Your child is communicating through more channels than you might think. You've been seeing these signals for years. This gives them a place to land.

You already sense it. We're going to teach you to read it.

This post walks through two parts of my new 5-minute training, The Signal Detective: where to look, and how to write down what you see.

Start with one question

Most of us were taught to ask, "How do I stop this?" Instead, ask, "What might this be communicating?"

That's the Signal Shift. It moves you from correcting your child to collecting what your child is showing you.

Where to look: six channels

Vocal. Sounds, breath changes, hums, clicks.

Gestural. Reaching, pointing, leading you, showing you, giving you something.

Postural. Leaning, freezing, tensing, relaxing, turning away.

Facial. Expressions, eye gaze, brow changes, mouth movements.

Movement. Coming closer, moving away, pacing, spinning, rocking.

Use of objects. Handing you something, pushing it away, placing it, lining things up.

How to write a signal down

When you write one down, be precise.

"He got upset" is not a signal. "He pushed his plate off the table with both hands and turned his head away" is a signal.

Write what physically happened. Then write where you were, what was going on, who was there and what time it was.

Not every signal is the same kind

As you write, you'll start to notice that signals aren't all alike. There are three kinds, and each kind asks for a different response. I teach all three in the training, along with one practical rule for the moments when you're not sure which kind you're looking at.

What to try this week

Write down five. In the next forty-eight hours, write down at least five signals. Aim for ten if you can.

Watch the whole day. Watch across the whole day, not just the hard moments. The quiet moments often hold the most important signals.

Use all six channels. Look across all six channels.

Don't filter. If you noticed something and you're not sure it counts, write it down anyway. You can always change it later.

A map of what's already there

What you're building isn't a list of what your child can't do. It's a map of everything they're already doing.

Want the whole training? Watch The Signal Detective, my 5-minute training, and get the two-page worksheet that gives each channel its own space.

New to this work? Start with the Silence to Signals™ Communication Framework and its six-stage SIGNAL Path, explained stage by stage.