Questions starting with ‘WHICH’

 

‘Which’ questions are some of the most powerful WH Questions because, without them, children can’t express choice and preference for something over the other.

 

 

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d. Why is my child struggling to learn wh questions?

If your child is struggling to learn how to answer wh- questions, there is definitely something that prevents him from learning. Here are some of the barriers to explore:

• the child doesn’t understand the meaning of the question words (what, who, when, etc.). He might be unable to differentiate between where and when for example.
• the child doesn’t understand the words used within the question. Like for example when you are asking him about the helicopter and he doesn’t know what that is.
• The child is unable to properly formulate the answer as he still lacks the semantical and grammatical knowledge necessary to do so. In this case, start with working on sentence structure and grammar and on enriching the child’s vocabulary.
• The child has difficulty focusing long enough to understand the question and be able to formulate an answer.

These are difficult questions to answer. If your child is still struggling to learn wh- questions even after using the materials linked above, refer to a qualified speech-language pathologist for a thorough evaluation and action plan.

 

4. WH Questions’ Discrimination

 

Once your child has successfully learned to answer WH questions, you can challenge his understanding of WH Questions by asking multiple questions at once.

Here are two free activities to practice WH Questions Discrimination

 

a. WH Questions Discrimination Scenes

 

This is a great activity to practice WH Questions using scenes in a structured way and with little or no prep.

 

 

 

b. WH Questions Discrimination Flashcards

 

This activity includes 28 printable cards to successfully teach your child to answer multiple WH Questions at once.

 

 

 

 

5. Wh questions’ examples with answers?

What questions’ examples with answers

1. What is your name?
2. What color is the ocean? (blue)
3. What do we wear on our hear? (hat or cap)
4. What does the baker make? (bread)
5. What do you like to eat?
6. What do we use in our ears to listen to music? (headphones)
7. What smells bad?
8. What are scissors for? (cutting)
9. What do we need to jump in water puddles? (boots)
10. What is your favorite color?

Where questions’ examples with answers

To practice more Where questions, check this resource with 240 Task Cards and 12 where questions Worksheets.

 

1. When do you brush your teeth? (after meals)
2. When do we eat dinner? (in the evening)
3. When do we wash dishes? (when they’re dirty or after meals)
4. When do you wear a swimsuit? (when I go to the beach or swimming pool)
5. When do you play with your friends? (during recess)
6. When do girls put on a hairband? (when they want to look beautiful)
7. When do flowers bloom? (in spring)
8. When do we use a pencil? (when we want to draw)
9. When do we wear pajamas? (when we go to bed)
10. When do we wear a hat? (when we go outside for a walk)

 

 

1. Who brushed your hair this morning? (Mom)
2. Who fixed broken cars? (mechanic)
3. Who do you call when you’re sick? (hospital)
4. Who takes care of sick animals? (veterinarian)
5. Who takes care of you when mom and dad are busy? (babysitter or grandparents)
6. Who helps you learn and works in a classroom? (teacher)
7. Who brings food to your table in the restaurant? (waiter)
8. Who do you go to when your teeth hurt? (dentist)
9. Who scans items at the store and takes payments from customers? (cashier)
10. Who catches criminals and thieves? (police officer)

 

 

 

Which questions’ examples with answers

 

1. Which fruit has more juice, the banana or orange? (orange)
2. Which is bigger, the city or the village? (city)
3. Which task is more difficult, cutting paper or cutting wood? (wood)
4. Which swimming pool is deeper, the small or the big pool? (big pool)
5. Which drink is darker, tea or coffee? (coffee)
6. Which drink is sweeter, juice or water? (juice)
7. Which cartoon do you like the most?
8. Which one is lighter, the rock or the paper? (paper)
9. Which is sweeter, the grape or the cucumber? (grape)
10. Which is more fun, the water park or the forest?

 

 

 

 

 

1. Why do we wear a seatbelt in the car? (to stay safe in case of an accident)
2. Why do you go to your friend’s house? (to play)
3. Did you go to school? (to learn)
4. Why do you put on your PJs to go to bed? (because they are comfortable for sleep)
5. Why do you cut your nails? (because they get dirty)
6. Why do you brush your teeth after meals? (not to have cavities)
7. Why do we eat food? (to grow)
8. Why do you have a mouth? (to speak and eat)
9. Why do you wear an umbrella in the rain? (not to get wet)
10. Why do we have surveillance cameras? (to stay safe)

 

1. How do we sharpen crayons? (use a sharpener)
2. How do we turn on the TV? (use the remote control)
3. How do we grow plants? (water and sun)
4. How do people play soccer? (kick the ball into to goal)
5. How do people dry their hair? (use an air dryer)
6. How do birds fly? (wings)
7. How do you play Pacman? (eat all the dots while avoiding the ghosts)
8. How do you ride a bike? (pedal without losing your balance)
9. How do you play hide and seek? (we hide and the other person looks for us)
10. How do we clean dishes? (put them in the dishwasher)