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Allison Fors, Inc.

Speech Therapy Tools for SLPs and Educators

The Difference Between Social Skills and Pragmatics

pragmatics

You have no doubt heard and used the terms “social skills” and “pragmatics”, but what is the difference between the two? Most people use these terms interchangeably, but they don’t have the exact same definition! Pragmatics is one component of social communication skills, alongside social interaction, social cognition, and language processing as shown in my infographic below and as outlined by ASHA.

pragmatics

This infographic is available for free download. Download it in the speech therapy freebie section!

What are Social Skills?

Social skills is a loose, umbrella term for all aspects of beings able to communicate effectively, clearly, and positively with others in social situations. This may include changing your language depending on who you’re talking to, for example, a child versus an adult or someone who already understands the topic versus someone who needs more basic information. Or it may be picking up cues to understand what isn’t explicitly said, taking someone else’s perspective, or following the “rules” of a conversation and storytelling.

Social communication includes social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and language processing.

What are Pragmatics?

Pragmatic language refers to the social skills used in daily interactions, in both verbal and nonverbal communication. This includes body language, facial expressions, gestures, communicative intent, and topic maintenance. In short, it means knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it:

VERBAL COMMUNICATION

  • Speech acts (requests, comments, promises, directives, etc.)
  • Communicative intentions (expressing intentions through verbal and nonverbal means)
  • Prosody (rhythm, stress & intonation of speech)
  • Perlocutionary/illocutionary/locutionary acts
  • Grice’s maxims of conversation
    • Quantity (be informative, given as much info as needed & not more)
    • Quality (be truthful)
    • Relation (be relevant)
    • Manner (be orderly & clear)
  • Discourse
    • Style (conversation, expository, narration, etc.)
    • Interaction & transaction
    • Cohesion & coherence
    • Responsiveness & assertiveness
    • Topic maintenance (selecting & staying on topic)
    • Social reciprocity (turn taking, initiating & responding to bids for interaction)
    • Scripts
    • Event knowledge
    • Co-construction of meaning
    • Deictic expressions
    • Communication breakdown & repair
    • Contingency & adjacency

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

  • Body language (positioning & posture)
  • Gestures
  • Facial Expressions
  • Eye Contact
  • Gaze
  • Proxemics (respecting personal space)

Social communication skills are a major part of what we target in speech therapy. With that in mind, I’ve rounded up some helpful links to get you started:

Social Skills Ideas and Activities

Social Skills You Should Be Targeting in Speech Therapy

Games for Developing Social Skills


You may be interested in downloading these free social skills lists!

social skills lists

Do you have any favorite strategies for targeting pragmatic language?

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pragmatics speech therapy

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pragmatics speech therapy

June 22, 2021 allisonfors Leave a Comment Filed Under: Social Skills

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Hi, I'm Allison! A speech & language resource author who loves the creative process of making therapy materials and clipart, as well as connecting with educators world wide. Learn more about me here! Read More…

Resurfacing this old post because it’s THAT impo Resurfacing this old post because it’s THAT important! 👇👇👇

When teaching phonemic awareness, DON’T add add a schwa to the end of the sound! For example, the first sound in “feet” is /f/ not /fʌ/. Not adding a trailing “uhhh” sound is critical because when a child is learning to blend and segment words to read, they will pronounce the word “fuheetuh.”

It feels natural to add a schwa to the end of a consonant...but don’t dooo it!

This YouTube video shows how all English sounds are produced ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqUVnXExTQ&ab_channel=SallyCole

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What are your favorite things to target using a doctor kit?

Save the post and tag a friend!

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My go-to, can’t-live-without, best bang-for-your My go-to, can’t-live-without, best bang-for-your-buck toys with younger kids! 

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Your time is valuable and limited, so all these resources are no prep, just print-and-go. No cutting, laminating, or assembling is necessary!

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Most caseloads are diverse, so there are a wide variety of skills included.

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Comment below if you want me to message you the link!

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Google is my best friend - but let’s save time a Google is my best friend - but let’s save time and streamline that process!

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8 LANGUAGE SAMPLE TIPS💡 Save this post and ta 8 LANGUAGE SAMPLE TIPS💡 

Save this post and tag a friend! Do you have other tricks for collecting language samples? 

Language samples often consists of at least 50-100 utterances. They are a great tool to assess and gather data on: utterance length, vocabulary, syntax, semantics, morphology, pragmatics, narrative skills, and comprehension.

Read more: allisonfors.com/language-samples/

Download the checklist: bit.ly/freelanguagesample

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