Reflection Questions: Choice-Making
What types of choices do I offer the people I support?
Are they choices that I am able to immediately follow through with?
Do I respect the choice the person makes, even if I don’t think it’s “right”?
What could I do to make the choices more interesting/motivating?
What could I do to increase the number of choices I offer?
When could I offer more choices during the day?
What visual supports could I use to make the options clearer for the person?
Reflection Questions: My Communication
What types of questions do I ask?
e.g. yes/no response, long wordy/short simple questions, open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, questions that test the person’s knowledge
Are my questions leading to relaxed conversation or anxiety for the person?
Do I wait for the person’s response after asking the question? For how long?
Are my questions effective?
e.g. do I get responses; does the person understand
Do I talk to the person about things he/she is interested in or just about things he/she needs to do?
Do I chat to the person I support the way I would chat with a friend?
e.g. do I make comments, talk about myself and the environment we’re in
If not, what is different about the way I talk to the person?
How could I change the way I talk to the person to make the experience more natural and enjoyable?
What visual supports could I use to make my communication easier to follow?
Reflection Questions: The Person I Support
How does the person respond to me?
e.g. words, expressions, behaviours
Does the person appear to see our interactions as positive or negative experiences?
Does the person respond differently to another staff/family member?
What is the staff/family member doing differently to me?
How does the person like to communicate with me?
What are the person’s interests?
How could I use the person’s interests to increase his/her opportunities to interact with others?
And to try new things?
Reflection Questions: Building My Own Skills
Who can I talk to for support around communication?
How can I build communication strategies into the daily routine?