What are the approximate ages that Pragmatic Skills (Social Communication) develop?

0-18 months:

• Will bring objects to adult to show them.
• Will try to gain attention by using sounds, gestures, grabbing them by the hand.
• Will wave to say hello or goodbye or say the word “bye”.
• Will request things using gestures, sounds or words (e.g. reach for the biscuits in the cupboard, etc.).
• Will protest by shaking head, vocalising, pushing an object away.
• Will comment on an object or action by getting the adults attention, pointing, vocalising or saying a word (e.g. pointing to the dog and saying “woof woof” with intention of showing the dog to the adult).
• Will look at the speaker or respond with facial expression, vocalisation or word when someone speaks.

18 months – 2 years:

• Use words or short phrases for various language functions (e.g. greeting:”hello”, “bye bye”, protesting:”no”, “mine”, making a statement “Ball blue”, etc, giving a direction – saying” ball” while pointing for you to get the ball, etc.).
• Uses phrases like “what’s that?” to get attention.
• Will name things in front of other people.
• Engages in verbal turn-taking.

2 to 3.5 years:

• Can take on the role of another person within play.
• Engages in greater number of turns within interactions with others.
• Begins to recognise the needs of other people and will speak differently to a baby than to an adult.
• Acknowledges partner’s messages by saying things like “yeah”, “ok”, “mm”, etc.
• Begins using language for fantasies and make believe.
• Requests permission to do things (“Mummy, can I go outside?”).
• Begins to correct others.
• Is able to engage in simple story telling and is beginning to make guesses at what might happen in a story (inferencing).

4-5 years:

• Can use correctly terms such as ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘here’ and ‘there’.
• Uses language to discuss emotions and feelings more regularly.
• Uses in direct requests (e.g. “I’m hungry” to request food, etc.).
• Ability to tell stories is developing and can describe a sequence of events (e.g. “The man is on the horse and he is going to jump over the fence and then he is going to go home”, etc.).

5-6 years:

• Ability to tell stories develops and now able to tell a story with a central character with a logical sequence of events but still may have difficulties with ending (e.g.” Once upon a time there was a little boy called Joe who has a sister and a brother and likes to go fishing, one day ……. etc., etc.).
• Beginning to make threats and can give insults.
• May praise others (“Well done, you did it”).
• Beginning to be able to make promises (e.g. ” I promise I will do it tomorrow”).

Why is it important?

Pragmatic Skills are important in order to be able to build social relationships with other children. It is also important academically as many curriculum based activities rely on group working and communication between peers.

You can tell there are problems with Pragmatic Skills (Social Communication) if the child:

• Has difficulty remaining on topic in conversation.
• Does not try to gain attention of adults or does not know how to.
• Tends to stand too close to the speaker and is unaware of personal space.
• Tells stories in a disorganised way.
• Has difficulty looking at the speaker or may look too intensely at the speaker.
• Dominates conversations and does not listen.
• Does not ask for clarification when haven’t understood.
• Unable to interpret the tone of voice in others (e.g. not recognise an angry vs. a happy voice).
• Uses language in a limited way (e.g. only gives directions or makes statements but doesn’t greet or ask questions, etc.).
• Has difficulty understanding another person’s point of view.

It is not unusual for children to have difficulty having pragmatic or social communication difficulties in a few situations however if they occur often or seem inappropriate for their age there may be reason for concern.

Activities that can improve Pragmatic Skills or the social use of language:

• Engaging in role play activities with adults and other children to simulate social situations (e.g. going shopping, going to the park, visiting grandparents etc.).
• Engaging in turn taking games such as board games.
• Looking at facial expressions and discussing the feeling associated with the facial expressions.
• Practicing through miming making faces that show feelings.
• Activities to encourage descriptive language about a topic or thing with adult prompting to keep the child on topic.
• Taking part in role play or puppet shows after watching a modeled situation.
• Using appropriate comic strips that illustrate social situation (do’s or don’ts) and talking explicitly about what is happening.
  Working with the school to set up small structured groups where social skills can be practiced (e.g. turn taking, waiting, responding, staying on topic, questioning etc.).
• Looking and making up social stories that depict certain social situations.
• Use of puppets to model social situations within puppet plays and stories.