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Communication: It’s What It’s All About
Communication is about the ability to share information, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and wishes. It is a uniquely human quality that distinguishes us from other beings. When it is lacking, though, social connections are impaired or limited. To be a truly successful communicator, speech and language skills are required. These precursors include clear and fluent speech, a strong vocabulary, the ability to weave words into sentences, and knowledge of social conventions in conversations. Of course you can be a social communicator without speech—look at Stephen Hawking’s success using his speech synthesizer. But those precursors of words and sentences and clear speech make conversations much easier. That being said, I do not believe that my role as a speech-language pathologist is to teach only those precursors. In assessment and treatment planning, I try to operate from a “big picture” perspective, focusing on communication rather than the small pieces—sounds and words and sentences. In treatment I find myself focusing on conversations even when my clients don’t yet have all the necessary prerequisites. I believe so strongly in my mission—to help children and families communicate effectively, that I tend to use a “top down” rather than “bottom up” approach—start with the end goal—conversations in social settings—and then build in the supporting pieces as they’re needed. Many professionals fail to recognize the importance of social conversations. I regularly meet children who are dismissed from speech-language therapy because they are now “talking.” They have passed standardized tests that look exclusively at the small pieces of communication—counting the number of words, the length of sentences, the number of concepts learned, or focusing on the clarity of speech sounds. Those tests are not designed to, and do not take into account, whether those acquired speech and language skills are actually used to interact socially with others—on the playground and at home. It is difficult to quantify social communication. Conversations have to be assessed where they occur—with others in real-life situations and not in a test room with pictures in a spiral-bound book. There are checklists and sampling techniques for assessing social interactions which can serve as a guide, but direct observations and interactions with other children will yield the most authentic information. And, of course, communication cannot be developed without partnerships. The first and most important one is at home with the family. Parents can start early, noticing not just the number of words spoken, but the ways in which their infant lets them know what they want or, more importantly, don’t want. Gestures, facial expressions, body movements, and tone of voice transmit much of children’s communicative intent. These should be encouraged and credit given for every attempt made. Communication, in whatever form it takes, should be the first goal, not necessarily first words. This same end goal should continue past infancy. “Good talking” truly isn’t what we want from our children. Communicating with a social purpose is. With older children, parents can focus on what their children are communicating, not how they are speaking. Parents are excellent interpreters of their children’s early attempts—figuring the message behind the words and sentences, guessing often about the intended meanings. Once children know that their attempts, however rudimentary, will be accepted and honored are generally much more willing to try. Again, effort rather than perfection is the goal. Teachers and therapists play a key role in encouraging social interactions—verbally or nonverbally. They can look beyond the words and sentences to the impact that each communicative attempt has on others. They can consider the context in which communication naturally occurs and arrange their environments to encourage the back-and-forth exchange of a conversation. Children working alone at desks all day won’t have the opportunity to interact socially, or the assistance they may need to be successful. Small groups need to focus on exchanges of information between peers not from child to teacher or therapist. Team efforts can be encouraged by having the whole class engage in activities that depend on group efforts for their success. Every activity during a school day can have a communicative element—that’s what is happening in typical environments. If you want to learn about communication, look around your workplace; sit and listen at a coffee house; hang out along the edges of a soccer field. Much of a message is determined by the context in which it occurs. We read body positions and facial expressions to gain much of the meaning in a conversation. Words often account for a small percentage of what actually occurs between conversational partners. The lessons learned from hanging out and looking around can aid in planning for successful conversations among our children. Some of the skills that likely will need to be taught for social communication to occur are:
These and many more skills can and should be taught with the ultimate goal of helping children have conversations. These skills can be taught individually, but children then need opportunities for practice with others, to get feedback and practice some more. Like acquiring any new and challenging skill, practice is the key. Start with small steps and build on success. There are many approaches and strategies for targeting these challenges available. Barry Prizant and Amy Wetherby’s SCERTS model (www.scerts.com), Carol Gray’s Social Stories (www.thegraycenter.org), and Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking (www.socialthinking.com/) are three that have influenced my work. Remember: conversations occur only in a social context and within a community of other people. So design any treatment or home opportunity to include places and people where social interactions can occur and conversations can evolve. © Margaret H. Briggs, Ph.D. Briggs and Associates, APSLPC 10/10 |