To better support clients with functional communication challenges, speech pathologists should collect samples of different kinds of conversations
Context:
To assess a client’s functional communication skills, speech pathologists collect speech and oral language samples.
We ask clients to tackle different functional speech tasks:
- reading aloud
- picture descriptions
- recounts and stories
- explanations
- opinions
- problem-solving
- presentations
We also look at clients’ conversation skills.
Yes, but:
Conversations depend on context
- Who is involved
- Why we’re talking to each other
- What we’re talking about
- Where we’re talking
- How we’re talking (face-to-face, phone, Zoom, text, etc.)
- What else is happening
Who:
For example, most of us converse differently with:
- Children
- Partners
- Parents and other loved ones
- Friends and peers/colleagues
- Authority figures (e.g. teachers, interviewers, bosses, police)
- Strangers
Why:
For example, we might converse with someone to:
- get to know them better
- get information or other help
- obtain a service or product we want
- lodge a complaint or assist with a legal right
- collaborate on a project, or solve a problem together.
Also consider:
- Background noise and other distractions
- Time constraints
- Social pressures
- Motor speech demands and speech behaviours (e.g. pitch, rate, and precision)
- Language demands
- Cognitive demands
- Operational demands (e.g. when conversing online)
- Conversational partner factors, e.g. age, first language(s), neurotype(s), and hearing skills
Bottom line:
Because conversation skills and challenges are likely to vary by context, speech pathologists should assess speech and language performance across multiple types of conversations to get a better picture of how we might be able to help a client and achieve their functional communication and other goals.
Read more:
Wynn CJ, Barrett TS, Borrie SA. Conversational Speech Behaviors Are Context Dependent. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 May 7;67(5):1360-1369. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-23-00622. (Open access)
This article also appears in a recent issue of Banter Booster, our weekly round up of the best speech pathology ideas and practice tips for busy speech pathologists, speech pathology students, teachers and others.
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Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.
Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language
Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.
