Switch Tracking and the SLP

My listening habits take some strange turns from time to time.

I have been listening to Season 3 of the Revisionist History podcast recently.  While I wish I could “binge listen,” I have to slug it out and wait for the weekly updates.  If you haven’t listened to this podcast, you really must.  Malcolm Gladwell breaks apart issues in only his way- I often think of his delivery in twisting out your preconceptions about a topic and then serving them to you on a nice plate.  I also love how he says the word “years.”  But that’s just a speechie thing.

I stumbled across the podcast “Hidden Brain” from Shankar Vedantam (NPR) today because there are no new Revisionist episodes and was immediately intrigued by the idea of switch tracking.  While it has a psychology/social science base in it’s research and discussion, I find there is a specific link to what we do in SLP.

Switch tracking refers to the way in which we receive feedback from others.  For instance, someone gives you feedback about something and the topic of the conversation changes from that point.  Similar to the way a train might be rolling along a track, come across a switch, and then start heading in a different direction. 

In the episode, they play some clips from Lucky Louie, and while you can laugh at the interaction, it is clear that this is way conversations go in our lives sometimes.  Husbands and wives, siblings, and co-workers all likely engage in conversation where someone brings up an idea to the other which is then followed by a topic change due to the original idea being brought up.  Think about the last “fight” you had with a family member or significant other.  It might have been because of one of these abrupt topic changes. 

It is important to think about “why” switch tracking happens, but I will leave that to the social scientists who are interested in causes.  I am more interested in what to do to “fix” these communication challenges and to maybe even prevent them.

This is especially true when we consider our students in elementary and middle school.  Not to say high schoolers could not benefit from talking about this concept, I just happen to work primarily with these kinds of students.  What’s more, when we think about our students with pragmatic language challenges or autism, it is even more of a salient topic.

Be Mindful When You Listen: It’s easy to start thinking about the next thing we want to say when we are listening to others speak.  It’s incredibly hard to wait for someone to finish their thought before interjecting the next part of the conversation.  And that’s just for distracted adults with their cell phones at a dinner party.  Now think about youngsters who “don’t know better.”  Let’s work to discuss the concept of mindfulness when listening and waiting for someone to finish their thought.

Reflection Above All Else:  I have found myself repeating back to people more these days.  Whether it is an issue with my memory or I am trying to ensure that the message was received.  I have been repeating back what I am going to do with my principal, with people who are giving me directions about a task, and even with my family (as annoying as that might sound). 

Try this with your students: engage in an activity with following directions.  Beyond having them repeat the direction back, have the students say the first thing they will DO.  While the repetition of a direction is important, knowing what to do first is even more important.  You can even extend this direction to tasks around a classroom. 

Source

Segue, Segue, Segue: Not the cool scooter thing.  For some of our students with pragmatic language challenges, topics can change quickly.  By the end of a “conversation,” the original topic can be completely lost and no one is the wiser. 

I like to work with students on ways to change the topic and segue appropriately. 

“It’s funny you say that, it makes me think of….”
“I remember a time when I did that…”
“When you say that, it makes me think of…”
“You know, I went there once too.  That time I ….”

While these are a handful of ideas, they at least start the conversation on a way towards what should be done when a topic shifts.  Not just 2 students going back and forth from weekend activities, to Fortnite, to the Nintendo Switch, to a new book, a birthday party, and the new app that everyone is using.

Now for my own segue:

Talking about switch tracking and podcasts reminded me to recommend that you check out these things:

Revisionist History

Hidden Brain

And of course, come back to Everything Is Language for other tips, ideas, and general musings.

Thanks for reading!