Communication A to Z

Somebody hands you a leaflet that says AAC. A review mentions partner-assisted scanning. A ward asks whether your dad has a communication passport. Everyone else in the room seems to know what these words mean, and asking feels like admitting you're behind. You aren't. This library explains each one plainly: what it is, who it helps, how it works, and what you can do about it this week. Search by the word you heard.

Please note: This page is general information about communication and the ways people are supported to communicate. It is not an assessment, a diagnosis or speech and language therapy, and it does not know the person you have in mind. If you are worried about someone's speech, language or communication, ask a GP, a health visitor or a speech and language therapist. In an emergency, call 999; if you cannot speak, Relay UK on 18000 or the emergencySMS service reach the same operators.

301 topics, showing 211–220 (page 22 of 31).

P

Pragmatics

Also called Social communication, Social use of language, Pragmatic language

Using language socially: taking turns, staying on topic, knowing what to say to whom. The rules nobody teaches and everyone is marked on.

Presuming competence

Also called Presumption of competence, Least dangerous assumption

Start from the assumption that the person understands. If you're wrong, you lose little. If you assume the opposite and you're wrong, you've cost them years.

Privacy of communication data

Also called AAC privacy, Data privacy, Message logging, Data logging

What a device or app stores about what you say, where it sends it, and who can read it. The answer is often more than the person was told.

Profound and multiple learning disabilities

Also called PMLD, Profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, PIMD

Communicating with people at the earliest stages of intentional communication, where the partner does most of the work and every response is a real one.

Pronouns

Also called Personal pronouns, I and you, Possessives

I, you, me, mine: often missing from vocabularies and essential to identity. Without them a person can name everyone in the room except themselves.

Prosody

Also called Intonation, Stress and rhythm, Suprasegmentals, Tone of voice

The music of speech: stress, rhythm, pitch and pace. It carries the question mark, the sarcasm and the feeling, and it is what a synthetic voice loses first.

Q

Quick phrases

Also called Stored phrases, Pre-stored messages, Quick messages, Quickfires, Phrase bank

Pre-stored messages for the moments when there is no time to build a sentence: the joke, the greeting, the call for help, the thing you say every day.

R

Reading with non-speaking children

Also called Shared reading, Interactive reading, Reading aloud with AAC

Shared reading when the child cannot read aloud: how to make it a conversation rather than a performance, and why it matters more, not less.

Reasonable adjustments

Also called Equality Act adjustments, Section 20 duty, Anticipatory duty

Every service, shop, school and employer must change how it does things so a disabled person is not at a substantial disadvantage. Communication is covered.

Receptive language

Also called Comprehension, Understanding of language, Language comprehension

Understanding what is said to you. It runs ahead of speaking in nearly everyone, and it is the part people forget to test.

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