Why Do We communicate?
By Cassandra Stafford, MS, CCC-SLP/L, ATP; NWACS Board Member
reading time: 1 minute
The views expressed in this post are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of NWACS. No endorsement by NWACS is implied regarding any device, manufacturer, resource, or strategy mentioned.
We communicate for a lot of different reasons. These reasons serve different functions or purposes. Sometimes our communication is for the purpose of meeting our needs. More often our communication is for other purposes. Let’s take a look at different communicative functions.
For Social Connection
to express interest in interacting with another person
to draw attention to
self
an event
an action
an object
other people
to comment
to engage in social routines
to join a conversation
to end an interaction
to change the topic
to repair communication breakdowns
to tell jokes
to tell personal narratives
to tell stories
To Regulate
To Respond to Others
To Persuade
To Share Information
to express likes and dislikes
to express and discuss feelings
to name
people
events
objects
actions
to give information
about self
about other people
about events
to give feedback
to describe
to direct people or actions
to share opinions
To Request
a person
for something to happen again or for more of something
for something to stop
help
an object
an event
an action
information
confirmation or clarification of information
To Reject
a person
assistance
an object
an event
an action
to protest
to negotiate
to respond to “no”
To Ask (and Answer) Questions
who?
what?
when?
where?
why?
how?
For Self-Advocacy
For Self-Determination
AND MORE!
There are so many reasons we communicate! Let’s make sure we are modeling language for all of these different purposes. We need to teach AAC users how they can communicate for all of these different functions from an early age.