We've been working a lot on conversational skills in my pragmatic groups.
Although progress has been made, I have one group in particular that still
really struggles with sustaining conversation and contingently responding to
conversational partners. And when you think about it that is really really
difficult! One of the things that is so hard to explain to kids is that
although we might start talking about "pets" the conversation can
quickly evolve into "favorite foods." Sometimes this happens in a
very appropriate way (Kid 1: "My dog loves Fritos!" Kid 2: "Hey,
I love Fritos too!" Kid 1: "Yuck, Fritos? No way, Doritos are the
best"), and other times it is completely random and inappropriate (kid 1:
"My dog's name is Pete." kid 2: "I love Fritos!") Oy!!
In order to provide some visual support and increase their understanding of response contingency, I came up with the "Conversation Tree." I thought this activity would really stress their ability to think abstractly, since each part of the tree is a symbol for a part of conversation, but what I found was that the format gave them a more concrete and visual system for mapping out a conversation. They caught on so quickly an really enjoyed the "game!"
The game pieces represented here below represent the tree trunk, leaves, branches, and wind.
The trunk of the tree represents the starting topic of the conversation, the branches are the questions, and the leaves represent the responses to questions or the comments - All those things that we say in the conversation that aren't necessarily the "drivers," but show that we are listening and paying attention. And the wind represents anything that might come up that throws off the conversation - Like lack of eye contact, inappropriate sounds, walking away in the middle of a conversation, etc. The great thing about the trunk metaphor is that it is the topic from which the conversation emanates... The branches and leaves may eventually take the conversation in a different direction, but as long as someone contributes something that is connected to another piece, it usually belongs in the conversation.
In order to provide some visual support and increase their understanding of response contingency, I came up with the "Conversation Tree." I thought this activity would really stress their ability to think abstractly, since each part of the tree is a symbol for a part of conversation, but what I found was that the format gave them a more concrete and visual system for mapping out a conversation. They caught on so quickly an really enjoyed the "game!"
The game pieces represented here below represent the tree trunk, leaves, branches, and wind.

To play the game, I start by reviewing the pieces with the
kids. We talk about how branches and leaves can't just be floating around -
They have to attach to something! I give examples of branches and leaves that
attach and follow the topic, and ones that don't make sense. The kids thought
this was so funny and enjoyed adding some silly examples. Then, we come up with
a starting topic together. This was tricky for my kids, so I gave a lot of
support here. I wrote the topic on a post-it then stuck it to the trunk so we
could all remember. After that, we discussed how we want to grow a big full
tree, with lots of branches and leaves. We talked about how silly it would be
if a tree only had one branch and tons of leaves, and I gave an example of a
conversation that would sound like that (kid 1: "I'm going on
vacation!" Kid 2: "cool." kid 3: "awesome." kid 4:
"sweet." kid 5: "neat."), and vice versa. After lots of
examples, I dished out the pieces and reminded the kids that you don't need to
use all of your branches or leaves, but you do need to use at least one of
each. At first, I needed to give a lot of prompting to get everyone started and
involved in the conversation, but after a bit of practice, the kids were doing
it independently! Once they were comfortable with the basics, I introduced the
wind card. We've already discussed a lot of things that can disrupt a
conversation, so the kids were able to brainstorm some "tree
wreckers" like lack of eye contact, poor body positioning, etc. that might
knock over our precious tree. I gave the kids lots of warning before putting
the wind card - slowly reaching for it - SLP: "Uh-oh...It feels like it's
getting windy! What can we fix? We have to protect our conversation tree! Are
we thinking with our eyes? Does anybody need to come back to the
table?..." Eventually, I was able to introduce more wind cards for the
kids to hold up when they noticed someone else disrupting the conversation.
Although I didn't need to do this with my kids, you could have them each color
their pieces with different color if you are having problems with one child
dominating/not participating. This way, you can reflect on turn-taking by looking
at the color distribution in the tree when you're finished.
I loved this game so much that I also made a smaller version
with an instruction page to practice at home! Grab the full
size version, homework
size, and instructions
page on my Google Docs.
Enjoy!
Hi Molly,
ReplyDeleteThis is brilliant. I'm a play therapist who runs a social skills group for 4 high functioning boys with ASD. I am totally going to use this activity this morning. Thank you so much for sharing!
Kate Danielson
Bathroom remodeling
ReplyDeleteBathroom has the same importance for every homeowner just like a kitchen has. Modern day housing structures involve the trendy bathrooms with the latest bathroom fixtures such as shower glass doors, bath tubs and more. Was kostet eine Entrümpelung
The fundamental vegetables developed in littler, home gardens just as bigger ones incorporate corn, peas, cucumbers, potatoes, squash, peppers, onions, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and beets. Famous organic products are pears, plums, tomatoes, blueberries, apricots, fruits, and strawberries. Herbs are utilized for their superb aromas, to zest up a plate of mixed greens, and in cooking. Entrümpelung fragen und antworten
ReplyDeleteA blog that mushroomed from visual enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteHobby Plants
Among many such nuclei, smells were recently reported to be recognized through a coding process, where the olfactory tree recognized different combinations of receptor signals. conservation
ReplyDelete