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How to Teach Communication Skills to Kids With Special Needs

Parents and educators can use special tools and techniques to teach kids with special needs to communicate effectively with each other as well as with others. Each technique focuses a child's attention on a task or social situation, giving him experience and insight on social expectations and his own perspectives about those situations. You can change the techniques to fit the development of your child or to address other social issues as they become apparent.

Instructions

    • 1

      Prepare social scripts for kids and take turns reading them repetitively. Write a story, from the child's point of view, highlighting the steps to complete a task, the possible emotions and feelings he will face during the task, and the method he can use to address the task. For instance, you can write a simple story about how to ask a parent for dinner, starting with feelings of hunger and demonstrating a healthy and appropriate way to express those feelings.

    • 2

      Use role-playing to give kids experience handling social situations and establishing healthy communication. Describe a situation to the child that places her in the position to communicate something to you, her parent or another child. Instruct the children to play out the situation in your classroom. Assess her performance and offer positive feedback and advice. For example, if you want to teach your students how to make a new friend, present them with the conditions under which they could make a new friend and watch them play out the scenario.

    • 3

      Make your classroom a comfort zone where you can provide social organizaiton to your students' lives. Spend time in class regularly instructing your students to get to know each other, play together and form friendships in an environment where you are present and can help. Make friends with children who show signs of shyness or social anxiety. Inspire your students to think of their classmates as a unified group, and encourage them to continue the group outside of class -- at lunch, recess or after school.

    • 4

      Get parents involved with your work. Send communication assignments home with your students, instructing them to carry out specific communicative tasks in their home, such as talking to their parents about their school day. Invite your students' parents into your classroom to participate in class and use it as an opportunity to introduce parents to each other. Encourage your students' parents to organize time outside of class for their children to meet in a social setting and play.

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