# I13 · Which answer is useful now?

“I can answer this way, or leave it.”

**Stop first:** Stop the added offer immediately for a known no/stop, discomfort, withdrawal of interest or uncertainty. Keep ordinary care and usual supports available; no repeated signal, clearer reply or restart is owed.

**Setup and free swap:** Start from an actual child contribution during wanted play, not a requested performance. Perhaps the child has made a familiar sound while exploring a toy. No toy is needed: an actual spontaneous communication event can be the start. Avoid copying sounds as the default.

## Common agreement for every route

Use an awake, comfortable, wanted moment in the child's usual supported setting with a familiar caring adult. Keep the child's body and usual communication/supports as they are. Do not manufacture distress, withhold a comfort item or necessary help, reposition the child, guide their body, demand eye contact, lure reaching/tracking, test hearing, or ask for touch/speech/imitating to make the offer work.

An optional object is **one existing large, intact, familiar, non-powered play item already judged appropriate for this individual child and setting under its actual instructions, age labelling, condition and current recall information**. “Large” alone is no safety clearance. No object is required. No small loose pieces, detachable parts, food, water, tools, tight lids, bags, cords, magnets, batteries, foam, glass, raised ramps, lights, covering faces or surprise reveals are introduced. No child handling of paper; any print stays adult-held away from mouth/reach. Adults maintain normal supervision and unobstructed access. These offers certify no material or setup.

Use known home words, established signs/AAC and family-informed supports. A competent familiar speaker may use their own language; this pack supplies no translation, invented gesture dictionary, cultural story or First Nations language claim. The adult can speak, sign/communicate through established supports, act silently if accessible, or stay quietly available. Quiet does not remove usual communication access.

**Stop rule:** respond to a known no/stop, discomfort, withdrawal of interest or uncertainty by stopping the added offer and returning to ordinary familiar care/play. Never keep testing until a clearer answer appears. No new touch, sound or movement is used to obtain evidence. A restart needs current willingness. Necessary routine transitions remain adult responsibilities, with a familiar explanation; child participation is not required for tidying or ending care.

## If this contribution is wanted

**Offer and child control:** If the child's known communication makes a preference available, offer one genuinely available kind of adult answer: a quiet acknowledgement, an established silent acknowledgement, or no added answer. Present one option at a time if that is the familiar route. Follow a clear choice; do not invent it from attention alone.

**Three usable routes:** (1) Keep the ongoing item play and change only your own answer, not the item and the answer together. (2) Use the already established silent acknowledgement if wanted; no eye-contact condition. (3) No new object or accessible selection today: acknowledge once in the usual welcomed way or stay available; record no selected mode.

**Notice and next:** Who contributed, what answer occurred, and was its meaning known? A silent acknowledgement is not a spoken exchange. If adding an answer interrupted exploration, next time join with less or none. A useful mode today is not a permanent learner type. Stop the added answer for discomfort, uncertainty or a known no.

© NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026 · SubjectNest, Tiny actions, meaningful answers · v0.1.0. Original computer-assisted teaching/text/layout CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . No family trial or agency approval claimed.