HOW TO HELP CHILDREN, GIRLS, OR ADOLESCENTS TO COMMUNICATE WITHOUT SPEAKING

This is a translation authorized by @zhother of the post CÓMO AYUDAR AL NIÑO, A LA NIÑA O AL ADOLESCENTE PARA COMUNICARSE SIN HABLAR

When people communicate, they use movements of the face, hands and body to express their thoughts and needs. The child, girl or adolescent you train can also use some of these movements to communicate.

For example, you can point out the things you want. You can use a certain movement with your eyes, with your head or with your hands to say "yes" and another to say "no". Discover if you can use other movements of the face, head, hands or arms to tell you what you want to express. Some people who can not hear or speak use special movements they make with their hands in order to communicate.

This is what is called sign language. If the child, girl or adolescent you train can move your head, hands and arms well, then you can use signs to communicate. If, on the other hand, he has difficulty moving, he will also have difficulty signing with his hands.

• Choose two or three of the signs that are shown in the sign language and ask the child to make them. See if you can use your hands to do them. If you can sign with your hands, you can express your thoughts or needs by signing.

• People in your community who have difficulty hearing or speaking can all use the same sign language to communicate. Ask your local supervisor about this.

• Ask your local supervisor if there is someone in your community who knows sign language. Maybe that person can go to your house and teach you, the child, the girl or the teenager and the rest of the family how to use sign language. Your family members must understand the signs that the child, the girl or the adolescent makes. They can also talk to you and let you respond with signs.

• The child, girl or adolescent you train can also use drawings or figures to communicate. This way of communicating can be very useful to a child, a girl or a teenager who has difficulty moving and who can not sign with their hands.

• Collect the figures or photographs of magazines, newspapers, calendars, cards, etc. Find pictures of the things that the boy or girl eats and drinks, also of people doing the same activities that you, the boy, the girl or the adolescent and the relatives do.

• Show him the figures and talk about them. Then ask him to point to the figure of something he would like to have or do. Give him what he asks by pointing to the figures and let him do the activity that he has indicated.

• If you have difficulty moving your arms and therefore can not point to the figures, you can do it for him or her. You can use a movement or sound to let you know when you point to something you like in a figure.

• You can put the photographs or figures that the child, the girl or the teenager uses most often on a piece of hard paper or on a piece of cardboard. You can also make a photo album for the boy, girl or teenager.

• After you and the child, girl or adolescent have tried different ways of communicating, find out which is the best and which one you feel most comfortable with.

• Help the child, or the girl or adolescent, communicate in the way that best expresses their thoughts and needs. All family members must learn to understand the way he or she has to communicate. You and the family members should continue to talk to the child, the girl or the teenager as much as possible.