9 minutes
Speech disabilities and augmentative communication Give time, stop finishing sentences, and keep the person on the line instead of handing them off.
What you’ll be able to do Communicate with a person who has a speech disability or uses an augmentative communication device by giving time, confirming understanding honestly and offering an alternative channel the person chooses. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What should the worker do instead? Document a next step for Speech disabilities and augmentative communication: In your next conversation with someone whose speech is hard for you to follow, say what you understood back to them before you respond, and ask for a repeat when you need one instead of guessing. Time is the accommodation Speech disabilities come from many places: cerebral palsy, stroke, brain injury, stuttering, conditions that affect the muscles of speech, laryngectomy, and others. What they have in common is that the person's speech takes more time or effort for a listener to follow. What they do not have in common with anything is the person's understanding. Most people with speech disabilities understand you perfectly, and they have a lifetime of practice watching listeners give up.
The practices are simple and hard to keep under pressure. Give the person your full attention, including your face if you are in the room. Do not finish sentences or guess where they are going; guessing wrong costs more time than waiting. When you have understood a piece, say it back: “You are calling because your renewal letter did not arrive.” When you have not, say so plainly and ask for a repeat, or ask a yes-or-no question to narrow it down. Pretending to understand is the one thing everyone can tell you are doing.
Some people use augmentative and alternative communication: a speech-generating device, a letter board, a picture board, a phone app. Composing a message takes time. Wait for the whole message; do not read over the person's shoulder and answer before they finish; do not touch the device. If the person has a communication partner who helps operate the device, still talk to the person. Speech-to-speech relay, reached by dialing 711, lets a person with a speech disability use a trained operator to revoice their words on a call; if a call arrives that way, talk to the caller as you would anyone.
In the conversation Give full attention and time. Do not multitask while the person speaks.
Do not finish sentences, fill pauses or guess ahead.
Say back what you understood in your own words before you respond.
When you do not understand, say so and ask for a repeat, or ask a yes-or-no question. Never pretend.
Ask one question at a time and keep your questions short.
If the person uses a device or board, wait for the whole message and do not touch the device.
Offer another channel as a choice the person controls, not as a way to close the conversation.
Flex the process, not the person What you can change You control whether call-time targets, hold timers and transfer habits have an access exception your team knows how to use.
What to watch for Do not let “average handle time” be the reason a caller with a speech disability gets transferred or asked for a proxy. If the metric cannot flex, the metric is the barrier.
Your next step Ask your team this week what they do when a caller needs more time than the target allows, and write down the answer you want them to give.
Situations and what to do A caller stutters and long pauses appear Wait. Do not supply the word. Keep your voice and pace steady, and respond to the content when it comes. Rushing makes stuttering worse for many people; patience makes it easier.
You have asked for a repeat twice and still do not understand Say what you do have and narrow the gap: “I have that this is about your housing application. Is it about the deadline? The documents?” Yes-or-no questions let the person confirm with less effort.
The person types on a device while you wait Wait quietly for the whole message. Do not answer a half-composed sentence. If it helps the person, say that you are happy to wait.
A support person starts answering for the participant Acknowledge, and return to the participant: “Thank you. I would like to hear it from you, in whatever way works.” The support person may help operate a device; the answer is still the participant's.
The call is through a speech-to-speech relay operator Talk directly to the caller. The operator revoices what the caller says and will not add or interpret. Pauses are normal.
Habits under pressure Say it back
“You are calling because the renewal letter did not arrive.” Confirms understanding and shows the person you are following.
Ask, do not pretend
“I did not catch that last part. Could you say it again?” Costs seconds. Pretending costs the person's trust and often the whole point of the call.
Yes-or-no to narrow
When repeats are not working, offer a short set of choices the person can confirm. Then go back to open questions.
Hands off the device
A communication device is the person's voice. Do not touch it, move it or read ahead on it.
Another channel, their choice
“If you would rather finish by email or text, we can. Or we can keep going here.” Offered as an option, not a dismissal.
Carry this forward A speech disability tells you nothing about a person's understanding or intelligence. Treat the conversation as adult-to-adult and adjust only the pace.
Do not finish sentences, guess ahead or pretend to understand. Repeat back what you heard, and ask for a repeat when you need one.
On the phone, the barrier is often your process, a rushed script, a hold timer, a hand-off. Keep the person with you and offer written channels as an option, not as a way to end the call.
A scenario decision about a rushed phone intake, a knowledge check and one call or conversation where you used the confirm-and-repeat practice.
In your next conversation with someone whose speech is hard for you to follow, say what you understood back to them before you respond, and ask for a repeat when you need one instead of guessing.
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