Henry: Working together to communicate

Henry talks about a number of aspects of college that he enjoys. He lists his interests as clearly as possible and works with the interviewer to check that she has understood him.

In this clip, Henry’s speech is difficult to understand at times. This is due to a number of factors:

• When Henry talks, some of his speech sounds are not pronounced, for example the first time he pronounces “wood” the ‘d’ is not very loud, when he says “spoon” it sounds like ‘boon’.

• Some speech sounds are swapped around, for example the first time he says “work” it sounds like ‘word’.

• He is using uncommon words, such as “spoon forging” or “greenwood working”. This means that it is difficult to ‘fill in the gaps’ and figure out what Henry is saying when the sounds are unclear. This shows how important context is to our understanding: if we have an idea of what words might be used, we are more likely to recognise them when we hear them.

• Henry’s intonation, or ‘tone of voice’, may be considered unusual.

The interviewer repeats the list of subjects back. This helps her to be sure that she has understood the words correctly, and enables her to ask for more information about the subject she does not know much about. It also reassures Henry that she is paying attention, and wants to understand what he is saying.

As a result, Henry is able to correct her misunderstanding of ‘greenwood work’, initially heard as ‘green works’.

Henry reports that he is aware of his own speech difficulties. He knows that his speech can vary (from “sometimes ok” to “sometimes not ok”) and he knows that longer words and some particular sounds are difficult for him. He is also aware that other people do not always know what he is saying. Henry reports that this is “annoying”.

Henry’s advice to listeners is to get him to slow down, and to ask him to say the word again. These strategies are evident in clip one, when the interviewer has not understood “greenwood work” properly. You could also use strategies seen earlier, such as repeating back what you think you have understood, in order to check. Henry would prefer people to give him more time and space to repeat the words in order to be understood.

Sometimes it can be tempting to nod or agree and gloss over when we have not understood something in a conversation but Henry’s interview is a good reminder not to do this. Try working with young people with speech difficulties to understand what they are saying.

Personal reflection

Imagine if you were asked to say ‘s’ instead of ‘f’ and ‘e’ instead of ‘u’ each time you spoke. What would it feel like? What would the impact be on your conversations?

Thinking about your speech sounds while trying to get your message across may be very frustrating and also tiring. It may distract you from the content of what you are actually saying and also slow down your contributions to fast-paced chats, jokes, debates and discussions. This effort and frustration is evident in Henry’s interview, particularly when discussing the times when people do not understand what he is saying.