Reciprocal Conversation
Reciprocal Conversation
As children get older, their language skills increase, and it is so exciting to have a back-and-forth conversation with your child! However, there are many hidden rules involved in reciprocal conversation that not all children will pick up on naturally. If children do not follow these rules, conversation is often one-sided and does not allow the other person to have their turn, making it non-reciprocal. Reciprocal conversations are key in building relationships with others as they need to allow their communication partner a turn to find out their thoughts, feelings, and experiences to find what they connect with.
Here are 5 “hidden rules” in conversation to help your child have successful and reciprocal conversations:
- Eye contact – eye contact is expected to begin a conversation, to check in with the person (recognizing their facial expression and body language) to see if they are still interested or not, and to end the conversation.
- Listening – listening allows you to hear what your communication partner is saying to ensure the response back is appropriate.
- Take turns – having a conversation is like playing a game. Once you have your turn, you pause to allow the other person to take their turn. Conversation works exactly the same!
- Staying on topic – if your communication partner is talking about pizza, you should also be talking about pizza! If pizza brings up another topic of conversation, make sure you state how they relate to help transition into the new topic.
- Using questions and comments – these are used to maintain a conversation. Asking questions allows the communication partner the opportunity to share information about themselves. Making comments shows you heard what they said and aren’t dismissing it.
Failure to follow these rules can result in confusion and often communication breakdown. Following these hidden rules will allow successful and reciprocal conversations that help build and maintain relationships with others.
Written by: Kristen Sylvester, Speech-Language Pathologist with Wildflowers
