Tips for Prompting Students With Autism to Initiate Communication

Autism is a spectrum of behaviors and characteristics, as well as of language and communication abilities. Some individuals with autism use minimal or no verbal language, and some use long chunks of verbal language taken from movies or other aspects of their environment. Others imitate verbal language but rarely, if ever, use this language functionally for communication. In many ways, this group presents the most challenges. Although these children may be viewed as verbal, they are not using verbal language spontaneously and meaningfully for communication. The PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) protocol is a means of helping children learn to use verbal language in this purposeful way. The key is that it teaches facilitators to wait for initiation from the child. This means the facilitator—in our case an SLP—presents a preferred item to the student and waits for that student to initiate, perhaps by reaching for the item. I find this protocol useful for all students with autism, whether they are verbal communicators or use a form of alternative and augmentative communication. By incorporating the concept of waiting for initiation into your treatment, students learn to “go first” and communicate spontaneously, rather than to only respond to others, regardless of their communication modality. I find the strategies listed below most useful when I work on increasing spontaneous verbal communication in students with autism: Follow the child’s lead Although ou...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Augmentative Alternative Communication Autism Spectrum Disorder Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs