after school speech session 12

Two Tuesdays ago, SJ had his speech therapy session. I started a new job, so my husband is now in charge of getting him to speech. The therapist told my husband that they first worked on "Changing the Topic". She explained to him how to change the topic of a conversation by linking it to the previous topic. For example:


Partner 1-So I grabbed the leash before Maxwell could run off again. (The topic is keeping his dog, Maxwell, from running away.)
Partner 2-Speaking of Maxwell, how do you like the dog training classes? (Both the old and new topics are about Maxwell.)


After she gave him the example, they read through nine scenarios. He had to decide if the second sentence made a logical connection between the old and new topics. Six of the nine scenarios made a logical connection, while the other three did not. She said he did well with this exercise.


Next, they worked on "Asking Questions". She told him some good reasons to ask questions during a conversation such as: to show that you are interested in what the other person is saying, to expand the conversation topic and to make sure you understood what the person said. She reminded him not to interrupt the speaker by asking a question and to save his question until the person was done speaking. She added that if he doesn't understand what the person is saying, he could use facial expressions to signal that he doesn't understand (tricky for a kid on the spectrum).


Then, she read him six scenarios that had a sentence with a question. He had to decide if the question showed interest, expanded the topic or was to understand. Sometimes the questions could be applicable for multiple reasons. For example:


"I just got the expansion pack for my favorite video game."
"What do you like best about video games?"


SJ thought the question was to expand the topic. He did fine with this activity.  The last thing they practiced during his session was conversational speech. (He can always use practice with this topic.) She also asked him about the Luau Dance and he told her that he had fun.