What?

Vocal, graphic, or gestureal communication that uses symbols that, in general, are not part of a linguistic system such as speech or a natural sign language (Lloyd, Fuller, & Arvidson, p. 536).

- Vocalizations that express pleasure, pain,discomfort, etc.
- Gestures
- Crying
- Gazing
- Facial Expressions

When?

The ability to communicate results from the need to satisfy specific needs and to achieve social control.

Where?

The goal is to teach the individual to generalize appropriate communication skills into various environments.

How?

The key is to stimulate and encourage through guided and continual practice. The student:

1. learns that symbols stand for referents. Children should be taught language in terms of action language (catch ball instead of static labels, ball).

2. recognizes and then discriminates between symbols that are more cognitively and linguistically complex. The child must first make gross distinctions between symbols and then progress to finer ones. He/she masters this phase of development and learns to differentiate words that stand for various environment events.

3. organizes these symbols into sentences and discriminates between different arrangements ( I throw the ball/the ball throws me).

Why?

Children with language delays in particular must develop nonverbal communication. Children who are unable to express themselves orally or in writing are at a major disadvantage in the academic arena. The goal is to enhance expressive skills to maximize their educational achievement levels as well as the quality of their life.