Critical Components
Context of Communication
children learn to communicate during meaningful social interactions that are part of their routines and daily activities. It's important that the environment (the physical space, materials, people present, and the time), facilitates conversation. The communication environment needs to make the child feel safe, comfortable, interested, motivated and involved.
In addition to attending to things that facilitate conversation, consider the things in the environment that may inhibit or prevent the flow of conversation. Consider things that prevent and things that help communication. Look at the following items:
- Lighting - Adequate lighting
- Acoustics - the ability to decipher auditory information is affected by environmental factors, such as the amount of reverberation (echo) in the room. Strategies to improve acoustics include carpeting rooms, adding acoustical ceilings and closing doors to noisy hallways.
- Layout of room (accessibility of the child's communication system).
- Positioning.
- Distance.
- Materials.
- Clutter.
- People (number and variety of communication partners including peers).
- Time of day.
- Schedules and calendars.
Click for information on setting up a conversation rich environment. Scroll down to page 3.
