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Starting conversations can lead to friendships and allow for exchanges of opinions and ideas.
Have you ever stood in silence with someone because you didn’t know how to start a conversation? I know I have, and it is uncomfortable.
Initiating a conversation is not easy for many people, especially those who have communication difficulties. Modelling and explicitly teaching successful ways of initiating conversation is one way of supporting those with communication difficulties.
Here are 3 ways to start a conversation:
1. Ask about the other person using open-ended questions.
Asking about the other person shows that you are interested in them and they may be more inclined to talk to someone who is interested.
Using open-ended questions extends the conversation and gives you time to think about what to say next. You won’t be shut down by a quick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
Some examples of open ended questions:
- “How are you feeling about the week ahead?”
- “What is your favourite thing to do in your spare time?”
- “What is your family like?”
2. Comment on current events or your surroundings.
Commenting on a relevant and current activity is an easy way to include someone in an interaction and start a conversation. You do not need to have a common interest to start a conversation this way.
Try looking at your surroundings and comment about something that may interest you and the other person. For example, “this game is quite tricky” or “that tree looks very unstable after the storm” “there are a lot of ants on the footpath, I wonder why.”
3. Use conversation starters:
When initiating conversations, having a conversation starter under your belt can save you some stress, panic and awkwardness. Conversation starters are short phrases that allow you to start or introduce a topic. For example; “I’m thinking about…”, “Are you interested in…?”, “I would like to talk to you about…”, “What do you think about…?”.
What can a speech pathologist do?
Each individual has a different style of communication so we work from a person centred approach to decide on and equip them with the most natural ways of initiating conversations by explicit teaching, practice, role play and video modelling. Call Innerlink Therapy today on 8065 1197 to discuss how we can support you or your child’s conversation skills!