Language and Friendship

[lillibet]

As most of you know, I record textbooks for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. This week I was assigned to a textbook I've read parts of in earlier sessions that deals with language deficits and impairments. I was reading the chapter about school-age children and was impressed with how it outlined the specific and complex language tasks that are

Comments

[moria923]

I find it much easier to interact with people one-on-one than in groups. I suspect that's because, in one-on-one conversations, the two people in question adapt to each other, whereas in a group, I have to try to adapt to the group dynamic, which may be visual as well as verbal. For instance, are there "cues" that I'm missing about when to enter a conversation, or when, or how vehemently, ir's OK to interrupt someone? Or, if I'm the only one who can't seem to get a word in edgewise, is it because the others are exchanging some sort of visual regulating signals that are letting them know when it's OK to come in?

[jostajam]

That sounds like my kind of text book. Could you please tell me the name and author?

My younger son has just that kind of language impairment. He's being taught conversational turn-taking, how to stay on topic in a conversation, and how to continue a conversation by asking questions of his conversational partner. I wish I had had the kind of intervention he receives, because I had to figure all that out by myself. l have to work at it, and it made my grade school years somewhat miserable.

I still have trouble retrieving words. If I'm tired, I'll come up with something similar, but not quite the same. I'm bilingual too. My brain really breaks if I'm tired and switching between languages. Translation gives me an instant headache. I once spent half an hour trying to explain to the customs official the relationship I had with my Oma. I finally told him after much puzzlement and frustration.... "She is the mother of my mother." I could not come up with either Oma or Grandmother.

[lillibet]

The book is Human Communication Disorders: An Introduction, 7th edition, by Noma B. Anderson and George H. Shames. If you'd like a copy and don't mind the editing marks pencilled in it, I can probably score this one when I've finished it.

[jostajam]

Thanks - I'm happy to pick it up used on Amazon, but it is nice of you to offer!