Functional Communication Training For Parents Simplified

By Douglas Myers


Communication skills and channels for children take time to develop. This is evident from the raw emotions they express, words and gestures that focus on how they feel and what they want. Even for a parent, these raw messages are challenging to understand. It gets worse if the milestone is delayed. Functional communication training for parents helps in simplifying interactions and helping the guardians to understand the messages being passed.

Functional communication training is very important for all parents because it helps in strengthening the bond between them. However, it remains crucially important for parents or guardians of children with special needs like autism and ADHD. Such children try to voice their needs but cannot be easily understood. This is why special attention is required.

Communication training is not limited to guardians and parents. There should be an attempt to teach the children. This applies to a very small clique of children because of their obvious age and ability to understand. The parent or teacher must also be patient with children at this level. Children who understand this form of communication obtain an alternative channel through which they can pass their messages. It will be less frustrating for them to communicate their desires and feelings to adults.

Children with challenges communicating should be handled by a speech therapist. It is the parent or guardian who alerts the pathologist. The pathologist begins by evaluating the capability of the child since each one is unique. Difficulties between children vary and their solutions will be equally diverse. The pathologist identifies the unique challenges facing your child and proposes specific solutions.

Human beings use three main natural modes to communicate. They either gestures, use body language or words. Even if a challenge arises, it will affect one mode more than the others. The role of the pathologist is to identify the most developed channel and find ways to enhance it. He has to draw a hierarchy that will inform the steps to be taken in finding a solution. This means that each child will require a customized package.

The means available for children to communicate include gestures and body language. The child will indicate what he wants and his feelings about a particular subject. It is manifested as the child reaches out or points at objects. A child will also communicate displeasure when you want to pick something he or she does not want. Sign language is an option alongside the use of picture exchange and voice output devices.

The parent or guardian needs to identify new words that will be taught to the child. Learning happens through continuous repetition. You need to combine all learning avenues like sound and gestures to make it easier to learn your desired words. Tempt the child to says or gesture the words by providing the objects in his or her surrounding.

The learning pace is slow for children with special needs and therefore requires a lot of patience. Experiment with different words since some are easy and others challenging to understand. Since each child is unique, you must appreciate this element. Do not frustrate a kid by forcing him or her to understand what is visibly difficult. It takes time to achieve desired results.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire