Home Sue's Journal Social Skills: Pragmatic Language Delay
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Social Skills: Pragmatic Language Delay |
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Parents and their 7 year old son came into my office. The parents introduced their son to me. He said hello without looking at me. His eyes gazed all over my office, and he began to open my cabinets and look inside. When the parents left, we played a game and chatted. Abruptly, he spoke about a fast water ride that was really fun.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but knew he made an association from something that had been said within the past 10 minutes. Most children who have pragmatic language delay (social language difficulties) state what comes to mind leaving the listener confused. Usually, the child has a reason it was brought to mind. It is my job to teach the child how to introduce the topic appropriately and maintain it, so his peers (and everyone) experience the flow of communication. In this case, I had told the boy that I took my son to a park over the weekend. I went on to discuss other aspects of the weekend when the boy blurted out about the fast water ride. We discovered his thought was triggered from my discussion of the park because he went to a water park (Oh!). Not so random of a thought after all! When I consulted with his parents, I told them that he had a pragmatic language delay (social language difficulties) including issues with eye contact, greetings, topic, and pleasantries (touching without asking, which usually makes his peers at school very angry). I have begun therapy with him and he is starting to understand these skills. He will make nice progress. Log in and read more about the strategies that I suggested for this parent and and child. Becoming a member is free and a way for me (and my publisher!) to gauge interest in the stories and topics discussed on my website. Read more... |
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