Co-Construing the World: Topic Management in the Conversations of Children with Emotional and Language Difficulties

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Brennan, Stephanie

Affiliations: Department of Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin

Abstract: While little research has been carried out on the relationship between conversational difficulties and emotional/affective problems (McTear, 1991), there is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that children with emotional disturbance have more difficulties conversing than one would expect given their performance on standardised language assessments. Using a conversational analysis methodology, this study examined the interactions of four boys attending a school for children with emotional disturbance. Results indicated that the boys had successful interactions (i.e. successful initiation of topic, orientation to communication partner and to sequential ordering of the conversation) as well as unsuccessful interactions. The results also afforded the researcher an insight into the social context in which the boys were operating. This insight could not have been gained by studying the children individually but the environment of the interaction allowed for examination of the actions and the language the boys used to understand their world and each other. The possibility of using recorded data as a clinical tool with the children was noted.

Keywords: conversation analysis, topic management, social, emotional and language difficulties

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-1999-9105

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 35-56, 1999