Language and communication

Gaining attention

• use the person’s name to get their attention before giving instructions / information

Following instructions

Some people can quickly become overloaded with too much language

• Speak more slowly/ slow-down your conversations.
• Chunk information, giving instructions containing one – two key words at a time e.g. “get the plates” or “read the story, then answer the questions”
• Keep sentences / instructions short and to the point
• Keep vocabulary simple
• Pause between sentences / instructions to allow time for processing
• Repeat or rephrase information as needed
• Keep word, and time order the same, for example say ‘finish your lunch and then go to the shop’ rather than ‘before you go to the shop, finish your lunch’

Vocabulary knowledge

• Check vocabulary knowledge e.g. ‘examine’ or ‘predict’ and use easier words as needed ‘look at’ or ‘guess’
• For those in education, pre-teach new / key curriculum vocabulary (in class try to set aside 5 minutes at the beginning of lessons to check / teach vocabulary knowledge – this will help the whole class)
• Model the use of vocabulary; use this in different ways to give multiple examples.  This will help develop understanding but also model sentence structures that can be used to answer different questions e.g. ‘the student was examining the leaf to look at different cell structures’ ‘the doctor examined the patient to identify the cause of their pain’ ‘they used a magnifying glass to examine the clue more closely’

Understanding what you mean

Avoid the use of non-literal (abstract / figurative) language.Some people can be very literal in their interpretation of language.This can lead to confusion, frustration and / or upset when language does not mean what it says, for example:

• Phases such as ‘pull your socks up’ or ‘turn over a new leaf’
• Using sarcasm or making jokes that are difficult for the person to understand

Use visual support (especially when lots of information or words are used) this could include:

• using the interactive whiteboard
• technology
• providing written instructions, these can be ticked off as they are completed
• using pictures, or real objects, to support written information
• demonstrating / showing how to do tasks
• using interactive role-play

Check understanding

• ask for instructions to be repeated / shown / modelled back to you so you can check understanding
• Agree a strategy to be used if the information has not been understood

Allow extra time

• to process information and instructions and,
• time for thinking about and giving responses

Breaks

• Plan regular breaks, people cannot focus all the time.
• Use your knowledge of the person to think about how frequently breaks should be taken.

You may need to plan a break before the person does something to ensure a break happens e.g. pushes their book on the floor / walks out to indicate they have had enough.

Communication is made up of words, tone, pitch and intonation and body language. Research indicates that only 7% of communication is made up of the words we use, 38% of communication is made up of tone, pitch and intonation (the way we say it) and 55% of communication made up of body language, including facial expression, gesture and proximity.  If it is more difficult for you to make sense of the non-verbal areas of communication (tone, pitch and intonation and body language), then this can make is more difficult to understand the meaning and intention of others. 

It may also be more difficult for a person to modify their own non-verbal communication for example to maintain typical eye contact, which can mean people think they are not listening when in fact they are, or adapt their own tone of voice or facial expression which may result in them appearing, uninterested or unintentionally rude.

It is useful for you to:

• Be clear in the instructions that you give, without expecting the young person to ‘read between the lines’ based on your tone or facial expression
• Recognise the differences the young person has in their use of non-verbal communication:
  • Understand that not looking at you may not mean ‘not listening’, rather trying to focus on hearing (rather than looking).
  • Understand that the tone or facial expression used may not always match the words that are being used.  Check with the person if the way you have interpreted what they said is correct ‘you sounded really cross, did you mean…’
  • Work with the person to find a way to repair conversation if things have gone wrong.  Developing stock phrases can be useful e.g. ‘sorry, that didn’t come out right, let me try again’ or ‘can you give me minute to think about that’.

Social conversation

Social chit chat can be difficult for a range of reasons.  Sometimes it is difficult to ‘keep up’ with conversation particularly if you have difficulties with understanding language, or to join in if you have difficulties expressing yourself.  This can be even harder when there are more people. Other people may find it difficult to start or leave conversation, talk about their interests at length and find it difficult to talk about other topics, not know what to say or when to say it resulting in interrupting / not waiting their turn or not joining in at all.

It can be helpful to:

• Reduce distractions and simplify language (as described above) when needed
• Work with the person to develop some ‘sentence starters’ (ways to start or join a conversation) e.g. ‘Hi, did you have a good weekend?’ or ‘How has your day been?’
• Think together about how and when to interject in a conversation
• Work with the person to develop some ways to leave conversation (rather than, for example, just walking away). Things like ’it’s been good to talk to you, but I have to go now’
• Create some guidelines with the person around talking about their interests. A visual aid or hand gesture could be used to indicate that they need to move on to another topic. Talk about a good length of time to talk to people you know well or know less well about interests or identify specific chat times to talk about these.

• Give feedback on what has been said /communicated.
• Be clear about what went well and why it went well for example ‘I really liked it when you asked about XXXX it showed me that you had really listened to / thought about my point’.
• This will help to develop the person’s confidence in speaking / communicating.

You can find out more about Developmental Language Disorder DLD and hear about other people’s experiences on the Raising awareness of DLD (RADLD) webpage. This is a great webpage with lots of information, YouTube links, shared experiences as well as helpful resources.

• RADLD | Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder
• Sunny: Growing with DLD - YouTube
• DLD 1-2-3 - YouTube
• Growing with DLD 2022 - YouTube