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Blank’s levels of questioning
- 1-5 Years
- 5-11 Years
- 11-19 Years
- SEND
- Speech, language and communication
Blank’s levels of questioning is a technique used to help children with their verbal reasoning and abstract language skills. It is also known as ‘language of learning’ model, Blank’s Levels or Blank questions.
Blank's Levels of Questioning can be used to:
- assess the level of abstract language the child can understand
- help you to pick right the words so that the child can understand
- help the child develop abstract reasoning skills such as 'what might happen next?'
- set appropriate language targets
The 4 levels of questioning
Blank’s levels puts questions and directions into 4 levels. It starts at Level 1 with basic questions that ask for simple responses. As you go up the levels, the questions get harder and more complicated and that require abstract answers.
Level 1
Blank’s level 1 focuses on naming objects. You will be asking the child about objects that are or were in front of them. The child may not say a lot and may point instead of speaking. Encourage the child to give a short response or complete a command.
Level 2
Blank’s level 2 focuses on describing objects. You will be asking the child about things that are directly in front of them. They will be able to describe a object by talking about what it looks like or what it does. These questions will encourage them to think about the object or environment in more detail.
Level 3
Blank’s level 3 focuses on encouraging the child to think about objects and what may happen. This is when the child should begin telling stories, sequencing events, making predictions and defining words.
Level 4
Blank’s level 4 focuses on reasoning. You will be asking questions that encourage the child to talk about cause and effect. They will be able to answer questions using what they know from past experiences and what they learned from other places. Answering these questions accurately will require problem-solving skills. The answer will not be in front of the child.
Types of questions to use
When using the Blank's levels of questioning framework, there are different types of questions that can be used to help you get a response. These will change and become more complex as the child moves up through the levels.
Example of Blank's levels of questioning being used
Helping your child understand the questions
There are lots of ways you can help a child understand a question such as asking an easier question. You can also use techniques to help them structure their understanding.
Give time. Make sure the child has enough time to answer the question. Try waiting for 10 seconds before you speak again.
Focus. Make sure the child is ready to listen to your request. Try to reduce the amount of distractions.
Repeat. You can ask the question again.
Rephrase. Say the question in a slightly different way. This can help them understand what you are asking.
Simplify. Break your question down into smaller parts or make the words simpler.
Offer choices. You can make the question multi-choice for example "Is he running or jumping?"
Give a sound cue. You can make the first sound of the answer. For example “You heard a b…” when talking about a bell noise
Use gestures. Gestures can help them understand, especially if the question or instruction is about an action.
Use cueing. Give them a cue or clue for the correct answer. This could be pointing to a certain part of a picture.
Sentence completion. Give them a model sentence for them to use in their answer. For example if you ask them about the colour of an object you can model by saying "It is..."
Multi-sensory. You can encourage them to use other senses to experience the answer. This could be touching, tasting, listening etc.
Relate to the unknown. You can help the child by relating the question or request to previous experiences. For example "The spaghetti is hard. How will it feel after it’s cooked? Remember when we cooked potatoes the other day? How did they feel?”.
For every question you ask, make lots of comments. This will model the correct answers to the child. Try to remember the rule of 5. For every 1 question, try to make 4 comments. For example "Can you find the tractor? Look I have a tractor! The tractor can pull the trailer. There's a car! That's another vehicle. The tractor is big and blue."
Using Blank's questions during everyday activities
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Last reviewed: 1 November, 2024
