Communicating Partners
Dr. James D. MacDonald's Website
Helping Parents Help Children. Programs for Parents, Therapists & Educators
Nonverbal Communication
What does your child need to become more communicative?
NONVOCAL COMMUNICATION
- Communicates with facial movements
- Communicates with hand movements
- Communicates with body language
- Communicates with natural signs, pointing or gestures
- Communicates with learned signs
- Communicates with pictures or symbols
- Communicates with touches
VOCAL COMMUNICATION
- Makes sounds to himself
- Responds to others with sounds
- Initiates communication with sounds
- Makes non-speech sounds
- Makes conventional speech sounds
- Takes turns with sounds
- Makes strings of sounds
- Imitates others' sounds
- Makes unusual sounds
- Yells or screams
- Changes his sounds to be more like others' sounds
REASONS YOUR CHILD COMMUNICATES
- To get his needs met
- To show affection
- To express emotions
- To protest
- To get attention
- To accompany play
- To imitate
- To get information
RECEPTIVE COMMUNICATION
- Understands others' emotions
- Understands words
- Understands sentences
- Understands nonverbal communications
- Understands others' intentions
- Follows directions
POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
- Rarely communicates in any ways
- Communicating only with movements
- Communicating only with sounds
- Communicating more to self than others
- Communicates mainly to get needs met
- Rarely responds to others' communications
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME COMMUNICATIVE
FIVE STRATEGIES
The following are ways to help your child become a communicator with any behaviors he can do.
- Communication here does not mean talking; it means exchanging messages with people.
- Start with the strategies below that come most easily for you.
- Try one or two as you play with your child, then watch how he responds.
- Keep doing the ones that work with your child.
- If certain ones seem uncomfortable, do not push yourself. There are many different ways to be effective.
- Try new strategies when little is happening with your child.
- Determine success by what results in more communicating.ยท
- The goal is for your child to communicate more frequently and in new ways.
- Be patient and feel energized by every new communication. However small it seems, it is important for your child.
BE RESPONSIVE
- Respond to your child 'as if' he were communicating.
- Respond to your child's spontaneous movements and wait
- Respond to your child's sounds and wait
- Respond to your child's play and wait.
- Respond more too positive than negative behavior.
- Respond with a behavior your child can do.
BE BALANCED
- Communicate once then wait silently.
- Take turns back and forth with actions.
- Take turns back and forth with sounds.
- Avoid dominating the interaction
- Do not allow child to dominate the interaction.
- Get into the habit of give and take with your child.
BE MATCHED
- Act in ways your child can act
- Communicate nonverbally as your child does.
- Talk in ways your child can talk.
- Show your child a next step
- Match his action with a sound
- Match his sounds with a word
- Imitate his sounds playfully.
BE EMOTIONALLY PLAYFUL
- Play with sounds back and forth
- Be animated and noticeable
- Do the unexpected.
- Do more of what your child finds funny.
- Be physically playful.
- Play pretend
- Do pantomime games.
- Be affectionate.
SHARE CONTROL
- Initiate as much as respond to child
- Respond as much as initiate to child
- Take the lead half the time
- Let child take the lead half the time.
- Avoid being dominant or passive.
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Next: Social Language
