Emotional competence is being able to identify, respond to, and manage your own emotions as well as the emotions of others. It develops over time within the person’s social and cultural experiences. Factors both inside and outside the person influence it. Language growth supports emotional learning. Emotional growth supports language learning. Emotional competence is key to many parts of life, such as:

• self-advocacy - being able to speak up for oneself and one’s interests

• self-determination - being able to make decisions about one's own life

• making and keeping social relationships

• school and job success

• self-regulation - being able to manage one's energy, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors

• community integration - being able to fully take part in one’s community

Emotions are felt inside as a response to something. Often there are also physiologic changes in the body. Emotions are then communicated in many different ways. In typical development, caregivers provide guidance and spoken input. They teach children the socially and culturally acceptable ways to

identify,

label,

reason about,

and respond appropriately to

emotions and emotional situations. People who use AAC need modeling and direct teaching to learn to label, discuss, and reason about emotions. They also need access to the needed words so that they can label, discuss, and reason about emotions.

Skills within the emotional competence area include knowledge, use, and judgement of:

• being aware of emotions

• naming emotions

• identifying the reason for an emotion

• finding a solution or response to an emotion/emotional situation

• talking about own emotions

• talking about other people’s emotions

• understanding others might have different emotions

• empathy

• self-regulation

• self-talk

• communicating their feelings and sense of self in a way that feels satisfactory to them

• coping strategies

• mixed/complex emotions

• masking or hiding emotions

The goal is for the person to have the needed tools, understanding, and language to recognize, interpret, and respond constructively to emotions in self and in others.

Useful resources for Emotional skills:

• Early Development of Emotional Competence (EDEC) assessment tool (Na et al., 2017)

• Early Development of Emotional Competence Profile (EDEC-P) (Rangel-Rodriguez et al., 2021)

• Social Stories (Gray & Garand, 1993)

• Strategies for Talking about Emotions as PartnerS (STEPS) instructional program developed by Na & Wilkinson (2015, 2017)

• The SCERTS Model (Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, & Laurent, 2014)

References:

Blackstone, Sarah & Wilkins, David. (2009). Exploring the Importance of Emotional Competence in Children With Complex Communication Needs. Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication. 18. 78-87. 10.1044/aac18.3.78.

Development of Emotional Competencies in AAC: An Area That Deserves Our Attention (handout) by Sarah Blackstone

Development of Emotional Competencies in Children with Complex Communication Needs: Implications for Practice and Research (handout) by Blackstone et al.

Ji Young Na & Krista M. Wilkinson (2018) Communication about emotions during storybook reading: Effects of an instruction programme for children with Down syndrome, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20:7, 745-755, DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2017.1356376

Na, J., & Wilkinson, K.M. (2015). Communication about Emotions Using AAC during Storybook Reading: Effects of an Instruction Program for Parents of Children with Down Syndrome. Paper presented at the Annual American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention, Denver, CO, USA. [Google Scholar]

Na JY, Wilkinson K, Karny M, Blackstone S, Stifter C. A Synthesis of Relevant Literature on the Development of Emotional Competence: Implications for Design of Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2016 Aug 1;25(3):441-52. doi: 10.1044/2016_AJSLP-14-0124. PMID: 27537831.

Na, Ji Young; Wilkinson, Krista; Liang, Jiali (2017): Early Development of Emotional Competence (EDEC) assessment tool (Na et al., 2017). ASHA journals. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5643076.v1

Rangel-Rodríguez, Gabriela A.; Martín, Mar Badia; Blanch, Sílvia; Wilkinson, Krista M. (2021): Early Development of Emotional Competence Profile (Rangel-Rodríguez et al., 2021). ASHA journals. Journal contribution. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14219777.v2

Wilkinson, K; Na, JY; Rangel-Rodriguez, G; Sowers, DJ. (2021). Fostering Communication About Emotions: Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Challenges and Solutions. In BT Ogletree (Ed), Augmentative and Alternative Communication Challenges and Solutions (pp. 313-338). Plural Publishing, Inc.

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