Facts About Functional Communication Training For Parents

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.

Development and good relationship between children and their parents at the earliest age depends on how well they can communicate. For parents whose children have delayed milestones caused by such conditions as autism or ADHD, functional communication becomes even more important.

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.

Naturally, human beings communicate using words, gestures and body language. For children with delayed milestones, the challenge is on one of these avenues. The pathologist will identify the next best alternative that will still deliver desired results. At the initial stages, the focus is to get communication going. Pathologists identify a hierarchical order in which means of communicating are arranged.

Children begin communicating by using gestures and body language. They will point at the objects they want or move the body in that direction. In other cases, they cry or are agitated while pointing in the direction. Where they do not want something, they will pull the body in the opposite direction and resist any attempt to be associated with the object. Other methods that can be used to communicate include picture exchange, sign language and adoption of customized voice output devices.

The guardian or parent training the kid should look for easy words to train his child. Preference for parents and guardians is because they have the trust of children and spend a lot of time together. Use a mix of gestures, voice and body language to pass the message. Tempt the learning child to use the words or gestures by presenting a situation. Such practical moments also help you to evaluate your teaching skills.

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.




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