Functional communication refers simply to being able to effectively communicate or inform about one’s feelings or basic needs.
Usually, functional communication begins as early as the first year of life in the way of gestures and signs. As the child gets older, it extends into word use and then, later, stringing sentences together.
However, children with speech and language delays, such as autistic kids, may experience the development of functional communication differently. It could delay, only beginning to develop much later, and slowly, at that. If a child has a major language impairment, there’s a chance that they would still have to keep working on it even when they are much older.
Why Is Learning Functional Communication Important?
Learning this is especially crucial for children because it could greatly reduce the exhibition of challenging behaviors. The baseline for teaching functional communication is to first teach the communication strategies that are synonymous with behavior.
These are the basics that serve as a channel for communicating for the several reasons that we have to communicate, including rejecting, requesting, emotional expressions, and protesting, amongst others. When kids can communicate functionally, they generally do better.
How Do You Handle Functional Communication Issues In Children?
While kids may have difficulty with functional communication, there’s a good chance that they may have well-developed rote skills. Rote skills comprise things like speaking properly, naming items, or having an extensive vocabulary. Since these are already developed, you should look out for avenues for your child to practice conversation and social skills generally.
There are two options you can explore, and doing both can ensure you get comprehensive results:
Handling communication practice outdoors
Handling communication practice indoors
Handling Communication Practice Outdoors
For this, you are looking at a controlled environment of sorts without excessive overstimulation. You also want adults present who are serving as facilitators. Some excellent options include art classes, rec center gymnastics, and cub scouts, all supervised activities. Being in spaces like these opens your child to several opportunities for practicing social language.
To ensure that your child is properly catered to, ensure that you inform the facilitator that your child is experiencing some challenges with communicating effectively. This is because the facilitator would be playing a central role – one that involves regularly reminding your child to request help at any time that they need it. This could be as simple as requesting a trip to the bathroom or a cup of water.
Handling Communication Practice Indoors
Your child very likely spends most of their time at home, as such, the efforts you make at home are crucial. Here are some tips to help you along on this quest:
Prompt your child to make requests: if your child is making actions or gestures that indicate wanting something specific or even whining or screaming, get them to calm down and make an actual request. You could have them repeat after you in this manner – “Say I want some water,” or “Can you help?” The moment they make the request, go right ahead and fulfill their wish. This in itself is a form of positive reinforcement.
Up the stakes over time: it’s crucial to allow your child a form of independence as they get better. This independence is in the form of reducing the amount of help you provide when they want to make a request.
Go from saying the sentence and getting them to repeat it to saying the incomplete version and getting them to complete it. For instance, provide a prompt like “I want some…” so your child only has to respond “water.”
To up the ante, you could tell your kid to say what they want – simply say, “Tell me what you want.” Over time, you can eliminate the words and simply wait expectantly for them to make their request.
Don’t encourage bad behavior: discouraging bad behavior as much as possible is crucial to this venture. If your child is yelling for a toy or throwing a tantrum, do not give it to them simply to keep them quiet. This reinforces bad behavior. Rather, wait until they stop yelling and ask for the toy nicely. At this point, you can give it to them. This teaches the lesson that to get what they want, they would have to ask nicely or calmly.
Allow for downtime: after a long and particularly tasking day, allow your child some space to relax and collect themselves before engaging them in conversation. Remember that this is work for them, so they would need to gather as much strength as they can before proceeding.
Aid the experience sharing: there’s a good chance that a lot happened throughout their day, and sharing can be pretty overwhelming. So, you can provide very specific prompts that they simply have to complete. For instance, “Today, I spoke to…,” “At recess, I played with…” These are prompts that would provide an avenue for your child to share the happenings in their day much easier. This strategy is also called “scripting.”
Teach and practice feeling words: teaching your child to communicate feelings can be done in several ways, and a pretty effective method is using feeling cards. Think of this as a fun project that you can even do together. Use emoticon-like faces drawn on cards to depict emotions like happy, sad, worried, tired, and mad. Have your child make these faces and show how the facial expressions are pretty similar. Using these cards, they can share how they are feeling per time.
What Is Functional Communication Training?
Functional communication training (FCT) is a process that entails natural ways of teaching children with developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) meaningful and functional communication.
How Does Functional Communication Training Factor Into Behavior Analysis?
Applied behavior analysts make use of functional communication training to teach children with autism spectrum disorder proper and acceptable communication styles to replace difficult behavior. It is also called positive behavior support intervention, and it has been proven to be pretty effective at helping affected individuals communicate their needs effectively.
Difficult behavior encompasses various acts, including:
Self-harm
Aggression
Non-compliance
Escape
Destruction
Functional communication training is heavy on the use of words for expression; however, it isn’t limited to just words. A more accurate description would be that it is a method of teaching communication suitably. Some other methods employed could be sign language, picture exchange communication system (PECS), gestures, or using icons and pictures.
In essence, FCT is also appropriate for children with limited vocabulary or non-verbal children.
What Is the Goal of Functional Communication Training?
The primary goal of functional communication training is to facilitate proper expression or effective communication. FCT provides children with various ways of communicating, strategically eliminating the frustration of being unable to communicate properly. FCT is usually applied as a standalone measure or used alongside other measures aimed at behavioral intervention.
What Are the Symptoms of Functional Communication Problems in Children?
Functional communication issues present in pretty apparent ways if children are closely observed. It can present in any of the following ways:
Tantrums: crying and acting out when they want something rather than simply asking
Trouble with self-expression: inability to ask for help when they need it
Yelling: screaming ‘Water’! rather than simply requesting, “I want some water.”
Squirming in seat: peeing in pants or moving around uncomfortably when they need the bathroom instead of just asking to go
Poor behavior: when the means to properly express wants and needs is absent, frustration can build up, leading to the child being really upset. This further leads to major behavior issues because of an inability to properly communicate emotions and needs. The physical manifestation of this could happen in several ways including hiding, throwing fits, aggressive acts, or running away.
Functional Communication in Speech Therapy for Non-Speaking Children
If you notice that your child is finding communication of basic wants and needs difficult, your next port of call should be to a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP). This is because they are in the best position to address functional communication issues. Here are some of the steps that they would typically take to help your child:
Step 1: Determining the Mode of Communication
This step lays the foundation for the entire functional communication process. It determines the way the child would be communicating with people around them. Most adults combine spoken speech, body language, and gestures to communicate. This combination is the most common manner of communication. However, for a child with major speech or language delay, the spoken speech aspect could be pretty tough. Therefore, coming up with an alternative is imperative.
Rather than a specific means of communication, the main goal is to provide them with A means of communication. The main factor taken into consideration when choosing this communication means is that the child should find it easy to use and adults around should understand. Once the process starts, it can be developed over time until it becomes more advanced.
Here are some means of communication that could be used in this kind of situation:
Sign language
Voice-output device
Communication board
Picture exchange communication system (PECS)
Gestures and body language
Step 2: Choosing New Target Words
After determining the means of communication that you would be using, the next step is to begin a comprehensive tutorial on how they can communicate using that means.
Depending on how developed their communication is at present, you could stick with teaching a concept or two. Consider opting for concepts that would actually interest the child, such as a social interaction like swinging or bouncing. A food or toy that they like would suffice too.
Step 3: Modeling the New Words
It goes without saying that you don’t instantly expect the child to immediately begin to use the words chosen. You would have to model the word or say it over and over, applying it in a range of contexts and situations. Saying the word singly and in a combined fashion is a great way to show how to use it.
Beyond saying the word, putting in some action in the form of demonstrations would help a great deal too. If the communication method is sign language, say and sign the word simultaneously. If you’re working with a voice-output device, say the word when pushing the talker’s button.
Repetition as often as possible is crucial to get the child get used to the new words.
Step 4: Supplying Inducements to Say the Word
This step sees you cajoling the child to use the word, and you can do this in different ways. For instance, you could put an object just out of reach so that they would be pushed to use the word.
If they gesture at it, try to induce a response out of them by question lines like ”What do you want?” Allow a gap for them to say or sign.
If it looks like they need further help, you can ask “Do you want the cookie? Cookie.” Ensure that while you’re saying this, you’re either signing or pointing at the picture or using the voice output device. Give them time to process.
If the appropriate reaction still isn’t gotten, go right ahead and give it to them anyway. Do this while modeling the word. The key is to push reasonably, without frustrating them.
Step 5: Exercising Patience
Functional communication in therapy follows these steps, and what caps it up is patience. You would need to keep trying until the child gets familiar with and is finally able to use the communication method.
If one word doesn’t seem to be working out, explore others, and then come back to it. Provided you don’t stop trying, there’s a chance that they will be ready to communicate with you eventually. Ensure that you don’t push the child too hard. Depending on their progress, you can improve and expand the child’s skill set to allow them to communicate even better.
Conclusion
Functional communication is a vital tenet of development in children, particularly since communicating their most basic needs is crucial. In the way of social interactions it also plays a major role. This is why the importance of building functional communication skills cannot be overstated. If you notice any of the signs highlighted, be sure to reach out to a certified SLP.