A language, literacy and communication curriculum for pupils and students with severe learning difficulties

Coupe O'Kane and Goldbart (1998) succinctly summarise the difficulties those with learning difficulties and communication impairments might have. They may:

have skills as respondent but not as an initiator;

not be able to identify the topic of conversation by establishing joint reference;

not be able to maintain a topic leading to frequent topic changes;

give insufficient feedback as a listener about continued interest, such as no head nodding or saying ‘mm’;

give insufficient feedback to the speaker about understanding the content of communication. That is, there may be no requests for confirmation or clarification such as ‘What do you mean?’, ‘Uh?’;

interrupt inappropriately in timing and in content;

be unable to extend a communication after an initial turn as initiator and respondent;

terminate conversations prematurely with terminations communicated ineffectively;

be unable to recognise and repair breakdowns in communication.