Case studies – How we have changed children’s lives forever
Getting the right help to communicate successfully has had life-changing results for the children we have worked with and also for their families. The following cases illustrate just how vital it is to develop non-verbal communication skills. The knock-on effect for the children is tremendous: success at school, the formation of friendships, enjoying social interaction and family life.Please note the names have been changed.
Rory - 4 years old on referral to Not Just Talking
When first assessed by Not Just Talking Rory was at a nursery school but causing many difficulties for staff and children due to his aggressive behaviour. This meant that he was often sent home because the staff could not deal with his outbursts. On assessment Rory would only talk about what he wanted to talk about, did not look at people when communicating with them and would suddenly become very aggressive both verbally and physically. He was so bright that he always had a plausible reason why he saw things differently to other people and would not change his mind because he knew best. A private school was found whose special needs department said they could deal with his difficulties. The family moved and Rory started at the school. On the first day he was expelled because of his behaviour.
A school at home was set up and teachers trained in Not Just Talking’s methods provided communication development and taught using the Not Just Talking strategies. Rory started to participate in his education and stopped resorting to behaviour to get him out of complicated communication situations. He could take on board what others said to him to make better sense of situations and he learned to negotiate with his peers. He was keen to learn to read and write which despite his high IQ he had not been able to do. Within eighteen months he started a new school without the need of assistance in the class. He is still in mainstream school and doing well
Joe – 13 years old on referral to Not Just Talking
Joe was referred because he was struggling to get into school due to his anxiety and had no friends despite doing really well academically. He had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and had received a great deal of support from other outreach services. On assessment he was very poor at giving information in a conversation and didn’t know what had caused feelings in others. He also had limited use of non-verbal communication himself.
His method of dealing with his communication problem was to opt out of situations. Following intervention from NJT Joe’s attendance at school improved; he started to travel on his own into town (8 miles away) on the bus – to the great surprise of his mother as he had never done this before. He also used his mobile phone to call home – another first! He was interacting more with his peers and able to tell jokes. He had also gone out with a group from school to buy a leaving present for a teacher – something he would never have done. Finally he started to go to Games Workshop on his own.
Simon – 8 years old on referral to Not Just Talking
Simon had been diagnosed on the Autistic spectrum and was struggling in a special school. On assessment he was in a world of his own, moving his head from side to side, happy but not very able to communicate effectively because he couldn’t give the information requested without pictures to prompt him what to say.
His family liked to travel a lot and Simon found this very traumatic and would behave in ways that meant the family didn’t enjoy the holiday. After intervention sessions at school, Simon started to interact meaningfully with people and made a lot of progress in class as a result. Also his parents were thrilled that on holidays he began to enjoy going away and didn’t cause the problems that he had previously.
Elizabeth – 7 years old on referral to Not Just Talking
Elizabeth had been struggling at school because of poor speech and language development. She was a very happy little girl who appeared to be unaware of her difficulties. The fact that she didn’t show any behavioural difficulties was a testament to her parents and her school who were extremely supportive. At assessment her parents cried because they said it was the first time that someone had been able to make sense of the difficulties they knew their daughter was experiencing. She was found to have great difficulty giving information that was appropriate to the situation and was unable to draw conclusions from complex information – she was only able to describe what she saw.
Elizabeth’s difficulties were so severe initially that she needed a lot of support (just over a year from Not Just Talking ) but as usual the positive benefits of the intervention began to kick in early. Her parents were thrilled when she was able to tell them about her day at school and started to be interested in what they had been doing too. Her LSA was astonished when she began to be able to predict – something they had been working on unsuccessfully in school. Her information giving also began to really improve and it was a delight to see her blossom into a young girl who could hold a conversation giving appropriate information about her family life and asking for help if she didn’t understand what was going on.
Elizabeth continues to need the support of her LSA to work on her non-verbal conversation skills but is now able to work in small groups so should make more progress over the next year or so. Elizabeth will continue to need special needs support but she is now able to communicate more effectively so should continue making progress for the rest of her time at primary school.
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