The Three Tools Speech Pathologists Use To Build Confidence with Social Communication
Social communication is a very common skill that we treat at Seagull speech. Learning how to communicate on a social level is just as important as understanding and using language in the academic setting and correctly producing speech sounds. Social communication skills allow children and teens to engage with others in a variety of contexts and situations confidently, build relationships and increase feelings of belonging. Social communication weaknesses are commonly seen in children with language learning disabilities and autism.
Treating social communication needs is very important at Seagull Speech. It is an area that we always look into when evaluating language; as social language deficits typically go hand in hand with language learning deficits. Good social communication is an important facet of using and comprehending language and an overall life skill that drives success in school and the workplace. It’s important to note that with our autistic (or neurodivergent) clients, we are not trying to achieve 100% neurotypical behaviors. Our approach is customized- based on a combination of the client’s values, needs and comfort level. An understanding and acceptance of those who are neurodivergent is imperative in society today; however, we do strive to give our clients the tools they need to utilize when they see fit and achieve increased confidence in social situations.
While all of our clients get individualized treatment plans according to their specific needs, our speech-language pathologists typically utilize three tools during online speech therapy to build confidence with social language:
Teaching the concepts. At Seagull Speech, we don’t just teach rote social skills, we teach the concepts behind the skills. We improve a child or teen’s social cognition through helping them understand the perspectives of others during expected or unexpected social communication behaviors. This includes both verbal and nonverbal communication. This concept of “perspective taking” is the umbrella from which many other social concepts are derived.
Video Modeling. Through the use of our online social learning platform, we utilize a plethora of videos that model social communication skills. Children and teens can watch both the verbal and nonverbal language in both positive and negative contexts, and the results they create. Modeling nonverbal skills are very important for Increasing the awareness of facial expressions, tone of voice and body language; these structured videos give our kids the instruction they need to generalize to natural environments.
Practice! We start with practicing new social communication skills in small, structured games and activities. We then move up to unstructured group activities to build independence with their new skills.
Not only are we equipped with treating social language skills through online speech therapy, but we are also very well-equipped to evaluate social language skills through formal and informal online assessments. A solid measure of a child’s social language strengths and weaknesses are the foundation for a good treatment plan!