- Mayuri Ramdasi
- 06 Jul, 2023
Use of Interjections
Today we are going to talk about interjections.
What are interjections?
They are the part of speech used to convey feelings, expression and emotions. Use of interjections is very important to develop speech and communication in a growing child.
When we have a conversation, talking in a monotonous manner doesn’t interest anyone. We never enjoy the conversation. Therefore, having a various interjection and intonation in a conversation is necessary and when we speak about a child with autism, having a melodious conversation is necessary.
The children with autism who are non-verbal communicators or just repeat single word or sentence, who are also considered as a non-verbal communicator. Such kids also exhibit other symptoms and conditions and one of the most important symptoms is “lack of eye contact”. The child is not capable of maintaining the eye contact and when this happens, we think and believe that the child is not paying attention to the speaker. But this assumption is completely wrong. Having said that, the child’s auditory understanding and grasping skills are completely fine, it’s just that we haven’t worked on polishing them.
Arula for autism majorly focuses on developing auditory skills in the child. When you completely focus on developing auditory skills that is listening skills in the child you will se the difference. The first thing that you achieve is improvement in understanding following that improvement in expression and speech. So, when we talk about using intonations, interjections and melodious speech in a conversation with autistic child- it carries a lot of meaning and sense. Using of interjections makes it easier for them to grasp.
Previously we spoke about giving commands to the child from single to double to complex command. Those commands are also supposed to be given in melodious manner and with intonations. In this way the child develops the understanding of the commands and simultaneously start talking with certain words or phrases.
Keeping the commands constant, we will initiate talking to the child with interjections and intonations as they carry lot of emotions and expression and hence, we will start working on talking to them.
For an example: “Your shirt is very good” this is just a sentence. Add an expression “WOWW” such as “WOWW, your shirt is very good”. Adding a wow as an interjection made it more meaningful, it attracts the child auditorily toward your sentence and expresses that you are happy with how he is dressing.
Another expression is about anger, let’s say your child spilled the water on the floor, you get upset and say “Oh no! what have you done”. The particular expression “oh no” shows that you are unhappy with what he has done. These interjections will help them understand what you are feeling and expressing.
In other words, your sentences should be short and repetitive with good intonations and proper gaps while you are talking. Having said that, you should not be very talkative as it will create auditory fatigue to the child and make the child irritable.
Give your child the time to understand, process and think about what you have been talking. In the long run, all of these things will aid in the child's development of effective sentence structure and good intonation. It will take time, but remain persistent and make every attempt. A child's finest therapist is always their mother. It all ends up being worthwhile.
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