Parents role in improving child’s communication skills – Webinar by NIPEMD

Hi All,

NIEPMD organized a webinar on “Parents role in improving child’s communication skills” on 18^th July 2020 at 10.00 am, it was a Saturday I had time to attend to this , but joined few minutes late, hence I did not catch the speakers name. Also the meeting got disconnected during the Q&A stage and I was never able to connect back to the meeting, so missed the ending as well.

She spoke in an understandable manner, her tips and suggestions provided to parents are easier to implement at home. Below are the few points, which I have gathered from the session:

• Always inform what you are doing to the child.  It is important that you keep talking to the child all the time. There are two types of talks: Parallel Talk – It is like a running commentary given by the parent on what the child is doing now. Self Talk – The parent speaks what the child is doing now.

• You can always make opportunities to keep talking with the child, like during bathing, dressing up, feeding, playing etc. At the same time, do not miss the opportunities that occur naturally as well. It it rains outside, make use of that chance to teach the child about rain and other aspects about rain. This is called Incidental Teaching

• Always keep adding words to what the child already knows everyday in a meaningful manner. A better vocabulary is the key to better communication.

• For example, your bathroom it is the best place to teach so many words, there are at least 20+ items in every bathroom as well. If you take one item such as paste, you can tell the name of the paste to the child, teach the child what it is used for,  make the child open the toothpaste tube, ask the child to gently squeeze, and close the tube etc..

• Using pointing method or gestures will enhance the communication abilities.

• Talk about whatever the child is doing at that moment, if the child is holding  a ball, you can say about the ball shape, its color, roll it and say it is rolling, put it in water and say it is floating etc.

• Playing is the better way to connect to the child, as they will listen and respond through play because of the fun element. Also we could teach new words through play.

• Play communication games for at least 2 hours every day. Important aspect here is that, when playing stop in between and then wait for the child to initiate the communication.

• Involving child in daily activities is very important, it gives a sense of responsibility to child and we can add more language in the process.

• Longest screen time is not good. Books are the best medium. There are sensory books that will let the child touch and feel.

• In case if you are giving the phone to the child, be with the child and talk about what they are doing in the phone, make it meaningful and efficient.

• Children loves music. You can make your own songs, sing a song, can use songs that link to the activity being done. When raining, one can sing rain rain go away, when looking at stars can sing twinkle twinkle little star etc…

• Behavior issues comes in to picture when the child is not able to communicate

• Consult an Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP), to find out what is the best method for your child. i.e. AAC or Verbal or Pointing.

• When child has began to communicate, add new members to the communication like friends, relatives, grand parents etc. As they are only comfortable with parents in most of the cases.

• Organize the child’s day. Run through the schedule of the day in the morning as they are more anxious as to what will happen next. Before the child experiences it, make him updated about what is going to happen.  

• Use Fridge door or bathroom door to indicate what they want and they can take it. Use Sticky notes with pictures

• Generalize the skills that the child has learnt at home.

• Do lot of face to face activities, wait and observe your child.

• Always ensure that the child is entertained, else it would be very difficult.

Suggestions from Q&A queries:

• Always use motivating objects to increase the communication
• After providing the reinforcers, wait for the child to respond.
• If you demand an autistic child, they will not do it. Whenever the child approaches you for something, that time teach them the word
• Consistency and repetitions will show good improvement for autistic child.
• Instead of questioning forms, use statements. So that in echolalia’s it will be meaningful. Instead of Do you want Apple? say Need Apple? . Even when the child repeats it, it will be a meaningful word taught for a particular situation.
• Always question the child in an understandable manner, start with single line of questioning and then build confidence. Focus on correcting/shaping things which are child has began to do.
• In case of Pointless shouting, if it is done for a reason, address it. If no reason, engage him in other activities. ( Jumping, gross motor activities, exercises)
• Even for a non verbal child, keep explaining about the daily routines on top of it have specific target of few words to your child on weekly basis.
• You can find publications and resources in Nipemd website, there is a new book introduced for developing communication.
•  Also one can read “It takes two to talk” book

Regards,

Saranya and Karthik

karthiksaranyaparents@gmail.com