Greetings and goodbyes

Also called Social greetings, Hello and goodbye, Openers and closers

Hello, bye, see you later, how are you: the small words that open every conversation, and why a person with only requests on their board never starts one.

What it is

Greetings and goodbyes are the words that begin and end an exchange: hello, hi, good morning, how are you, I'm fine, bye, see you later, goodnight. They carry almost no information and they do an enormous amount of work, because they are how a person signals "I am here and I am talking to you", and how they leave without walking away mid-sentence.

They also happen to be the words other people are most likely to answer. A stranger will reply to "hello" from a device without a second thought. That reply is often the first conversation a person has had with someone outside their care team.

Who it can help

Everyone, and at every age. Greetings are usually the very first phrases put on a device because they succeed so reliably, and they stay useful for life. They matter for children entering a new class, for adults starting work, for people in a care home meeting a new member of staff every shift, and for anyone who wants to be a person to the people around them rather than a task.

They are not a conversation. A person who can say "hello" and "bye" and nothing else has a way in and a way out but nothing in between, and the years spent drilling greetings would have been better spent on comments and questions.

How it works

A greeting is a phrase on one card. Most boards put four to eight of them on the home page or in a quick-phrases set so they can be said in under two seconds, which is how long a passing "morning!" waits for an answer. See quick phrases.

The useful set includes an answer to the question everybody asks: "I'm fine", "not bad", "tired", so the person is not stranded after "how are you?". "Bye" and "see you later" let them end a conversation on their own terms, which is a form of control worth having when a listener has overstayed.

The Talk board keeps greetings with its manners and sentence starters sets, and any greeting can be followed by a name from the people set.

Getting started

This week, greet the person with their own board: press "hello" plus their name, or "good morning", as you arrive. Say goodbye the same way when you leave. Then wait for them to greet you first, and make a fuss when they do.

Add an answer to "how are you?" if there is not one, and a way to say "bye" that the person likes; teenagers may want "later" rather than "goodbye".

Take the person somewhere greetings work on strangers: a shop counter, a reception desk. One "hello" answered by a stranger is worth ten answered by a therapist.

Where to get help

Communication Matters for AAC. 1Voice connects people who use AAC and their families, which is the best place to be greeted by someone else who uses a device. Speech and Language UK for early social language in children.