Treating Pragmatic Language & Social Communication

Question 1

What treatment techniques apply to pragmatic language & social communication?

Answer 1

• Meta-cognition / self-regulation (not just memorizing strategies but knowing when to use them)
• Reading comprehension (at the discourse level) particularly with inferences, narratives, topic organization, text macrostructures, etc.
• Multiple meanings / figurative language

Question 2

What might be targeted for treating pragmatic language & social communication?

Answer 2

• Perspective taking
• Conversational skills
• Nonverbal communication
• Emotional awareness & management
• Social communication skills for specific purposes (friendship, employment, academics)

Question 3

Social stories & comic strip conversations are tools to improve social awareness by …

Answer 3

making mental events explicit

-Capitalize on visual strengths & provide direct access to social information

Question 4

Characteristics of comic strip conversations

Answer 4

• Combine writing, drawing, and conversation
• Make thoughts & feelings of multiple people clear
• Address theory of mind

Question 5

Social stories contain 4 sentence types.

Answer 5

• Descriptive
• Directive
• Perspective
• Control

Question 6

What is a descriptive sentence?

Answer 6

-Background about the setting (ex: on most days, the children at school go outside for recess)

Question 7

What is a directive sentence?

Answer 7

Tell child what to do in that setting (ex: Before we go outside, I need to stand in line with the other children)

Question 8

What is a perspective sentence?

Answer 8

Beliefs, feelings, reactions of others (ex: My teacher likes it when I stand in line)

Question 9

What is a control sentence?

Answer 9

-Strategies the child might use to remember the content of the social story. (ex: when I stand in line, I will think of the letters in the word ‘line’ as four children standing next to each other.”