The Art of Having a Conversation

25 May

Comment cards button

 

Students are sometimes referred to  Child Study Team (CST)  because of difficulties relating to peers. Concerns revolve around the student saying inappropriate things, being picked on and  starting   fights on the playground.   When you talk to the student, you may  find they have limited interests and talk excessively on one topic.  They have difficulties taking turns during a conversation.  In their attempts to enter a  conversation  they say something that can be  perceived as an  insult or bragging.  This results in a fight or peers not wanting to interact with them.  The student then  feels picked on or shunned.

Sometimes these students have a diagnosis of Aspergers or high functioning autism and are on our caseloads. They may need direct instruction on how to have a conversation. Learning  the art of having a conversation can help alleviate some of the difficulties.  However, it is a very difficult skill to teach without structure.    Left to their own devices,  the a session may go something like this.  A  student will start a topic of high interest to them. The other students  interrupt  to make off topic comments. One student dominates the topic with multiple comments until another student manages to derail to another topic with  multiple comments.  It becomes   a competition to control the topic rather than enjoy an exchange of information.  No one feels they have been listened to and arguments occur as they interrupt each other.  Each student  feels that only their topic and comments are right. I have actually had a student say they won because they had the most papers out.

How do we provide structure so it becomes a learning task?  It is  important  to break down  skills in in smaller increments  so they can understand and  practice.  I have used colored  paper shapes as visual cues to illustrate turn taking, topic changes and questions and comments.

Conversation strip 1 and 2

Can you guess which conversation is interactive with multiple people talking about a topic.  Which conversation is more likely  people talking for themselves?

During this process I have discovered  many of our students do not know how to start a conversation or recognize when another student is giving them an opening to start a conversation.   They may not see  the differences between a question and a comment and do not understand the hidden expectations of both. When a comment is said, they may misinterpret its intent and  not  respond appropriately.  I made comment and reply cards so that my students could work on this directly.  There is a full set at the TPT store.  You can reach them directly by hitting the button at the top of the page or the button below.

TPT button  There is also a set of  trial cards here.  free trial button

Cindy

I am a retired ASHA certified Speech and Language Pathologist who has worked in the public schools 35 years

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