Pragmatics

Pragmatics refers to the rules of language use or social language. Pragmatics involve three major communication skills:

1. Using language for different communicative intents such as: greeting, commenting, requesting, informing, protesting.

2. Changing language based upon the conversational partner (e.g., peer, teacher) or conversational context (e.g., school, home). For example, we speak differently to a teacher than we do a same-aged peer; we speak differently when we are at baseball practice than when we are eating dinner. We use perspective taking when we modify our language based on varied scenarios.

3. Following rules for conversations such as: initiating conversation, taking turns, maintaining topic, revising our message when there is a breakdown, using subtle nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, gestures), maintaining appropriate body space/distance.

Here are some ideas to help improve your child's social pragmatic language at home!

Social Language/Social Behaviors

A great way to talk about appropriate social language is through discussions of the way characters behave in various movies and TV shows. Watch these with your child and discuss how the character(s) behaved in expected/unexpected ways. Talk about the consequences of these actions (i.e. someone was offended, people misunderstood, etc.) and discuss ways characters could have handled situations differently/better. Some videos are included below. (source: uTube)

Perspective Taking

Perspective taking is an important pragmatic skill. A child needs to understand their emotions/feelings and also how other people might feel given varied situations. Watch this video and talk about what is happening. You should watch this video 2x (once on each of 2 days), but you can pause as needed. You should watch it first before playing it with the kids so you will be familiar. Questions you should be are included below each video (source: Wellesley Public Schools):

Additional At-Home Resources

• Social skills and emotions: Overview Social Skills

• Emotions: Resource on Emotions & Feelings

• Emotions & Feelings: Social Stories

• Social and emotional skills: Perspective Taking

• Social skill videos: Social Skills Videos

• Supporting social language skills at home: Supporting Pragmatic Language At Home

• Conversation skills: Conversational Skills