Communication and Language

Running Head: COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE 1
Communication and Language
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE 2
Introduction
Communication skills are essential, especially for young children. It enables them
to enhance a better understanding of someone talking to them, listen well, and use of
appropriate body language. Also, growth in communication skills also enhances good
relations of children with their peers, teachers, or guardians (Buckley, 2012). This paper
will, therefore, explore, a review, and reflect on the speech, communication skills, and
language of a 7-year-old with the autism spectrum disorder, Tony.
Conversational Style of Tony and his mother
The conversation is between a caregiver and a seven-year-old boy, Tony. The
caregiver is very jovial and starts the conversation by greeting the boy by saying “hi” in a
jovial tone. As the conversation proceeds, it takes the form, of question and answer, where
the caregiver questions the boy, and he answers. Like she asks the boy his name and the
child they are playing with next to him. The caregiver is making the conversation friendly
and jokingly by trying to guess what Tony wants and thinks. She asks Tony if he needs his
car back.
The caregiver is trying to know the feelings of tony by asking him very personal
questions. For example, after giving him the car back, she asks him what he says and feels
about having the toy. She also asks him if he wants to go back to school. The conversation
is also designed to measure the intellect of the boy; that is, the caregiver tries to know if
Tony is aware of the colors. She asks him the color of the camera she is holding, the car
and the shirt Dante is putting on. The caregiver is also trying to increase the self-esteem of
the boy, Tony by appreciating the correct answers he manages to give, for example, he

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE 3
managed to identify the color of the camera she was holding correctly. The caregiver is also
instructing the boy to see his response and correcting him otherwise.
 Who initiates the majority of the conversation?
The caregiver is the one who initiates the majority of the conversation.
 Is the response to the initiation appropriate? (i.e., Did the partner respond? Did they
respond appropriately? Look at the reactions of both the child and the caregiver)
Majority of the responses are not accurate because Tony seems to repeat most of the
questions he is asked instead of responding to the answers. For instance, when he is asked
if he wants his car back, he repeats the same. Also, when he was told to promise not to
throw away the car he was given, he repeated the same words. Tony was responding though
not responding appropriately. But Tony was mostly happening or not responding clearly to
the questions he was asked. The caregiver was, however, responding appropriately to the
questions/queries asked by Tony.
 What is the conversational style of the caregivers/communication partner? Were
they “tuned in” to the conversational abilities of the child?
The conversation style between the caregiver and Tony is a question and answer mode of
communication. The caregiver tries to inspect the intellect of Tony and his communication
abilities. The caregiver tries to identify the strength of the boy to express his feelings and
his attitude towards the daily experience a seven-year-old boy would pass through. For
example, she asks him if he would like to go back to school. The caregiver, therefore, tries
to come back to the level of the child to ensure that she understands him better. She asks
him if he would like to have the toy car and ask its color, which is one of the common
questions asked to a boy of the age.