# Communication Nation: Other Voices, Other Sounds

An episode of [The Children's Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1373480705), 26 Jul 2026, 1 h 00 min.

Audio: https://media.blubrry.com/childrenshour/ins.blubrry.com/childrenshour/TCH_CN3-OVOS_podcast.mp3

We speak with our bodies, and some people speak only with their bodies. Communication Nation Episode 3: Other Voices, Other Sounds explores nonverbal communication, sign language, deaf culture, and assistive technology. Comes with a learning guide. Learn with us!

## Transcript

[0:01] Coming up on The Children's Hour, it's the third episode in our four-part series, Communication
[0:06] Nation, Episode 3, Other Voices, Other Sounds. Today we'll explore communications that aren't
[0:12] spoken with voices. Our bodies are revealing what our minds are thinking all the time. And
[0:18] our first guest is a speech-language pathologist who teaches nonverbal communication skills
[0:22] to kids. Then we'll meet Brad Klein and his deaf parents, Candy and Marty. Even though
[0:27] Brad can hear, his first language was sign language. We'll also look into assistive technology devices
[0:33] which help people communicate. We've got learning guides and activities for this episode at ChildrensHour.org.
[0:39] The Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour Incorporated. We're a New Mexico based
[0:44] non-profit organization working with children to make the best and high quality kids public
[0:49] radio. You can learn a lot more about us at ChildrensHour.org. It's time for The Children's
[0:55] Hour, Kids Public Radio. Do you know why my iPod is shaped like a Coca-Cola bottle?
[1:09] I don't know why! Because it only plays pop music. It's time for The Children's Hour,
[1:21] Kids Public Radio!
[1:27] you.
[1:39] Take a walk in someone else's shoes and try to understand another point of view. Look around
[1:49] and you will see many faces and different personalities. Why don't you try to think about
[2:00] if you had something to say but couldn't get the words out? You'd feel sad, too. So much
[2:10] better with a friend helping you. So take a walk, take a walk In somebody else's shoe. Take a
[2:21] walk in someone else's shoes. Just take a walk in someone else's shoes. You know we're standing
[2:30] around on common ground. So take the first step, you've got nothing to lose Try to look at each
[2:39] other like a sister and brother. You'll find what's special inside me and you. Everybody
[2:47] join hands all over the land and take a walk in someone else's shoes. Now just imagine if
[2:57] you opened a book and the letters on the pages didn't really look how you thought. They should
[3:06] go, but you turned around and found a friend to show. To show you how, make sense of it
[3:14] all, cause everybody needs a hand, whether big or small. So take a walk, in somebody else's
[3:24] shoes. Let the star walk now. Take a walk in someone else's shoes. Someone else's going too.
[3:32] Just take a walk in someone else's. Understand another point. You know we're standing around
[3:38] on common ground. So take the first step, you've got nothing to lose. Try to look at each other
[3:46] like a sister and brother. You'll find what's special inside me and you. Everybody join hands
[3:55] all over the land and take a walk in someone else's shoes Just take a walk in someone else's
[4:04] shoes. Yeah, take a walk in someone else's shoes. No, we're standing around. So take the first
[4:15] step, you've got nothing to lose You've got to look at each other like sisters and brothers.
[4:23] You'll find what's special inside me and you. Everybody join hands all over the land.And
[4:30] take a walk in someone else's shoes. Everybody join hands all over the land Just take a walk
[4:39] in someone else's shoes .Everybody join hands all over the land. And take a walk in someone
[4:51] else's shoes.
[5:02] That's the Swingset Mamas right here on The Children's Hour. This is The Children's Hour,
[5:07] in Katie Stone, and I am delighted to be with you today and all of these kids at the outpost
[5:15] and on Zoom. Hello everyone. Hello. And who do we have with us today? Hi, it's Thorfin.
[5:22] Hi, it's Jo. Hi, it's Lily Mae. Hi, it's Nina. Hi, it's Max. Hello, it's Amadeus. Hi, it's
[5:30] Thaniel. Hi, it's Amaya. Well, thank you all so much for being here at the Outpost Performance
[5:36] Space in Albuquerque, New Mexico and on Zoom and all of you out in listener land. On The
[5:42] Children's Hour, this is the third episode in our four part radio series called Communication
[5:49] Nation, where we're exploring various forms of communication through languages, media
[5:55] and community building. We're calling this episode Other Voices Other Sounds. And when
[6:02] I say sounds, I don't just mean the ones that we hear with our ears. All of us use our bodies
[6:09] to communicate through our facial expressions, gestures, posture, even our breath. That's
[6:17] how we know what our parents are thinking when they just give us the look. Sometimes this
[6:23] is called body language. Others call it nonverbal communication and we're going to learn more
[6:30] about that from speech language pathologist Marci Laurel. There are people who only use
[6:37] gestures in their bodies to communicate and we're going to meet a family who uses sign
[6:43] language as their primary communication. Brad Klein is a C.O.D.A, a child of deaf adults and
[6:51] his parents Marty and Candy are going to join us to teach us about sign language and deaf
[6:58] culture. And you know, it's not unusual to need a little help to communicate. That's where
[7:04] assistive technology can come into play. There are people who have to communicate through
[7:10] technology only, and there are others who just use it to support their ability to speak aloud.
[7:16] Tibbany Ho is from the Rio Rancho Public School District in New Mexico and she visited the
[7:22] Sunspot Solar Studio to explain. We have a lot to learn on The Children's Hour today.
[7:28] You can find more information about Communication Nation and this episode, Other Voices, at ChildrensHour.org.
[7:35] Let's learn together today on The Children's Hour. This is Brady Rymer.
[7:46] Try to fix.
[8:07] Try to fix me, love me for who try to fix me.
[8:27] So, please don't try to fix me, love me for who I am. Please don't try to fix me, love
[8:35] me for who I am.
[9:04] I
[9:17] me show you what I know. So please don't try to fix me. Love me for who I am. Please don't
[9:25] try to fix me Love me for who I am. Please don't try to fix me. Please don't try to fix
[9:37] me. You gotta celebrate me. Motivate me Invigorate Love me for who I.
[10:26] You're listening to The Children's Hour. I'm Katie Stone. And today, we're talking about
[10:31] communication. It's easy to overlook such an essential part of our lives. We humans communicate
[10:38] with our words, our technology, and even our bodies. This is Communication Nation, a special
[10:47] series from The Children's Hour where we explore various forms of communication through media,
[10:52] languages, and community building. This program is made possible by funding from the National
[10:58] Endowment for the Humanities and the United We Stand Connecting Through Culture Initiative
[11:03] and by the New Mexico Humanities Council. This is Communication Nation, Episode 3, Part
[11:11] 1, Non-Verbal Communication. We've already learned about how humans rely on speaking to
[11:18] each other to communicate. But did you know that a big part of how we share information
[11:23] uses no words at all? That's called nonverbal communication. Today we're exploring how people
[11:31] use their bodies to express their thoughts and feelings and how even entire languages are
[11:37] only physical. Marci Laurel is a speech language pathologist at the University of New Mexico's
[11:43] Center for Development and Disability. That's somebody who works with people who need support
[11:49] in expressing their own communications. We invited her to the Sunspot Solar Studio here in Albuquerque,
[11:56] New Mexico to show us how a specialist like Marci teaches nonverbal communications. That
[12:03] could be a lot of different things, including how we use our bodies, like how close we stand
[12:09] to someone. Do we turn our body towards someone when we're talking to them? How do we use
[12:14] our hands? Do we make gestures while we're talking or even when we're not talking? How do we use
[12:19] our face? Facial expressions that show you're mad or you're sad or you're frustrated. Are
[12:24] we loud? Are we soft? Do we sound friendly or angry? All the ways we communicate without
[12:30] using words, which I think is kind of funny in a way because adults often tell children,
[12:34] use your words. But actually the way we communicate is so much more than just our words. Marci
[12:41] told us that a lot of the time the most important way humans communicate is with our body, face,
[12:47] and tone of voice. People are watching us to see how we're communicating without words
[12:54] and also if the way we communicate with our bodies matches what we're saying with our
[12:59] words. If we're saying words but our body doesn't match, people feel uncomfortable and they're
[13:05] always going to believe our bodies every time. So right now if I say I'm so excited to be
[13:09] talking to you, it might seem like I'm excited. But if I say I'm so excited to be talking
[13:15] to you, you're going to know I'm not excited, you're not going to believe my words. So it's very
[13:20] important that we use our nonverbal communication. Another way it's important is that we have
[13:26] to be able to read other people's nonverbal communication. we can't see a person's face
[13:31] or body, it's hard to totally know what they mean when they're talking to us. We might not
[13:36] feel so comfortable and safe if we can't get that match up and we don't understand it.
[13:43] It's also important because sometimes we can get into trouble if we don't understand somebody
[13:48] else's nonverbal communication. Say you're in the classroom and something's going on and
[13:53] the teacher starts to have a voice that sounds kind of irritated. Maybe they cross their
[13:58] arms or they put their hands on their hips and they show it with their face. I'm really getting
[14:03] frustrated. If you can't notice that, you might end up being in trouble when you didn't really
[14:08] mean to be. And the same thing goes for adults when we're talking to the people in our lives.
[14:13] We learn nonverbal communication basically by watching and noticing what people are doing
[14:17] when we're very, very small. And then we copy or we imitate what other people do. But then
[14:23] sometimes kids don't necessarily pick up the cues of nonverbal communication on their own.
[14:28] What populations might have to learn them in a different way? So sometimes kids who
[14:34] have what we call neurodivergent ways of thinking and being in the world, that might be kids
[14:39] who have autism or attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, or just challenges maybe with impulsivity
[14:46] that makes it hard for them to pay attention to everything going on around them might not
[14:51] pick up on all of this when they're real little bitty and then they don't learn it right away
[14:55] and people don't maybe realize that they haven't picked that up after all. Neuro means brain
[15:01] and brain function and diversion means different from a normal path maybe. So Neurodivergent
[15:11] is maybe a brain that is on a different path. That's like such a great way to say it. And
[15:16] if you think about it, we're all on our own path, right? So if you expand and expand
[15:21] how you think about that, we're all different in how our brains operate and how we think
[15:25] about things. But sometimes we have these labels that we apply to people when it seems like
[15:31] it might be helpful in knowing how to help them. Being neurodivergent can change how a person
[15:36] uses or notices nonverbal communication. But that can make it hard to make friends. It's
[15:42] all about sending messages and receiving messages. So if you're trying to send a message but
[15:47] you're not sending the message you meant to send, or someone's trying to send you a message
[15:51] but you're not catching it, then it can really affect social interaction.
[16:02] It's Marci Laurel from the Center for Development and Disability at the University of New Mexico.
[16:08] You're listening to The Children's Hour. I'm Katie Stone. We have a lot more coming up.
[16:13] This is Communication Nation, Episode 3, Other Voices, Other Sounds.
[16:27] I was thinking my own thoughts and you your own thoughts and we were talking quite a lot
[16:39] and no one
[16:45] was thinking my own way say would sway till something funny happened on the way to better
[16:58] things. I'm listening. Life is black and white, just me. I'm listening. There are colors I
[17:08] don't see. I'm listening. Here's a new full... I'm listening,
[17:17] I'm listening, I'm listening, I'm listening,
[17:28] you.
[17:38] Thinking your own thoughts and I was thinking my own thoughts. We were like two ships so
[17:49] lost out on the darkened sea.
[17:55] I shot out a warning flare. You threw rope into midair. We both felt so much better there.
[18:07] Seeing you and seeing me I'm listening Life is black and white, just me I'm listening. There
[18:16] are colors I don't see. Here's a new philosophy Talk until we get to meet You can help me
[18:30] truly see uh I'm thinking of.
[18:55] Then you're alone.
[19:13] The songs you sing and after all the times you bring and as we swing.
[19:29] Life is black and white just me. There are colors I don't see. Here's a new philosophy.
[19:42] Talk until we get to meet. You can help me truly see.
[19:55] That's Doctor Noize and Justin Roberts. I'm Listening. You are listening to The Children's Hour. I'm
[20:02] Katie Stone and this is episode three of our four part radio series, Communication Nation.
[20:08] This series is also available as curriculum for teachers. You can learn a lot more about
[20:15] it at childrenshour.org. Look for Communication Nation. You're listening to The Children's
[20:23] Hour, Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. The Children's Hour is a production of The
[20:29] Children's Hour, Inc. We're a New Mexico-based nonprofit organization, and we're funded by
[20:35] listeners just like you. Learn more at Children'sHour.org. The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs
[20:43] supports The Children's Hour. Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico is where arts, culture,
[20:48] and nature converge. Plan your visit at MuseumHill.net. Keep up with The Children's Hour and sign
[20:54] up for our monthly newsletter at childrenshour.org. Taka din nam tadiko Taka janaku Kupa Taka
[21:02] Taka Kupa Taka tadin Kupa Taka janaku Tadin Kupa Taka Taka din Taka tadin Taka Taka tadin
[21:07] Taka tadin tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka
[21:23] tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin Taka tadin tadin tadin tadin
[21:30] Taka Taka Dhimmi Taka Tata Jam Taka Dhimmi Taka Tata Jam Taka Tata Tata Jam Taka Tata Tata
[21:42] Jam Taka Tata Jam Tata Jam Taka Tata Jam Taka Taka Tata Jam Taka Dhimmi Tari Ku Dhan Ku Dhan
[21:51] Ku Jan Ku Gen Ku Tung Ku Pundari Kadada Kaara Kaara Tum Turgu Taka Taka Turgu Taka Turgu
[21:55] Taka Taka Turgu Taka Turgu Taka Turgu Taka Turgu Turgu Taka oh you oh
[22:46] That's Sheila Chandra from Weaving My Ancestors Voices with Speaking in Tongues 1. You're
[22:53] listening to The Children's Hour. This is Communication Nation episode 3. Other voices, Other Sounds.
[23:00] We're talking with Marci Laurel. She's a speech language practitioner and she is explaining
[23:07] to us about the purpose and function of nonverbal communication. That means the communication
[23:15] we do with our bodies without even thinking about it. As we're learning about the importance
[23:21] of nonverbal communication in our lives, for some people, those cues don't come so easily.
[23:28] How do you teach neurodivergent people about nonverbal communication? It's tricky. If
[23:36] somebody's struggling with their nonverbal communication, either using their bodies and their faces and
[23:41] their voices to communicate, or they're not catching other people's messages, And if they
[23:45] think it would be helpful to them, or maybe if they're younger, their parents and their
[23:49] teachers think so, then we might help them to notice. We might practice by making big, dramatic
[23:56] expressions. Sad, angry, happy, you name it. And then Marcy told us they practice labeling
[24:06] those feelings. Maybe we give the person clues about what to look for and what it means as
[24:12] part of an interaction. or maybe we record our voices, or maybe we watch videos and try to
[24:17] ascertain or think about what somebody's trying to communicate with their bodies and their
[24:22] faces and their hands, all of those ways we talked about. So it's kind of like being a
[24:26] detective. We learn to kind of clue by clue, learn to pay attention to what this nonverbal
[24:32] communication is and what it means. But here's where things get a little complicated. Not
[24:37] everybody wants to communicate in the same ways. Say one person may not like making a lot of
[24:43] eye contact. If that's not comfortable for you, for whatever reason, maybe you just learn
[24:48] to turn your shoulders toward that person. You don't have to look right at them, but you
[24:51] show them with your body that you're interested. So we have to be careful not to get so stuck
[24:56] that the right way is one way, when the right way is really many ways. Can you talk a little
[25:02] bit about how nonverbal communication here might be different from other places in general?
[25:11] How is a kid supposed to know how to behave in different circumstances? So there's differences
[25:17] in nonverbal communication across cultures, whether that's a different country or a different
[25:23] part of this country or different families. There are differences in the rules that apply.
[25:29] And the most important thing about this is that sometimes we're sending messages that we don't
[25:34] mean to send. Like if I'm a person that likes to get real touchy feely and I want to put
[25:39] my arm around you, I want to stand real close to you, and that's my way of showing that
[25:43] I'm really interested in communicating with you, but you feel like I'm just getting way
[25:48] too close and you don't even know what I mean by that, now we have a miscommunication. This
[25:54] goes for how big our gestures are. Do I use my body in a big way? Or do I keep my body
[25:59] kind of quiet when I'm talking? This would again go for the use of my voice. Am I kind
[26:05] of loud for you? Or is it an understanding that my voice volume goes up when I get excited?
[26:12] It's the way I am. It's the way my brain is. Can you tell from the nonverbal communication
[26:18] of the people you're talking to, whether they're receiving you and your communication well or
[26:24] not. It goes back to that detective work. What does somebody's face look like if they're a
[26:29] little uncomfortable? Are they stepping back a little bit with their body? Are they leaning
[26:34] in to show they're with you? Or are they kind of backing all the way away because they're
[26:38] not comfortable with your way of communicating? Sometimes it really takes a lot of paying
[26:44] attention. to make sure our messages are going back and forth just the way we want them to.
[26:54] When it comes to people who are neurodivergent, maybe some of us who are not neurodivergent
[27:00] misunderstand them. And they're not understanding our nonverbal communication and we're not understanding
[27:08] their nonverbal communication. Why should we be aware that this is the case? So it's so
[27:16] important for us in every avenue of our lives. whoever we're talking to and being with, right?
[27:21] But especially we already talked about how some people who are neurodivergent might find these
[27:25] types of interactions challenging in different ways or just interact in different ways. So
[27:30] the first thing I would say is it's so important to always think the best of everyone. Don't
[27:35] jump to the conclusion that something is happening that is against you or not right before
[27:43] we even know what's happening. Stay with the interaction. ask questions sometimes to better
[27:50] understand what the person is feeling or if the person stands too close we could give
[27:55] them some clues that maybe we want to step back a little bit but not to judge. It's so important
[28:00] not to judge because everyone in every circumstance is absolutely doing the best they can and
[28:06] everyone in every circumstance wants to have a good communication. Everyone does.
[28:22] Marci Laurel. She's a speech-language pathologist at the University of New Mexico's Center for
[28:28] Development and Disability. She's somebody who helps people of all ages communicate better.
[28:41] You uh shows how I'm feeling. I when feeling happy I frown when feeling down. My face shows
[29:04] how I'm feeling. My eyes are open wide when I feel surprised. Your face shows feelings
[29:13] too I'll look to you. Because your face shows how you're feeling. When you smile I know you're
[29:23] happy. When you frown I know you're down. When you bite your lower lip it means you're nervous.
[29:33] And when one eyebrow lifts you're curious. When your eyebrows join together. You may be furious.
[29:42] Our faces show our feelings. We smile when we are happy. We frown when feeling down.
[30:10] Our faces show our feelings. We look to one another, watch faces to discover. Feelings
[30:28] That's Lindsay Munroe right here on The Children's Hour. We just learned that nonverbal communication
[30:35] is a big part of how we talk to each other. But did you know that many people across the
[30:41] world communicate only with their hands, face, and body? Maybe you've heard the word deaf
[30:48] before. That's when a person has impaired hearing. A person can be born deaf or become deaf after
[30:55] an injury or illness. Some deaf people can only pick up certain sounds while others don't
[31:02] hear anything at all. They can't listen to you or me talking or even hear their own voice.
[31:08] So using words can be hard. And that's why many rely on sign language. Brad Klein is
[31:15] a comedian. His parents, Candy and Marty, were born deaf. Together, they speak using sign
[31:22] language. I tell a lot of my friends who have hearing parents, that my life growing up was
[31:29] very similar to theirs. I learned sign language just like all of us learned English. As an
[31:35] infant, you absorb everything and anything around you. There are 270 countries in the
[31:41] world, but over 300 different sign languages. And that's because sign language can also
[31:48] be partly regional. Sometimes a north part of a country will have a slightly different
[31:53] sign language than the southern part of the country. About 11 million people in America
[31:58] identify as deaf. That's less than 5 % of our population. Deaf people are part of a small
[32:05] community and sometimes people assume that makes life more lonely. Very few hearing people
[32:11] know sign language, but Marty told us that assumption isn't so true. We deaf people do not feel
[32:19] lonely because we always get together. It's a common band. Candy says deaf people have
[32:26] a vibrant social world and a culture all of their own. This is my mom's voice and you
[32:33] can hear how different it is. Because she can't hear her own voice. But she can feel
[32:40] the vibrations. That's how she learned speech therapy was in the vibrations of how words
[32:44] sounded. There's a Chicago club for the deaf where we're from, where we go bowling together,
[32:49] we socialize, go out to dinner together. Way back in my time, sign language wasn't always
[32:56] allowed in school, but now it's definitely allowed in school and a lot more families get
[33:01] involved in learning sign language. So deaf people don't feel lonely anymore. If you're
[33:05] deaf and you can't read lips, how do you communicate with people when you do important stuff like
[33:11] bank meetings? Do you always have to bring an interpreter with you or can you sometimes
[33:15] get by with just visual communication? Great question. When my boss asked me for an important
[33:22] meeting, I always say, bring an interpreter so that there's no miscommunication. If it's
[33:28] one-on-one, I will just ask them to write it down or I'm pretty good at lip reading. Martin
[33:33] is holding up his iPhone. How do you use it, Martin, to communicate? Do you actually type
[33:39] the message out? This is the app that converts speech into text. And I read it at the same
[33:47] time, real time, and it's perfect. I think it's also important for me to bring up what's called
[33:54] the ADA. It's the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's the right of my parents to have equal
[34:02] and opportune communication in public settings, such as doctor's offices, public meetings,
[34:09] news conferences, so that they have the ability to understand and be on equal footing to everybody
[34:17] else. So while my dad does prefer the live transcription, he is entitled to having an interpreter there,
[34:24] which has happened when I had to go to the emergency room as an eight-year-old, the doctors tried
[34:29] to talk to me and said, can you interpret for your parents? And my parents had to be firm
[34:33] and say, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, we have the right to an interpreter for
[34:39] this very important communication about my son's health. So while I do interpret for little
[34:45] things like if we're out at a restaurant and my mom says, you just tell him I wanted iced
[34:50] tea? Sure. But if we're talking about buying a mortgage, a bank meeting, a doctor's visit,
[34:55] it's incredibly important for my parents to have clear and concise communication. And
[35:01] the Americans with Disabilities Act allows us to do so.
[35:07] When we're thinking about communication, all of us sitting in this room and listening on
[35:13] the radio, because by nature of radio listeners, it's usually people who can hear. So what
[35:21] could we who can hear do to make our communities more inclusive for people who cannot hear?
[35:29] Captioning on everything. Accessibility for some is accessibility for everybody because
[35:36] everybody can benefit when you have it. It's about the mindset. They have to know that
[35:42] access is very, very important between two or more people. Most importantly for us,
[35:50] for communication, it's to understand what's going on. Sometimes the communication falls
[35:56] off. People say, we'll tell you later. And that's the challenge for us. We want to be
[36:01] involved. And we can do anything but hear. And so we enjoy having live captioning, is
[36:06] what we're using right now, along with the interpreter. We really appreciate so much the
[36:11] technology and the deaf children nowadays have so much more access than we did in our days.
[36:16] was Brad Klein interpreting for his mom, Candy. Brad is a hearing comedian out of Chicago
[36:23] and his parents, Candice and Martin Klein, otherwise known as Candy and Marty, are deaf.
[36:32] Have you ever heard of sign language? It's a way many people talk using their hands and
[36:37] body instead of words. Kind of like dancing. We're gonna learn a little bit today.
[36:57] Let's sign some phrases together. Just copy what I do.
[37:03] Now your turn. um Great job!
[37:23] There you go. See you later.
[38:05] a guessing game. I'll do a sign and you have to guess what it means by hopping to the left
[38:11] or the right. Let's go!
[38:51] Oh well, let's dance!
[39:33] Talking With My Body is Danny Go! Right here on The Children's Hour, and we're thinking
[39:38] about talking with our bodies as we spoke with Brad Klein and his parents, Marty and Candy.
[39:44] That family uses sign language and talks with their body all the time. We're all doing it
[39:51] all the time, whether or not we notice. We're speaking with our gestures, our looks, even
[39:58] our stance. So much to learn today about nonverbal unspoken communication and we have more coming
[40:04] up about how assistive technology is being used to help even more people communicate.
[40:11] You're listening to The Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. Users at
[40:17] tokenibis.org donate to The Children's Hour every week without spending a dime. You can
[40:23] learn more at tokenibis.org. Thanks to the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, New
[40:28] Mexico for hosting The Children's Hour. Support for The Children's Hour is provided by United
[40:33] Way of North Central New Mexico. Support provided by the City of Albuquerque and the Urban Enhancement
[40:40] Trust Fund. The Children's Hour is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the
[40:46] Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Keep up with
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[41:09] Just one thing, it will be, oh, okay. Not do it, wake up, it's for tasteful and useless
[41:19] And time like these. Won't be made useless. Won't stand there like I don't do I'll get
[41:31] myself around my feet. To light the darkness out there.
[42:03] Listen after, hopes us create a peaceful world. Today never after. No more fights, let's all
[42:16] unite. For some will stand up for what's right and what's wrong. But there's a child who
[42:23] has no voice, their eyes shall go singing.
[44:33] That's Aaron Nigel Smith. You're listening to The Children's Hour. This is Communication
[44:38] Nation, Episode Three, Other Voices, Other Sounds. We've learned that many people talk without
[44:44] speaking words to each other. Our nonverbal communications send cues about what we're thinking.
[44:50] Sometimes people use physical languages like American Sign Language, but other times people
[44:57] just need support in order to speak. Tibbany Ho is a speech language pathologist just like
[45:03] our friend Marci Laurel. But her job looks a little different. She's an assistive technology
[45:08] coordinator at Rio Rancho Public Schools in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, a suburb of Albuquerque.
[45:14] Her job focuses on helping kids use assistive technology to communicate. Assistive technology
[45:22] in general is any device, program, or equipment that helps somebody with a disability be able
[45:29] to access their environment. And that can look differently depending on the person. Some people
[45:34] use what we call unaided forms of communication, like gestures, facial expressions, head nods.
[45:42] And then we have what we call aided, and that means they need some other device or system
[45:47] in front of them. Tibbany told us that while some may not communicate with spoken languages,
[45:53] everybody has a voice. Alternative Assistive Communication, or AAC, make sure that people
[46:01] can use it. People that are using augmentative communication are communicating and using
[46:07] their form of communication in the same ways that we all communicate. That system could
[46:14] be simple and low tech, a pencil and paper, a board used to write words, or a book with
[46:21] pictures to point at. And then we have our high-tech communication systems, which might look like
[46:26] an iPad, again with picture symbols, but when they press it, it might open to more pages
[46:31] and give them access to more vocabulary. People of all ages and backgrounds rely on high-tech
[46:37] speech assistants. Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton made history as the first sitting Congressperson
[46:43] to give a speech at the United States House of Representatives using speech technology.
[46:49] Speaker, last year I was diagnosed with Progressive supranuclear palsy or PSP. PSP makes it very
[46:57] difficult for me to speak and I use an assistive app so that you and our colleagues can understand
[47:01] me. Why might somebody need to rely on assistive speech technology? How does it help? Some people
[47:09] don't develop speech the same way that we do, or they might be difficult to understand.
[47:15] Sometimes we have people with language differences too. In our school district, we have universal
[47:22] communication boards in the classroom that we use with all of our students, including students
[47:27] with disabilities, students that come from other countries that speak different languages
[47:33] that are having a hard time expressing their communication with others. So using it in
[47:39] a more universal way to be able to connect with each other. Even as technology is getting
[47:45] better and better, you think about your phones if you've ever used Siri and Alexa, right?
[47:50] It could be used and considered a piece of assistive technology to help somebody access something
[47:55] that's a tool that a lot of us use all the time. And the words people are using with
[48:01] assistive technology are the same words that we use too. Over time, we've also developed
[48:06] more detailed picture symbols to use in speech assistance. For example, if I have a picture
[48:12] of a house and I'm pointing to the picture of the house, that could mean a lot of things,
[48:16] right? That could mean something happened at home that I want to tell you about or I want
[48:22] to go home. Today, speech tools encompass far more than simple images. At Rio Rancho Public
[48:29] Schools, Tibbany says there are detailed communication boards in classrooms and even on the playground.
[48:35] We're talking about your pronouns like I, you, he, she, it's verbs and action words,
[48:42] describing words. These are the boards that we have up around our school. And we've found
[48:49] that not only is it supporting students that need that for communication and speech, but
[48:55] also who might come from other languages and have language differences that make it
[49:01] difficult to communicate in the classroom. They're using the boards too to communicate with their
[49:08] teachers and their peers. Whether we're using body language, sign language, or AAC, having
[49:15] access to nonverbal communication brings us closer. We can share our feelings and ideas
[49:21] more easily. But there might be differences in the way communication happens when two people
[49:27] aren't vocally speaking. A conversation might take longer. It could have a different rhythm
[49:33] or it could require pauses. You know, as a communication partner, there are some good
[49:39] things to kind of keep in mind if you're talking to somebody that uses assistive technology.
[49:44] It definitely takes more time to create a message. So being patient when you're talking to somebody.
[49:51] who's using assistive technology is a good strategy. When we're patient, we're kind.
[49:59] And when we're kind, we have the best communication together. We listen without judgment, and
[50:06] we can learn so much from each other. You've been hearing from Tibbany Ho. She's the Assistive
[50:13] Technology Coordinator at Rio Rancho Public Schools in New Mexico.
[50:30] Do you see?
[50:37] see with your eyes. If all that you see is the outside of me, then I think you might
[50:50] be surprised that inside of me lives a spirit that's free, a spirit that soars through the
[51:02] skies. It's right here before you, it's easy to see When you look into my eyes So many
[51:21] things that I'll never do. So many things I can't say. Anyways, I'm exactly like you If
[51:36] you let me, I'll show you the way. Don't see what I can do. There's so much I can. The outside
[51:49] of me is just one part. Before you can know me, must understand. Sometimes you both see with
[52:01] your heart I've climbed every mountain, I've swam every sea I'm following the birds in
[52:11] the skies It's all here inside me, beneath what you see. You can feel it If only you'd
[52:22] fly And tell me. What do you see. When you're looking at me? What do you see through your
[52:38] eyes? If all that you see Is the outside of me? That I think you might be surprised.
[52:53] That inside of me lives a spirit that's free. A spirit that soars through the skies uh It's
[53:04] right here before you, it's easy to see When you look into my eyes Won't you look into my
[53:18] eyes?
[53:37] phone. Please see me as more than a dog that you throw a bone. Let's go for a walk Yeah,
[53:51] let's go outside No, I don't wanna hop in the car and go for a.
[54:02] A genuine encounter of the first degree I need you to stop what you're doing and look at me.
[54:13] Look at me
[54:21] Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me now! Look at me, look at me, look at me,
[54:28] look at me, look at me, look at me now!
[54:38] You're awfully busy. Got things to do. Just give me a moment of time with you I've got all
[54:52] these ideas. I want you to see. There's a person who's growing up inside of me
[55:06] I need your full attention. And I deserve it too I'm somebody important. I'm a part of you
[55:17] A part of you. Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me,
[55:28] look at me now Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me now.
[55:35] Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me now! Look at me,
[55:44] look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me now!
[55:55] Please don't be angry. I'm just a kid. I'm only doing the things that you once did. oh.
[56:14] From an oldie but goodie, a release by Sara Hickman called Big Kid right here on The Children's
[56:21] Hour, was Look At Me. Look Into My Eyes was before that with Annivar Salgado performing.
[56:28] He's a young man with cerebral palsy who uses assistive technology devices for communication.
[56:35] Communication Nation Episode Three, Other Voices, Other Sounds, is part of a larger podcast
[56:42] series of short form podcasts for teachers to use this series in the classroom. We have
[56:48] learning guides and activities posted at ChildrensHour.org. Look for Communication Nation. We have time
[56:57] for just one more here on The Children's Hour. We're going to go out with Frances England.
[57:00] This is from Blink of an Eye. Tell Me It All, and I hope you will. We'll catch you next
[57:06] time for another edition of The Children's Hour. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes you cry.
[57:14] Sometimes it's not so easy to be young. To be small, to be you. Sometimes you just need
[57:27] a friend to sit down beside you. Who won't talk, who won't ask, who'll just wait for
[57:36] you I'll wait for you to tell me it all. Tell me it all, you can tell me it all. Tell me
[57:44] it all, tell me it all. Tell me it all, you can tell me it all. Tell me it all
[57:58] The Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico non-profit.
[58:04] You can find photos, playlists, learning guides, and activities for every episode at ChildrensHour.org.
[58:10] Today's show was written and produced by me, Katie Stone, with Christina Stella. We had
[58:16] production help from McKenzie Graunke, Sarah Gabrielli, and Thaniel Lentz. Chad Scheer recorded
[58:22] us at Outpost, and Amber Shiel writes our learning guides. Find the ones for this show at childrenshour.org.
[58:28] for Communication Nation. Find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or go to our
[58:35] patreon.com slash The Children's Hour. Or ask your smart speaker to play The Children's Hour
[58:41] podcast. Our music was written by C.K. Barlow. The Children's Hour is distributed by Native
[58:48] Voice One, the Native American radio network. Thanks for listening to the Children's Hour
[58:56] Kids Public Radio. © 2026 The Children’s Hour Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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