In this resource, children learn to understand and answer why questions through 120 flashcards designed to make the learning process intuitive and easy.
Why teach WHY questions in speech therapy
Why questions, and WH questions in general, are very important for developing speech and communication for many reasons:
- they equip children with the necessary tools and skills to participate in conversations,
- they help children demonstrate knowledge at school and in tests,
- they enable children to collect and provide information about themselves and their environment.
When should you teach WHY questions to children
As discussed in the WH questions ultimate guide, children are able to answer ‘why’ questions starting from the age 3. Once that is masted, they can also be capable of asking ‘why’ questions, for example, “Why can’t I eat candies?”.
For children with Autism and Speech delay, you might need to start later. It all depends on the capacity of the child to master some prerequisites such as things that go together, and other WH Questions like What, who, where, and when.
How to teach why questions in speech therapy
1. ‘Why’ questions’ flashcards
You can use this resource to teach your child ‘why’ questions using the flashcards in the download section below.
Start with printing and laminating the flashcards file
For easy storage and organization, you can use boxes or envelopes like these:
In this resource, there are two kinds of flashcards:
- question flashcards with a written ‘why’ question in the middle.
- answer flashcards with the written answer at the top of the card and an image at the bottom. These answer flashcards make the learning process easier and faster. Even if the child isn’t yet able to read, the image is enough to suggest the right answer.
The answer flashcards can be used during the beginning of the teaching process and then be faded away as the child gains knowledge to answer properly.
- Keep in mind that this resource doesn’t provide the only correct answer to why questions that are included here. Different answers should be encouraged and reinforced.
2. Other activities to teach ‘why’ questions
There are other ways to help your child learn why questions like:
- Watch a video or read books with illustrations or pictures, then ask your child questions like “Why is he/she feeling happy? Why is he/she leaving? Why is he/she crying?”. You can practice these questions with your child to assess his understanding of why questions.
- Ask questions about your child’s day at school using Why questions. “Why didn’t you finish your lunch? Why aren’t wearing your coat? Why did you bring all your books home?”.
Why questions’ examples with answers
Here are examples of 60 ‘why’ questions used in this resource with possible answers:
- Why do you brush your teeth? (because it keeps them clean and healthy)
- Why do you style your hair? (because it makes me look more beautiful)
- Why do you do chores? (because I need to clean the place I live in and help my parents)
- Why do you go to the park? (because I want to play with my friends and have fun)
- Why do you buy groceries? (because we don’t have food at home)
- Why do people go to the bank or ATM? (because they need money)
- Why do you drink? (because I’m thirsty)
- Why do you go to the beach? (because I want to swim and play with the sand)
- Why do you go to the mountain in winter? (because I want to ski and play with the snow)
- Why do you wear goggles while swimming? (because I can see underwater)
- Why do you sleep? (because I’m tired)
- Why do you do your homework? (because I need to practice what I learned at school)
- Why do you eat? (because I’m hungry)
- Why do you go to school? (because I need to learn)
- Why do you visit the doctor? (because I’m sick)
- Why do you swim in the summer? (because the weather is hot and swimming is fun and cools me down)
- Why is it dark in the night? (because the sun is no longer in the sky)
- Why do you go to the airport? (because I want to take a trip on the airplane)
- Why do you wear a backpack to school? (because I need it to hold my books, notebooks, and school supplies)
- Why do you use an umbrella? (because it’s raining outside and I don’t want to get wet)
Download Why Questions Card pdf file
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Do you Want to practice more WH Questions?
You can find great resources to practice more WH Questions in our Store
ABLLS-R aligned resource
H33: Answers “Why” Questions
Are you looking for more resources to learn WH Questions?
Here is a complete guide to learning WH
Questions for beginners. 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.
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Keywords: Vocabulary, Special education, Early learning, Task Cards, Flashcards, WH Questions, What, Who, Where, When, Why, How, Forming sentences, ABA, ABLLS-R, Early Intervention, Speech Therapy, Speech Delay, Wh Questions List