“I can tell our familiar helper what worked for us.”
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: Only if another trusted familiar caring adult is already involved and sharing a play preference is appropriate. No stranger, handover, photograph, recording or disclosure is needed. If that condition is absent, use the same familiar adult and do not simulate a new partner test.
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: The adult can explain their own support: “I paused when the meaning was unclear.” Share a genuinely known current preference only with normal family permission; do not invite a repeat performance to validate it. The child can continue own play, leave or reject new participation.
Three usable routes: (1) A familiar helper learns what the adult did while ordinary play continues, with no object transfer. (2) Describe the support through the family's usual communication without putting the child on display. (3) No new object/partner: quietly review your own next response privately; make no new child observation.
Notice and next: A reported prior encounter is not new evidence, and an adult explanation is not child communication to another person. The next adult uses present signals and family knowledge, not a universal cue dictionary. If involvement is not wanted, stop the helper contribution immediately; discomfort or unclear willingness also ends the added offer.
© 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.