Social Communication

Julie Brunings, MS, CCC-SLPJuli Rosenzweig, MS, CCC-SLP

Communication Competence

“The ability to demonstrate knowledge of the communication behavior socially appropriate to a given situation.”

Larson, Backlund, Redmond, and Barbour (1978)

Pragmatics

“Pragmatics is the study of relationships between language behavior and the contexts in which it is used.”

Davis & Wilcox (1985)

Social Communication Research

Clinical Psychology Neuropsychology Speech Pathology Linguistic/Sociolinguistics Education

Health Care Professionals involved in Social Communication

Speech Language Pathologists Clinical Psychologists Occupational Therapists Physical Therapists Physicians Social Workers

Cognitive Changes and Effects on Social Communication

Decreased attention Decreased verbal

fluency Decreased short

term memory Decreased

organization Slowed information

processing

Difficulty staying on topic

Difficulty getting to the point

Repetition of ideas, loss of purpose of topic

Disorganized discourseSlow rate of speech

Pragmatic Model

Non-verbal communication Communication in context Message repair Cohesiveness of narrative

Ehrlich & Sipes (1985)

Non-verbal Communication Facial expression Posture Eye contact Gestures Paralinguistic features

— Vocal intensity— Prosody— Fluency

Communication in Context

Topic initiation Topic maintenance Turn taking Awareness of social context

Message Repair

Awareness of communication breakdown

Consideration of listener needs Repair strategies

— Ability to revise message for listener comprehension

Cohesiveness of Narrative

Sequencing of information Concise Use of cohesive ties Use of spatial and temporal

concepts

Treatment Approaches Provide feedback regarding social

communication behaviors— Videotape— Verbal feedback— Predetermined signal

Role play Group therapy Work closely with rehab team