My communication style

Speech and language therapy

﻿Hello everybody. My name's Emma. And welcome to today's lesson. I'm looking forward to today's session, and I hope you are too. I can't wait to get started. But before we do, just a quick reminder. We here at Oak are here to support any approaches you might already be using, and any work you might have already been set. We know this lesson is going out to so many different children and families. So, if you're not sure, or have any questions, please do contact your child's school, or usual speech and language therapy team. In today's lesson, we're carrying on what we started in lesson 11, and thinking a little bit more about nonverbal communication. We're going to use this to think about how we show interest in conversation through our nonverbal communication, and then we're going to give it a go. We're going to practise using our nonverbal communication to show that we're interested when talking without talking partner. So, for today's session, all you'll need is the downloadable resource that's available on the Oak website with this lesson. It has everything you need in it for the activities we'll be doing today. So, before we begin, find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed for the lesson, turn off any distractions or notifications that you might have running on the device that you're using, and then make sure that you and your talking partner are sat comfortably. When you're ready, let's begin. Okay. Let's start by doing some talking and thinking about communication styles. Nonverbal communication is the messages that are given away by things like our facial expression, body language, and tone of voice. Nonverbal communication is how we read people and how they are feeling, and it also gives us a little bit of a clue into what they might be thinking. It also helps other people to read us. Nonverbal communication will tell us whether our conversation partner is interested and still paying attention. So, for the first activity, we're going to have a go reading some nonverbal communication. I'm going to show you some pictures, and we're going to talk about them. When you're ready, let's begin. Here's our picture. How do you think this conversation is going? What's the nonverbal communication telling us? Pause the video to spend a few minutes talking with your adult about this picture, and then, when you're ready, press play, and we'll continue. In this picture, the boy in the blue t-shirt is yawning. He's also got his eyes closed, which means he's not making eye contact. Did you notice this too? I wonder whether he's feeling bored of this conversation. What did you think? Eye contact, or looking at someone's face and near their eyes, is important because it helps us communicate interest and attention in conversation. It's important for letting people know that we're interested in starting a conversation, and we need to keep as much eye contact as we can, in order to pick up and respond to nonverbal messages from other people. Not making eye contact can give the message that we're not interested, or that we're not paying attention to what's being said. We're going to have a go at an activity now called looking here, there, and everywhere. It's activity one in the downloadable resource. Experiment looking with your talking partner. have a pretend conversation where you and your talking partner are looking at each other. Then, try another conversation where one of you looks away. Then, try another conversation where both of you are looking away. How does the conversation go when you're looking away from your talking partner? When you've had a go, come back to the video and press play, and we'll continue. Eye contact, or looking at people, can be really stressful for some people. Being forced, or feeling like we have to look at people in the eyes, can cause real stress. And, actually, that stress can make us pay even less attention to the conversation. And we want to avoid that stress. If eye contact is difficult for you, it's important to try and find other nonverbal ways of showing that we're interested in having a conversation to help us have successful conversations with our talking partners. Pause the video, to have a think about some other ways that you could show interest if eye contact is hard for you. When you've had a moment to talk and think about this with your adult, press play to continue. I wonder if you got some ideas for how you can show interest. Here are a few of mine. Staying within a conversational distance with the person that we're talking about can be really helpful for showing interest if eye contact is hard for us. standing within an arms distance of a person, so, not too close, but not too far away, will help them to know that we're interested in talking to them. We can make sure that our bodies are facing the speaker, even if we're finding it hard to look at them, and we can show that we're really paying attention by keeping our hands and feet as still as possible. We can use phrases such as yes, mm hmm, when the other person who's talking pauses, this tells someone that we're listening. We're going to have a bit of talking time now. We're going to practise one other strategy. You can choose any topic that you like to talk about. It needs to be something that you're really interested in. When you're talking about this topic with your adult, try looking at your talking partners nose, eyebrows, or hair. You can choose whatever feels comfortable for you. Adults, make sure you're giving the children lots of feedback about the efforts that they're making throughout this activity. I know that it might be tough for some people, but let's give looking at other parts of the face a go, to see if that can help us. When you're ready, let's continue. It's okay if eye contact is hard. as we know, you can show interest in conversation in lots of other ways to keep conversation going. As you've just tried, you can have a go looking at parts of people's faces rather than their eyes, if that's the tricky thing. So, looking at their nose, their eyebrows, or their hair can be a really good strategy for showing that we're listening, and showing that we're interested in a conversation when looking at the eyes is too difficult for us. Now, it's time to complete activity two from the downloadable resource. Think about how you feel happiest communicating and showing interest when talking to people. Use the communication profile to write about your communication style. You can then share this with people that you meet, people at school, and other people who help you when you're at home or in the community. This will help them to understand how to make you feel most comfortable and confident when talking to you. Pause the video to complete your communication profile with your adult, and then, when you're finished, come back to the video, and we'll finish the lesson off. Use the downloadable resources from weeks 10 and 11 for more ideas on talking topics and talking games that will help you to practise having conversations. Keep practising your conversation style through role play with adults, and really think about how comfortable you feel showing interest in conversation. Don't ever try and make yourself feel uncomfortable by forcing eye contact, but try experimenting with some of the other ways that you can show that you're interested in What's being said. That brings us to the end of today's lesson. A really big well done on all the fantastic work you've put into thinking about your communication style. Don't forget to share your communication profile with school, so that they can see all the fantastic progress you're making with your social communication. Well, that's all that's left for me to say, but thank you so much again, take care, and enjoy the rest of your learning. Bye bye.

My communication style

My communication style

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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