Editing Symbolic communication (section)

=== Challenges to communication ===

==== Symbolic communication in children ====
[[File:Family reading.jpg|thumb|Storybook telling is one of the most influential contexts to help children develop their language. Children nowadays have the technology to listen and touch pictures on books specialized for children using AAC<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Kent- Walsh|first1=Jennifer|last2=Binger|first2=Cathy|last3=Zishan|first3=Hasham|date=May 1, 2010|title=Effects of Parent Instruction on the Symbolic Communication of Children Using Augmentative and Alternative Communication During Storybook Reading|journal=American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology|volume=19|issue=2|pages=97–107|doi=10.1044/1058-0360(2010/09-0014)|pmid=20181850}}</ref>]]Young children also use symbolic communication as a means to reference objects or understand other people around them. By the time children are around one year of age, they start to understand the basis of language. Although language and speech start in children around age 2, children can communicate with their parents using perceived symbols they have picked up on. For children who are slower to grasp verbal communication skills, parents can use Augmented and Alternative Communication skills to help foster their child's symbols and help them to understand verbal communication.

Children who have delayed speech or other mental illnesses cannot grasp the concept of verbal communication, so they turn to symbol communication. These children may already understand basic symbols like head-nodding for "yes" or head shaking for "no" from watching their parents or others around them. Children who have a hard time speaking cannot demonstrate their literacy skills confluent with other children their age. Parents who take special care in helping their child use by using symbolic communication at first see a huge growth in their speech and communication skills.<ref name=":1" />

==== Language and communication disorders ====
One of the functions of symbolic communication is in the field of communication disorders. It is often used to help facilitate communication between people who have difficulty doing so. There are picture communication systems where often the case that is used with children with little to no speech, tactile writing system also known as braille for the visually impaired and also sign language for the deaf.

Nonsymbolic communication is also used for some people with language and communication disorders, and is often used in the case of people with little to no speech.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} One of these treatments is [[Picture exchange communication system|PECS]], which uses pictures to communicate meaning. The end goal is for the person to be able to communicate with others functionally.

==== Intercultural communication ====
In [[intercultural communication]], problems with symbolic communication may start to arise. Since symbolic communication involves a shared message between a speaker and a listener, words which Items that are seen as sterile and inoffensive in one culture can be polemic or offensive in other cultures. Problems in intercultural communication may arise when people do not respect each other's cultures in their communication. Understanding what may cause offense is a key to international or even domestic travel or diplomacy when interacting with people not of one's immediate cultural settings.

In verbal communication, language barriers sometime exist. Speakers of different languages will be almost completely unable to communicate with each other unless they share some commonalities. This is because the sounds speakers attach symbols to are usually very different from sounds with similar symbols in other languages. As such, people often struggle to communicate ideas between different cultures. The opposite, similar sounds with differing symbols, can also cause problems. What might be a normal word in one culture might be a taboo word in another culture. To avoid such problems, people will often use [[euphemism]]s in place of taboo words.

[[Paralanguage|Paralinguistic]] cues such as gestures, intonation and facial expressions can aid in cross-cultural communication as they tend to be more similar to each other than words are.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fichten|first1=Catherine S.|last2=Tagalakis|first2=Vicki|last3=Judd|first3=Darlene|last4=Wright|first4=John|last5=Amsel|first5=Rhonda|date=1992-12-01|title=Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Cues in Daily Conversations and Dating|journal=The Journal of Social Psychology|volume=132|issue=6|pages=751–769|doi=10.1080/00224545.1992.9712105|issn=0022-4545}}</ref> There are, however, some gestures can also sometimes be misunderstood across different cultures.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Labarre|first=Weston|date=1947-09-01|journal=Journal of Personality|volume=16|issue=1|pages=49–68|doi=10.1111/j.1467-6494.1947.tb01075.x|issn=0022-3506|title=The Cultural Basis of Emotions and Gestures}}</ref> For instance, the thumbs-up gesture which sees frequent usage in many countries and is understood as ''good'', in other countries such as Greece or the Middle East, this gesture is a negative symbol and making such a gesture can be considered very rude.

Symbols themselves which represent ideas can hold different meanings to different communities. One notable example is the [[swastika]]. In Eurasia, some cultures see it as a symbol of divinity and spirituality. However, in the Western world the symbol was flipped and adopted by the German [[Nazism|Nazis]] during World War II and now carries ideas of racism and antisemitism. Wearing this symbol may offend people living there. In 2019, Pichayapa Natha, a member of pop star group [[BNK48]], was slammed for wearing a swastika t-shirt during a rehearsal for a concert.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/bnk48-apology-nazi-inspired-outfits-2019-1/|title=One of Thailand's biggest pop stars sparked outrage by wearing a swastika shirt, the latest in a string of Asian bands to wear Nazi symbols|first=Bill|last=Bostock|date=2019-01-31|website=Business Insider Singapore|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref>