In the Early Childhood setting (i.e., ages three to five), when the students we work with are able to participate in traditional early learner therapeutic activities such as identifying vocabulary, following simple directions and imitating verbalizations, the direction of therapy is fairly straight forward for most seasoned speech-language pathologists (SLPs). However, when students are not exhibiting foundational skills such as joint attention or symbolic play, the plan for intervention becomes more challenging because these skills are highly representational and abstract (Kasari et al., 2006). This presentation will outline a hierarchy of critical foundational skills and ideas for targeting them in a functional play-based manner.