Social Language Skills For Speech Therapy
Social language skills for speech therapy (also known as social communication or pragmatics) are crucial language skills that children need in order to navigate this world.
I feel these skills are getting a bit weaker with each generation due to increased technology use; however, we are here to help!
On this page, I will give a brief overview of different areas of social language skills and then some FREE and paid treatment materials that both therapists and parents can use.
Social Language Skills For Speech Therapy Overview
How/Why To Use Language
A child must know how to use language for a variety of purposes. These purposes include: greet, request, comment, share ideas, ask questions, etc...
This area needs to be directly taught to some children. For example, some children may be excellent at using language to greet friends/family and to ask questions; however, they may need intervention to teach them how to comment or share ideas.
Adapting Language (for people and or environment)
Adapting language can be especially difficult for some. When I say adapting language, I am referring to changing language (even grammar and vocabulary) when speaking with different people or speaking at different locations.
For example we talk differently,
- to a toddler than we do to adults.
- to our friends than a doctor.
- with a colleague about speech therapy (lots of jargon) than a new client or parent (a lot more background information/less jargon)
- to a colleague when out for coffee than when sitting in an IEP meeting
Following Social Rules
Many children pick up on and learn social rules just by going through life. Some children need to be directly taught these rules.
Some examples of social rules include how to:
- start/join a conversation
- take turns in a conversation
- maintain a conversation
- use and read gestures/body language
- use/read facial expressions
Social Language Treatment
Now, we have arrived to the good stuff!
A child or adult may need help in one or all three of the areas listed above. This information would come from informal observations across environments and/or a formal speech/language evaluation.
Personally, social language is best taught in groups or within the least restrictive environment possible. However, the building blocks can also be taught in a very concrete manner during in-person and/or remote therapy.
No-Print Social Language Resources
I have many new resources over at my Membership Site using real-life images! I have been using these resources to work on identifying emotions and formulating comments/questions as well expressive grammar and vocabulary. The real-life photos have been a hit and I like the ease of planning (same resources to target many different goals!)
If you are a member, please log in here.
FREE SAMPLE plus ONE YEAR of FREE resources
Fill out the form below to grab a FREE presentation of images to target your social language, predication, and reasoning goals. As a bonus, grab ONE YEAR of FREE materials!
Need more materials?
Join my membership program and be set for year to come!
Membership !
If you want to become a member and access the other 8 decks AND 1,200 other materials, please click the link below.
