In this article, we will discuss the affirmation of a teenage student with intellectual disability when interacting
with his teacher. This affirmation co-occurs when a variety of speech acts are performed and
interpreted by both parties, despite the student’s language difficulties. Thus, the meaning of a gesture,
an intonation a sound, etc. may differ from one turn taking to another. Each interactant, therefore,
plays a key role in interpreting the meaning attributed to every cue. Data from a teacher-student interaction
(videotaped) taken from an ethnographic qualitative study conducted within the framework
of a master’s degree project (Lavigne, 2014) {non c’è biblio}will be deeply analysed to explore the
diverse forms of the student’s affirmation. These affirmation marks show that despite his handicap, he
understands the topic of conversation and contributes to its evolution. Moreover, he affirms his full
interactant’s status by his affective responses to what is being said and by his strategies to make sure he
is deeply understood
