ABSTRACT

This chapter defines what is meant by a conversation and the elements that constitute it, all of which need to be developed by children – they do not occur automatically. It explains the following skills and their function within a conversation: understanding and use of body language and facial expressions; interpretation - relating to situational understanding; speaker and listener roles; reasoning and prediction; and prosodic skills. Children entering the Not Just Talking intervention programme almost always have low self-esteem, but most improve significantly, purely as a result of improving their non-verbal conversational skills. Children who sufferer from poor interpretation and understanding feel stressed often throughout the day - and consequently their already poor communication deteriorates further. Under these circumstances they are likely to resort to behaviour as a means of dealing with the confusing situation. Wherever the pressure comes from it will impact on their non-verbal communication and cause it to deteriorate.