Why is taking turns so important?  

• A mother teaches her baby to take turns when making those first exciting coos.  The baby coos... Mother coos.
  
• A toddler loves to play ball.  Dad throws the ball then teaches his toddler to throw it back.
  
• Playing games, such as board games or card games, requires a child to take a turn then wait for others to complete their turns before taking another.

So why are these simple opportunities so important? They lay the groundwork for social interaction.  In doing these early play-based opportunities, parents are teaching their child how to take a turn then wait while someone else takes a turn.  During the waiting portion, the child is learning to be patient as well as observe and interpret what is going on in the situation.  This is the foundation for conversational turn taking. One person takes a speaking turn while the other listens and observes nonverbal cues, then the roles switch.  It is a valuable life skill...an investment in one's future successes!

When a person experiences a situation with a great amount of emotion, his or her ability to use language decreases. For example, how many times have you been angry when talking with someone and later thought--"I should have said..."  It may seem obvious at that point. However in the moment of anger, your ability to use your language skills decreased.   Or sometimes, a person may say the wrong thing and regret it later.  This can happen to anyone including children.  It is beneficial to allow time for emotions to balance and language to return (take a "time out" to think about things), before responding.

This is especially challenging for children who have difficulty with their social skills.  They may already have a limited skill set for interacting with others--then when facing extreme emotion, may really struggle or act out in a way that really negatively impacts the situation.  Take a "time out" --not as a form of punishment or disciplining but as a recovery time for balancing emotions and allowing language to return!