Articles

Communication - The Essence of Life

By Ms. Margaret Vannia : Speech Language Pathologist and Audiologist

Communication is the exchange of information between two individuals. It is very important to communicate for a good social and emotional life. Any difficulty in communication leads to frustration. Communication can be either verbal or non-verbal. Most animals make use of mainly non-verbal communication to fulfil their needs. Humans have a highly specialized communication system and use spoken language along with non verbal cues to communicate various thoughts and ideas. It is found that 85% of communication is non verbal. Most of us would not realize the difficulty of communication as verbal communication is natural to us but may have faced some amount of difficulty in communicating when we do not know the language of the other person who is speaking to us.

Majority of the people experience some speech disability to the extent that they have significant difficulty being understood by others. This can be due to stammering, pronunciation difficulties, voice problems or language difficulty. Some of these people have no speech at all because of physical or neurological disabilities.

Many parents of late talkers, hearing impaired mentally challenged, cerebral palsied and children with communication difficulties believe that their child should only speak what they want to communicate and not use any other form of communication such as pointing or use gestures. They discourage use of any other mode of communication as they have a notion that it will inhibit the development of speech and language. This notion is wrong as it has been found time and again by various studies that use of other modes of communication does not hinder the development of speech and language skills but facilitates speech and language development.

The use of other forms of communication is known as alternative and augmentative communication or AAC. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is a field of endeavour addressing the communication and other related needs of individuals who experience significant impairment in this area. The goal of AAC is generally to achieve the most effective communication possible for the individual. In addition to individuals who require AAC, others include family members, friends, caregivers, teachers, employers and other members of the community. Other professionals and stakeholders in the field of AAC who actively work to improve communication for these people include speech-language pathologists, occupation therapists, physical therapists, engineers, researchers, manufacturers. The AAC can vary from use of hand signs or writing, use of pictures or symbols, tactile aids or specially made AAC devices known as communication aids.

AACs can be introduced to the individual with communication difficulty as young as a 6 months old. The choice of the AAC to be used should be based on the difficulty that the individual is facing. Communication aids are devices developed or adapted for use by people with severe communication impairments. Because these people have very varied skills, needs, and problems, there is a large range of communication aids. Some people with severe communication impairments can use their hands; others cannot, and have to use alternatives, such as mouth sticks, head pointers, switches or eye-pointing. Some can read and spell; others cannot, and need communication aids on which language elements are represented by pictures or graphic symbols such as Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or Blissymbols. Some individuals use wheelchairs which can accommodate large communication devices; others walk and need small, light aids. Some have the funds to purchase high-tech equipment such as Dynamite (a speech generating device)

A communication aid may be as simple as a piece of cardboard with an empty potato chips-bag stuck on it to represent a desire for chips, or as complex as a laptop computer, controlled with a switch which speaks and allows the user to talk on the phone, access the Internet, or type an essay. The best non-speech communication strategy (or combination of strategies) is the one which allows the person with severe communication impairment to communicate as freely as possible, in as many situations as possible, to the maximum number of people.

Communication should be the ultimate goal and not the any mode through which the individual communicates. The mode through which he/she is capable of communicating should be encouraged as it will not only bring down the frustration of not being able to communicate but also encourage the development of speech and language. Let us strive towards bringing about effective communication for people who need it the most and improve their quality of life.