1. What do we have to know, to train communication skills Metka Kordigel Aberšek University of Maribor, SLOVENIJA

2. And: What do we have to know to train the communication skills of children with learning diffuculties and of children with mental retardation?

3. what we do with the language how to plan the effect of that what we will say From this point of view it seems reasonable to base the communication curriculum on Austin’s theory of the speech act Halliday’s functional linguistics the pragmatic theory. Why? Let’s look at all these theories closer!

4. Austin’s theory of the speech act: According to Austin (Austin 1990) a speech act consists of the act of saying. With the act of saying, we perform the influential act, that is we ask, answer, inform, criticize,… actual effect that we achieve with saying get realized in the addresses’ mind as the act of efficiency.

5. Austin: The important part of the communication competence is the awareness that the intended effect (influential act) and the actual achieved effect (act of efficiency) that is achieved are not always congruent with each other. They can even be the opposite. To express the same influential act we have different possibilities. Which one we chose depends on our judgment how the chosen expression will affect the addressee.

6. the functional linguistics. The functional linguistics (Halliday) treats language as a mean of mutual influence and explores the important social roles of language activities. In this context, the sentence has two main functions): it communicates the subject (mind) data ( = introductory role ) it communicates the data about the messengers’ relation to the communicated subject, content and the addresses’ (= influential role).

7. The introductory role of the sentence (“What he said?”) we can usually understand on first site. (Expl: He said: “Where donkey lies there he leaves his hair”). The actual influential role of the sentence we can discover only when we describe the social background of its expression, this is, if we know the circumstances. (Expl: He wants to influence on me, not to throw rabish on the floor!)

8. To understand the influential role of the sentence the message of the sentence is the expression of the messengers ’ motivational viewpoints this is, from his relation to the subject of the content, the desired or undesired act, the persuasion in the accuracy of one’s own judgments and his WISH to transfer his thought, knowledge, viewpoint, emotions with a sentence to the addressee and persuade him that he is right, to receive from him wanted data and prepare him to do something.

9. viewpoints of the addressee achieving the message purpose depends on that if our beliefs about the addressee are correct. Beliefs about the addressees’ interests and needs Beliefs about the addressee’s knowledge Beliefs about the social relationship between the messenger and the addressee

10. Beliefs about the addressees’ interests and needs The congruity and incongruity of the messenger and addressee’s interests influences the expression of the influential role.

11. addressee’s knowledge To enable the communication the messenger must form the beliefs about the addressee’s  language and  real knowledge.

12. social relationship between the messenger and the addressee The relationship between the messenger and the addressee also influences the expression of influential role. This can be hierarchical, defined by the social status of the participants (age, social role) or democratic.

13. Speeking undirectly To achieve the message’s purpose the messenger often does not tell the addressee what he wants directly but indirectly. Why the messenger decides to express indirectly. Leech (1983) warns that the principle of tact, politeness and considerateness influences the indirect expression of the influential role. With the indirect expression of the influential role the messenger allows the addressee (often only apparently) greater participation at decision for the act and this way creates better conditions to achieve the desired goals.

14. social relationship between messenger and addressee is a crucial factor when deciding upon indirect expression. two estimations 1. The estimation of the social power, social relationship between himself and the addressee: 2. The principle of tact, considerateness and politeness

15. Message is the mean to achieve the goal Each message lies between the motives and the purpose, that should satisfy the messenger’s needs. the need to get an information TO the addressee and this way influence his knowledge and viewpoints; the need to get an information FROM the addressee; to prevent him to do the unwanted act and direct him to the desired act, to apologize for the act, ….

16. The speech act in a communication situation is a complex procedure of constant deciding about the formation of the message. from the luck choice it depends how the addressee will react to this choice. If the messenger builds his message on the false assumptions about the addressee, he could have missed the opportunity for successful communication. If he had hurt, the feelings and values of the addressee with the chosen possibility (manipulative speech) he could have forever broke the real social contacts.

17. Conclusion? Or just the beginning? Is the knowledge of Austin’s theory and Hallidays functional linguistics and the theory of pragmatics really enough? Is it possible only with lectures of these theories to achieve by parents a significant change in the direction of adaptation of the necessary level of communication competence?

18. The beginning! We also need knowledge about the specific communication forms and the dynamics of the developmental communication forms by persons with mental retardation, as well as the findings about communication didactics. In the last one we can find the answer to the question what shall teachers in the role of educators for parents to become tutors “tell” them about the communication competence and which methods shall they use.

19. On this point Leonardo project decided to accept the advice of the Greek expert partners in the project and lean the communication curriculum for parents to the INTECOM model.

20. Why does INTECOM communication curriculum works? We must widen the perspective: From the question WHAT DO WE DO WITH WORDS we swich to the question WHAT IS COMMUNICATION

21. Communication is not only the act of speech. To understand what is going on we must consider other modes of "speaking act". We must think about types of communication.

22. Types of communication: Non vocal and vocal communication NON VOCAL COMMUNICATION  pulling or pushing another person to get help or attract attention, use of gestures, such as nodding for yes, shaking the head for no  smiles od frowns may be used intentionally to communicate feelings  More subtle behaviors, such as standing close to another person when talking, to show intimacy (deliberately or not consciously intended.)  Sign and graphic languages

23. Preriquisites for communication and language Speaking of intention to teach children / people with learning difficulties and /or mental retardation how to communicate, we must know that not everybody can learn to use language. We must consider prerequisites for communication and language Sensory abilities Motor abilities Processing skills Communication and conversational skills Something to say Reasons for communication Means of communication

24. Communication and conversational skills. The individual must know what do we do with words: if I do / say x, then he/she will do/say y'. The individual must have some appreciation of cause and effect, in Piagetian terms, means-end relationships.

25. Conversational skills One needs to learn how to converse with other people: how to take turns in conversation, how to understand what the other person already knows so that what she says will be meaningful to them, how to detect breakdowns in communication and how to repair these breakdowns.

26. People with mental retardation and coversationational skills people with mental retardation can use these rules surprisingly well but that whether they demonstrate their abilities depends on the social situation in which they find themselves. If the person with mental handicap is with her peers she will show her abilities, whereas when she is with someone who is more powerful socially and who controls the conversation, the abilities will not be shown.

27. Developing communication skills in children with mental retardation The child or adult with mental retardation may not be motivated to observe events and objects around him, or he may have restricted experience. The implication for teaching: we need to encourage the child or adult with mental retardation to be more involved and interested in the world.

28. Developing communication skills in children with mental retardation Not everybody can use language! The person with mental retardation may need to be taught receptive vocabulary, taught to imitate and taught an expressive vocabulary, syntactic rules - both receptively and expressively, taught to use a medium other than speech.

29. Developing communication skills in children with mental retardation We need to include in our teaching programs opportunities for the people with mental retardation to learn to express preferences, elicit attention, ask questions, and give instructions. They need to learn how to interact in a communicative context, how to decide on a topic for communication, to learn what the other person knows, to take turns in interacting about the topics and to close off the interchange.

30. Developing communication skills in children with mental retardation The creation of a communication-oriented environment is crucially important for the learning of communication skills!!!

31. How to teach? At this point we reached our main point: the way (the didactics) how to "teach" communication competence of children with learning difficulties and how to teach their parents to encourage the development of their communicative competence and to communicate with them more successfully.

32. How to develop contexts for teaching communication we can create teaching communication environment in an institution or we can teach parents (tutors) to use such situations in child's every day life, as the INTECOM communication curriculum does.