Establishing successful communication with people with developmental disability

Successful communication is needed to establish a healthcare interaction, take a history, assess the patient, make a diagnosis and determine a person-centred treatment or management plan. Having a way to communicate with patients is vital to find out their views, exchange information and instructions, and build rapport and trust.

For a list of reasonable adjustments that can help to support people with developmental disability and enable communication before and during a consultation, see here.

Talk to the person with developmental disability with respect, asking their opinion and explaining what is happening in ways that they will understand. A common complaint of people with developmental disability is of being excluded while the medical practitioner speaks over them to the support person.

People with developmental disability appreciate when their healthcare provider acknowledges that they have not understood them. This enables further attempts to be made using supportive strategies (eg multimodal communication), and effective communication to take place. If the person’s carers or support workers facilitate communication for the person with developmental disability, see also Working with family members or disability support workers.

Early in the first consultation with a person with developmental disability, determine their communication skills and requirements:

  • What are their receptive communication skills? (ie how does the person respond to you and other visual or auditory cues?)
  • How do they communicate? What do they need to do to participate (ie to understand, input) in the consultation?
  • Do they use communication aids (eg communication board, speech device) or assistance to express themselves? Are communication aids available?
  • Is it helpful to use visual supports (eg pictures or videos) or examples (eg daily schedule or timetable for a health intervention) to communicate information?
Note: A person’s receptive or expressive abilities may not be reflected in their speech; for example, unclear speech does not indicate an intellectual disability.

The communication skills of people with developmental disability are varied, and their receptive and expressive abilities may not be reflected in their speech (eg a person with cognitive impairment can be an articulate speaker; having unclear speech does not indicate an intellectual disability). Observe the person carefully while they are responding and confirm whether they understand you, and you understand them by: