Facts About Functional Communication Training For Parents

By Douglas Myers


Children use the basic levels of communication. Their gestures, words and emotions are raw. They communicate about what they feel or want in their unique ways. Some of these gestures and messages are difficult to understand. This is why functional communication training for parents is so important. It helps the adults to decipher what children under their care want in order to provide.

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.

Training of different ways to communicate goes both ways. It is not only the guardians or parents that should learn. Children also have the capability to learn when their potential is enhanced through special attention and a professional approach. The guardian or parent teaching a child how to communicate should exercise a lot of patience. These sessions are aimed at providing an alternative channel for the affected child to communicate. It eliminates the frustration that arises when communication is broken.

The best trainer is a speech-language pathologist. You should turn to the pathologist if your child is having difficulties communicating what he or she needs. The pathologist will evaluate his mode of communication and areas that have difficulties. It must be noted that children have very unique difficulties and needs. This also means that the solutions provided must be unique. The role of the pathologist is to first identify the real challenge which ushers him to the next solution.

The natural modes of communicating for human beings are gestures, words and body language. When there is a delay in development of communication, challenges are not spread on all avenues. With this in mind, the pathologist identifies the channel that has developed better than others. He will develop a hierarchy detailing the levels of development and areas where learning can lead to improvements.

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.

It takes a great deal of patience for children to begin to communicate fluently. Try different words and scenarios to avoid frustrating your child. Each child has a unique ability to understand. Be alert to such uniqueness and find a way of going round it to achieve desired results. By trying severally, you will eventually communicate at one level or the other.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment