Initiating a Conversation

by Radah Moufarrej Dec 22, 2025

Home » Blog » Social Communication

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Starting a conversation can be difficult for many children, teenagers and adults, particularly when they experience social communication difficulties.

Conversation initiation involves knowing how to approach another person, introduce a topic and create an opportunity for back-and-forth interaction.

These skills can be explicitly taught and practised using strategies such as open-ended questions, comments and familiar conversation starters.

Radah Moufarrej

Radah is a speech pathologist at Innerlink Therapy with a Master’s in Speech and Language Pathology from Macquarie University. Her interests include augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), neurodivergent-informed and trauma-informed practice, and coaching parents as communication partners. She collaborates with clients, families, practitioners and educators to achieve meaningful, functional outcomes.

Social Communication

Pets and Your Child’s Social & Emotional Growth

by Evett Lattouf Apr 28, 2025

Home » Blog » Social Communication

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Pets and child development are often discussed in relation to communication, social interaction and emotional development. While having a pet does not automatically improve these skills, everyday interactions with pets can create enjoyable opportunities for shared attention and communication.

Activities such as feeding, brushing, playing with or talking about a pet can create natural opportunities for children and adults to communicate, take turns and talk about emotions and experiences.

Evett Lattouf

Evett is Clinical Director of Innerlink Therapy and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist with extensive experience supporting children and adults across a range of settings. Her areas of interest include communication, learning, feeding and swallowing, autism, developmental disabilities and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Evett holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Speech Pathology from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Certificate in Dysphagia from La Trobe University. She also provides external clinical supervision to speech pathologists and speaks Lebanese Arabic, supporting communication with Arabic-speaking clients and families.

Outside the clinic, Evett enjoys spending time with her rescue dogs and caring for her flock of chickens.

innerlinktherapy.com.au/our-team/#evettlattouf

Category Social Communication