Socially Speaking

Making friends and enjoying casual conversations in the playground is something that most children take for granted, but for kids with autism and other communication delays, social language is not always easy.

Paediatric Speech Pathologist Fiona Teudt supports children with language difficulties and says that teaching kids to recognise the unspoken cues that social language involves is a big part of her work

“A child with Autism or a language delay may have an unusual way of interacting socially and this can isolate them in a playground,” Fiona said

“When special needs kids don’t know how to interact appropriately at school or pre-school, their self esteem, behaviour and friendships can be affected, so teaching them how to socialise successfully is very important."

Fiona said that most children with social language concerns have difficulties with non-verbal communication, such as making sustained eye contact, reading body language and other non-verbal cues like understanding or expressing emotions.

 “These kids find it hard to understand another child’s facial expressions, tone of voice or the turn taking that occurs in conversations.”

“Their talk is often one-sided and because they are sometimes quite particular about the topics they are interested in, they find it hard to form relationships with other children.” 

Fiona said that most children with communication difficulties benefit significantly from seeing a speech pathologist to help them improve their ability to connect with others through conversation.

“Individual speech pathology can make a big difference to children's skills, but small group programs that give kids opportunities to learn how to meet, converse and make connections with others are also very effective,” she said.

One such program is Socially Speaking, a series of school holiday workshops for children aged 5 to 7 that will take place in Brookvale this October.

Fiona and an experienced team of specialist Speech Pathologists will present the small group program, providing children with the opportunity to build communication skills and confidence.

“The good thing about programs like Socially Speaking and pre-school programs like Chatterboxes, is that they are eligible Speech Pathology services for children who receive government funded disability support, Medicare and health fund rebates,” Fiona said.

“This means that it’s easier than ever before to seek support for children so that they can make friends and function happily in the community.”

                                                                                                          © Sonja Walker 2010

Speech Pathologist Fiona Teudt is part of the children’s health team at Kids First Children’s Services.

Limited places in the next Socially Speaking school holiday workshop are still available. For more information about social language or to make an appointment for speech therapy support for children, call Kids First on 9938 5419