Friday, November 20, 2009

Unclear or Insufficient Information

My oldest son (9yrs) is social and an oral communicator.
He has a significant speech and language disorder. He also has Developmental Disabilities.
He reads and understands what he reads at a much more effective level than he communicates.
Most of what he says is unclear or gives the listener too little information.

He becomes an "effective communicator" and learns "concepts" (not skills) through relationships.

Relationships address his learning style.

Here is a recent conversation. between he and I:

David: "Om, ingerale"
Me: "Om, ingerale?"
David: "ingerale"
Me: "Mommy does not know what you said." (integrated with sign language to support his understanding)
David: "ingerale" (pointing)
Me: "GINGER ALE?"
David: "yea"
Me: "you want ginger ale?"
David: "Ranjuice"
Me: "You want Orange Juice with Ginger Ale?" (Sign language integrated)
David: "YAH, from Walmart"
Me: "David, your talking about Walmart..............but we were talking about a drink." (sign integrated)
Me: "David, tell Mom you want Ginger Ale with Orange Juice." (sign language integrated)

In this example my goal is to retrain his "Jargon Speech".
I want to keep the conversation going, I avoid questions and use what he says to build understanding between us and indirectly teach him to hear what he says.
I want him to benefit from what he knows and can do.

His goal is to "correct what others think he said".

His goal is not to "stay on topic", because we want him to be successful.

When his sounds and actions are given meaning through relationships, he is successful and shows us what he knows and thinks.

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