What is this? Only one of the greatest therapy tools ever! It’s a “Knock Knock Box”! One of the axioms of AVT is “Hear it before you see it.” In other words, have the child focus on audition (hearing) first, before giving them a visual cue. That’s where the Knock Knock Box comes in. You can use a Knock Knock Box in many different ways.
For very young children, you can hide a toy representing one of the Learning to Listen sounds inside the box. Make the sound associated with the object a few times, then let the child reach inside the box and pull out the toy. In that way, you get those little neurons in their brain firing away, creating synapses for the AUDITORY input before they make the sound-object association.
For an older child, you can put an object in the box and give them clues that describe it and have them guess several times before allowing them to reach in the box and find out what you have hidden inside.
These are just a few suggestions. Really, there are no rules with the Knock Knock Box — the possibilities are endless. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about reaching in a box and pulling out a surprise that is universally appealing — to children young and old alike!
Knock Knock Boxes are sold by various education and therapy supply companies, but my beautiful Knock Knock Box was a homemade gift from one of the terrific AVTs at The Hearing School. She made it out of a 13″x7″x7″ box from The Container Store. She cut holes on either side that are about the size of a coaster or lip of a drinking glass using an Exacto knife, and taped the sides with some packing tape (cute, fancy packing tape, but this isn’t necessary!).
Elizabeth A. Rosenzweig 