Robert: Supporting understanding and talking
Chapter two: Introductory level
Task one
Watch the three video clips below of the interview with Robert. Write down your initial thoughts about Robert’s communication in the interview. This can include any thoughts you have about his speech, language and communication.
Response sheet for Robert (PDF, 110KB)
There is no specific feedback for this activity, but you may wish to look back on your answer at the end of this chapter. You should then be able to reflect on the development of your thoughts, as a result of completing the structured learning activities.
Clip one
Robert talks about his own talking and communication.
Clip two
Robert describes his plans for the future.
Clip three
Robert talks about the support that he receives from teachers and tutors in school and in college.
Task two
Watch each video clip again carefully.
Observe and reflect: Describe Robert’s speech, language and communication skills. When making your observations, use specific parts or extracts from the interview as evidence to support your observations.
What do you observe about Robert’s speech, language and communication from clip one?
Task two feedback
Robert reports that his talking is “calm and patient”. He asks for clarification of the question “what are you like at communicating with people?” by saying “communicating with people” and by saying that he has forgotten what the word “communication” means. Once ‘communication’ has been explained, Robert describes how he chats with tutors and friends comfortably.
You may have observed that:
Robert has clear speech which is easy to understand, with no observable speech sound difficulties. When he talks, he has a slow rate of talking with some pauses in the middle of words.
In terms of language skills, he needs support to understand the word “communicating”, suggesting Robert may have some difficulties with his understanding of vocabulary. He also has some unusual sentences, such as “a bit of a chatting”.
Robert demonstrates some clear communication skills shown by his interaction within the interview. For example, his answers are related to the questions being asked, he is able to take turns within the interview, and he uses facial expressions appropriately. He lets the interviewer know that he has not understood the word “communicating”.
Task three
In clip two, Robert is talking about his plans for the future.
What do you observe about his communication in the interview?
What strategies could you use to support Robert’s language and communication skills?
Task three feedback
In this clip, Robert is able to describe his hopes for the future, describing how he would like to be an artist or designer and how this will enable him to develop new skills. Robert is able to describe his ideas clearly and contribute to the interview.
When the interviewer asks Robert how he will achieve his goal of being an artist, Robert does not understand the word “achieve”. He shows this by his use of non-verbal communication, he looks upwards and pauses. He also repeats back the word “achieve”.
The interviewer then rephrases the question to support Robert’s understanding, asking how he will work towards his goal. Robert says that he will become an artist through practising his skills.
The following strategies may help support Robert’s language and communication skills:
Reducing the complexity of words used. Avoid less common or frequent words such as ‘achieve’ and ‘communicate’ and use shorter, more common words instead such as ‘do’ and ‘talk’ and ‘listen’.
Checking his understanding. Difficulties with understanding language can be missed during busy and quick conversations.
Spending time teaching new words. Robert signals that he has not understood a word without explicitly asking for clarification. He could be encouraged to keep an informal list of words which he is unsure of, and then supported to spend some time learning new words.
Many young people will benefit from time spent creating detailed plans for their future, including concrete steps towards long-term goals.
Task four
In clip three, Robert is talking about how tutors and teachers at college can support him.
What do you observe about his communication and in particular, how he explains the support he currently receives to the interviewer?
Task four feedback
Robert talks about how he values the help and support he receives from tutors. He feels able to ask for support at any time, when he feels he needs to. It also highlights that:
If a young person’s response does not fully answer the question asked then it may indicate that he or she has not understood the question.
Sometimes, young people may need support to explain their ideas to others using clear sentences.
Robert is asked what teachers have done to help him. He replies to this question with:
“I - er - well erm, I should think - erm - well it’s just only erm, just one of those lessons I’m really good at, at my old school in the old lessons and in this college I do making and designing things…”
This answer does not seem to match the question he was asked. It could be that Robert has not fully understood the question, and so he uses ‘filler’ phrases such as “well” and “I should think” to gain more time to think of an answer.
He may be aware that he needs to give a response and so, does this without fully understanding the question asked of him. This is a logical strategy - one that we all use from time to time.
With a further prompt he says, “yes, sometimes I need help what I need to do - er - anything I’m stuck with I ask them and they know exactly what I need to do…”
Summary task
Summarise your thoughts on Robert’s speech, language and communication skills.
What have you learned from watching this?
How will your learning impact on your own professional practice?