Social / Pragmatic Language

When should I choose this 'Area of Focus' for my Gabadoo?

Pragmatic language or social communication refers to the social language skills that we use within daily social interactions. This is includes what we say and the ability to use language for different reasons e.g. giving a command, requesting or greeting someone. Social communication also includes the more hidden rules of conversations such as taking turns, personal space, body language, facial expression and gestures.

It's important to remember that there is a hierarchy for language development and before you work on your child's social communication, it's important that they have attention, listening and play skills in place. These areas are separate 'areas of focus' which your child can gain support around prior to social communication if necessary.

Our Gabadoo Team are experienced at working with children and families to support the development of social communication/ pragmatic language. Get individualised strategies and support today through a Gaba Plan.

Important to Note:

If you are only looking for support specifically around your child's non-verbal communication (e.g. gesturing like pointing, waving or early engagement), there is a separate area of focus for non-verbal communication which you can select when doing your Gabadoo.

If you are only looking for support specifically around your child's speech sounds or speech fluency, there are also separate area's of focus for each of these which you can select when doing your Gabadoo.

If you feel your child would initially benefit from support around their regulation so that they can communicate and play with peers, please select sensory processing as your area of focus.

Attention is a very important pre-verbal skill that must be developed prior to expressive, receptive and social/pragmatic language. As attention to spoken language falls under auditory memory, this is what you would select as your area of focus.

What information do I need to include in my Gabadoo?

As our Gabadoo Team have never met your family before and know nothing about your child, they can only provide strategies based on the information you provide so be very detailed!

After you have filled in the relevant information in your Gabadoo, go through this checklist to make sure you have included the following:

Family & Home Life:

Description of your family & the structure of your family including siblings, pets or any extended family who are living in your home. Also include if anyone else in the household has identified difficulties with their language.

Your daily routine including school hours, child-care, free-time in evenings and weekends.

Strengths and Interests:

What does your child like to do?

What games, toys, T.V. programs, characters do they like?

What type of activities do they enjoy?

What daily activities do they enjoy doing with a parent or family member? e.g. cooking, baking, jobs, walking the dog.

Do they respond to praise from adults?

Do they enjoy playing with other children?

Additional Information:

What class is your child in at school?

What type of schooling do they receive? i.e. homeschooling, mainstream N.S., gaelscoil, preschool, ASD class, Special School.

Have you seen any professionals in the past in relation to their development? Or has your child ever had a medical review that is relevant to this area of focus? (i.e. hearing, sight etc.) If so, what was the outcome?

How does your child currently communicate? E.g. speech, Lamh, PECS, AAC

Does your child use echolalia? If so, how often.

Make sure to include:

What you have tried before to work on this skill e.g. interventions, specific programmes, courses, books such as More Than Words or Talkability.

Include a list of toys or books that you already have at home that your child likes to engage with.

Include how this is impacting on your child's well-being or daily life e.g. friendships, communicating with peers etc.

Detailed observations of what level your child is at with their pragmatic language skills.

Think about how your child:

State their needs (requesting, asking for help, makes choices)
Gives commands (changes style in accordance with the person, gives instructions to play a game or how to do/make something).
Expresses feelings.
Interacts with others (conversational skills, polite manner, attends to speaker, interjects appropriately etc.)
Asks questions and wants explanations.
Shares information, story telling.

Include a list of people your children frequently communicates with (e.g. teacher, relatives, parents), the most common environments they communicate in (e.g. home, clubs, school, public places) and what this looks like for them.

Very Important: What would you like to gain from this Gabadoo? What are some of your goals? E.g. I would like to support my child to be able to keep conversations going with friends.

Next include videos and images of your child and their environment.

Video-clips of them engaging with you or another caregiver where you are playing, engaging in an activity or having a conversation. If your child is at the pre-verbal, babbling or one word level stage, try to sit in front of your child and get someone else to capture both of you on the video.

Remember: The more information you give our team, the more individualised and relevant your plan will be. Videos are extremely helpful when reviewing a child's social communication.

What support will I receive for my child?

Your information will be reviewed by one of our Gabadoo Experts who is experienced in the area of language development. They will detail individualised strategies, activities, next steps and helpful organisations and products that you can use at home to support your child.