Which goal best addresses a young child's pragmatic use of language in everyday contexts?

• A. In a play situation, the child will request a turn, either verbally or through gestures, 90 percent of the time.
• B. In treatment session, the child will produce a two-word combination 90 percent of the time.
• C. In conversation, the child will produce correct velars 90 percent of the time.
• D. When telling a story, the child will use the standard dialect's irregular past tense forms of five specific verbs 90 percent of the time.

Answer: (A)

Pragmatic language use is about how a child communicates in real-life social interactions. The best goal captures a functional skill a child needs in everyday contexts: initiating and participating in a shared activity with others.

Requesting a turn in a play situation, using either words or gestures, directly demonstrates that kind of social communication. It shows the child can engage with peers, signal needs or intentions, and keep the interaction moving in a natural setting. This kind of behavior reflects practical use of language during everyday exchanges, not just the form of language produced in a clinical or less social context.

The other options focus on aspects like the word formation or sentence structure (two-word combos in a therapy session, correct articulation of sounds, or correct use of irregular past tense in storytelling). While those are important areas, they don’t address how the child uses language to participate with others in daily interactions.