Oh, yeah, we've already discovered that physical touch makes verbal communication easier. We found that if we're having a difficult conversation (which is usually me attempting to gain empathy for my pain and encourage him to, er, stop causing it), he calms down enough to actually hear me if we're holding hands. If we're facing each other or side by side or on the phone--it doesn't work. He jumps right into defense mode, and does not hear what I'm saying at all. But if we're physically touching, he shows signs of real empathy! He understands that I'm not attacking, but informing him of the effects of his actions! It's weird.

The difficult thing is getting him to sit and hold my hand before I open my mouth. He's refused to hold my hand before, I was all, "Is that really how you want to act toward me?" He finally did it and it went well from there, but (DJ alert!!!) sometimes it's like trying to reason with a 2-year-old in the throes of a temper tantrum. Even if you can calm them down, you still can't reason with them.