ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the problems experienced by children who fail to develop the essential non-verbal communication skills. It looks at the problems associated with those children who can speak or only choose to speak under certain circumstances, and then at those children who do not speak at all. The chapter also covers the particular difficulties experienced by children with poorly developed skills in some or all of the key aspects of communication. A difficult time for children with poor interpretation and prediction skills is the transfer from home to school, particularly at the end of a holiday. Children with poor non-verbal communication skills are very vulnerable, particularly with regard to 'stranger danger'. Parents will know that there is no special school provision for mainstream children with non-verbal communication problems. Children with non-verbal communication difficulties lack the wealth of information that we store daily for the experiential component of non-verbal communication and this enables them to focus on one particular area.
