Repair strategies

Also called Conversational repair, Communication repair, Repair, Clarification strategies

What both of you do when a message hasn't got through: say it again, say it differently, spell it, point, or say 'that's not what I meant'.

What it is

A repair strategy is anything a person does to fix a message that didn't land. Speaking people repair constantly and don't notice: "Sorry?" "No, the OTHER one." "I mean the blue one." "Let me put it another way." For a person who uses AAC, or whose speech is hard to understand, repairs are harder and more frequent, and the strategies have to be taught and agreed, because the default is that the message gets abandoned.

It's the twin of communication breakdown: breakdown is the problem, repair is what you do about it, and the skill lives on both sides of the conversation.

Who it can help

Anyone whose messages get misunderstood often: people with dysarthria, people who stammer, AAC users with a limited vocabulary, people with aphasia, Deaf people using speech with hearing people, children with speech sound disorder. And their partners, who need their own set.

It's less about the person who's never understood, and more about the person who's understood eighty per cent of the time and given up on the other twenty. That twenty is usually where the news, the jokes and the complaints were.

How it works

The person's repairs, roughly in order of effort: repeat it; say it slower or louder; say it a different way (another word, a shorter version); add a mode (a gesture, a sign, pointing at the thing); narrow it down ("it's a food", "it's about school"); spell it, on an alphabet board or a letter keyboard; and, when nothing works, say so and park it: "Later. Not now."

The partner's repairs: say what you did get ("Something about your brother?"), so the person only has to fix the missing part; ask yes/no questions to narrow down; ask them to spell or point; don't pretend to understand, ever, because the person can tell and it teaches them not to bother; and don't finish the sentence for them unless they've asked you to.

The best repairs are agreed in advance. "If I don't get it, I'll say 'again please'; if you're stuck, you'll spell the first letter." That goes in the communication passport.

Getting started

Agree one repair signal each: a way for the person to say "you got that wrong" and a way for you to say "I didn't get that". Practise them on easy messages so they're ready for hard ones.

Put a spelling backup where it can be reached. The Talk board's big-key letter keyboard is there for exactly this: a word that's not on the cards can be spelled out and spoken.

Say what you understood, out loud, before you act on it. "You want the red cup, from the top shelf." Repairs are cheap at that point and expensive after the wrong cup arrives.

Where to get help

Speech and language therapists teach repair strategies as part of intelligibility work and AAC training. STAMMA covers what listeners should and shouldn't do. Communication Matters has partner guidance for AAC. Say Aphasia and the Stroke Association support conversation partners of people with aphasia. RNID explains repair for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and those talking with them.