Toddler laughing
Developmental, Language and communication

What do you get when you cross a communication aid with a riddle?

Dave O’Mara and Annalu Waller on using humour to help language-impaired children to communicate and participate.

18 February 2003

Anne’s speech is difficult to understand. At the age of 10 she has already used several alternative means of communication including manual signs, a symbol chart and a voice-output communication aid – with varying degrees of success. Anne is typical of a child with speech and language impairment: the frustration faced when not understood promotes an avoidance of conversation and can produce a passive communicator, someone more often talked to rather than with.

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