Should You Ask a Non-Verbal Child a Question?
Have you ever thought about how
you, as an SLP, talk to people?
That means all people-- but
specifically, non-verbal children with autism.
We have two forms of sentence structures: questions and statements.
- We bombard children with questions.
- We do not give children time to answer
these questions.
- Many
children will never answer the questions (non-verbal children). I realize
that some of these non-verbal children can point or gesture, but many are
unable to respond in any manner.
- SLPs can find out more information by
making statements rather than asking questions.
- Children respond with more confidence
when the adult makes a statement rather than asks questions.
- Communication is not "put on the spot"
or demanded with statements.
- Communication will remain reciprocal
with statements as opposed to questions.
I've given
you reasons SLPs should use statements rather than questions, but here are some examples:
Of course, there are appropriate
times to ask questions. I'm referring to
young, non-verbal children with ASD and the fact that statements are more
"valuable" for communication than questions.
Statements afford the listener:
- Vocabulary
- Attributes
- Location
- Prepositions
- Pronouns
- Categories
- Full sentences
- Most importantly, statements are
non-demanding
Next week - I'll present more
examples of when and why statements are more productive than questions.
"Speech pathologists make good things happen."