Questions or Comments….What works best to help your child communicate more?
The answer is…….IT DEPENDS!
Let’s talk some more about questions and comments.
Questions are a great way to find out information that you don’t know. Think about when you first meet someone, you likely ask a great deal of questions in these situations, for example, “What’s your name? What do you like to do? Where do you work?” and so on. However, in a good conversation, you also use something called comments in order to keep a conversation going, for example:
You: What’s your name?
New Friend: My name is Betty!
You: Oh my goodness, my grandmother’s name was Betty! I love that name!
New Friend: Mine too! I was named after her.
The comment that you made opened up more communication and more connection.
BUT… What if you just kept asking questions?
You: What’s your name?
New Friend: My name is Betty!
You: What do you like to do?
New Friend: I love to ski.
You: Where do you work?
New Friend: The cookie shop.
Rapid fire questions helped you find out small bits of information about your new friend, but nothing that deepened your connection to that person. Without comments, the conversation can fall flat.
Now….Think about a conversation with your child. When you ask them questions, are you getting answers? Do they have the words to answer the questions? Do the questions that you ask them give you a chance to connect to them, or is it starting to feel like a quiz show?
The moral of the story is…….Use both questions and comments! If you need help deciding what types of questions and comments to use and when to use them, contact a speech-language pathologist today!
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