Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) assess and treat communication and swallowing challenges and disorders across all age groups. Communicative Disorders Assistants (CDAs) treat communication and swallowing challenges and disorders across all age groups under supervision of an SLP.
What is Communication?
Take a moment and answer this question: What is communication?
Did you think of talking, having conversations, asking questions, giving speeches, and so forth?
Communication is the exchange, sharing and receiving of ideas. Communication is more than speaking. We communicate using both verbal and nonverbal communication.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication consists of:
- Speaking
- Writing
- Reading
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication consists of actions, gestures, signs, pictures, body language, etc.
Check out the examples below to illustrate various types of communication!
- Gestures
- Waving for ‘goodbye’
- Nodding or shaking your head to answer questions
- Actions
- Clapping for ‘well done’
- Shrugging your shoulders for ‘I don’t know’
- Standing up or bowing when meeting someone new to show respect
- Facial Expressions
- Raising your eyebrows when something surprises you
- Using expressions to show happiness, sadness, confusion
- Sign Languages
- American Sign Language
- Langue des signes québécoise or Langue des signes du Québec
- Using Pictures and Videos
- Showing someone a diagram or picture to help them understand an idea
- Viewing a painting or watching a video that communicates a message without using any words
Concerned About Your Child’s Communication?
If you have concerns about your child’s communication skills, consult with an SLP.
An SLP may suggest an assessment to further understand your child’s strengths and areas of growth prior to creating communication goals.
As a caregiver, your input is crucial to creating and working towards functional and significant communication goals for your child.
What Do SLPs and CDAs Actually Do?
Now, let’s address how SLP’s and CDAs fit in. What do they actually do?
Consider two main sides to communication; one is sharing information (expression) and the other is receiving information (understanding).
Expression
SLPs assess and treat areas of expression, including:
- Pronunciation of words
- Motor components of speech production
- Flow of our speech (stuttering)
- Voice characteristics (pitch, rate of speech, loudness, intonation)
- Expressive language (building vocabulary, making phrases and sentences, asking questions, written expression)
Comprehension
Additionally, SLP’s assess and treat areas of comprehension, including:
- Receptive language (understanding and following directions, understanding questions, reading comprehension)
Social Communication
When communicating with others, we interact socially. As a result, SLPs assess and treat areas of social communication including:
- Using language for different reasons (such as requesting vs. commenting)
- Changing language based on the listener
- Understanding social cues and conversational rules
Cognitive Communication
Language and cognition, the process and acquiring knowledge, are intertwined and closely related during development.
As such, SLP’s play a role in assessing and treating cognitive communication including:
- Attention
- Problem-solving
- Working memory/processing
- Organization
- Executive functions
Communication Covers Many Different Areas
As you can see, communication covers several different areas.
Talk to an SLP or CDA for more information about specific strategies used when supporting the different communication areas!
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