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Social Skills: Pragmatic Language Delay (Q&A) |
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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.
PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE SKILLS
Pragmatic Language is defined as the social use of language: Use Of Language & Communication Behaviors To Interact Effectively and Appropriately with Others.
Individuals diagnosed with Language delay, Auditory Processing Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and Non Verbal Learning Disability display difficulties with many aspects of pragmatic language skills.
Delayed pragmatic skills need to be individually assessed and addressed. Various cues can be used to develop each skill. Repetition and consistency are the keys to obtaining social language goals.
PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE CHART
Answer Yes or No to the following:
TOPICS
Introduces topic clearly
Maintains topic across turns
Changes/shifts topic appropriately
Chooses appropriate topic for context
Responds with information on topic
TURN TAKING
Waits for a turn to speak
Uses pauses when speaking
Uses an appropriate amount of verbiage
Checks for listener understanding
Uses responses when listening
Restates what speaker said
Asks questions when listening
SPEECH FUNCTIONS
Convinces and persuades: no anger
Accepts peers' opinions: no anger
Offers and supports own opinions
Relays pertinent information
Gathers and requests information
Gets to the point
SPEECH PLEASANTRIES
Uses greetings and farewells
Uses thank you and apologies
Asks permission (asks not tells)
Asks for help
Receives and gives compliments
Uses phone skills appropriately
PEER LANGUAGE SKILLS
Asks to play appropriately
Expresses feelings
Joins in to play
Compromises/negotiates
Uses cooperative/associative play
Uses appropriate slang with peers
SPEECH STYLE
Uses appropriate volume
Uses appropriate prosody/tone
Uses formal or informal context
Comprehends humor/sarcasm
Uses appropriate response time
NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE
Uses eye contact
Uses appropriate proximity
Uses facial expressions
Understands facial and body gestures
Uses body language to enhance meaning
Minimizes distracting movements
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