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Improving Communication for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Individuals with Autism, Asperger Syndrome and related learning needs can experience significant difficulty developing effective communication skills. Their communication challenges affect both understanding and expression. The behavior and social skill difficulties these students can have are very often related to their communication challenges. The goal of this department is to present effective strategies for improving communication.
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Use Picture Sequences to Help Develop Your Child's Play
Griffen Simone
Some children need our help to learn to play with more complex toys, develop their play skills, or participate in more complex activities. We can help our children to do this by providing step-by-step pictures of what they need to do, as the pictures break difficult tasks into more manageable steps for your . . .
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Use Picture boards to Help With Choice Making
Simone Griffin
Picture choice boards are generally a board, or piece of paper, with pictures of the items that are available to your child. The adult encourages the child to look at the pictures and choose from the board . . .
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Provide a Little Help and Then Let Your Chld Join In
Simone Griffin
Some children with autism might appear disinterested in playing with certain toys or participating in certain activities, but in some situations the actual problem might be that they don't know how to play with a toy or participate in the game. By simply providing a little bit . . .
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Create Anticipation by Pausing: "Ready, Steady...."
Simone Griffin
By using anticipation and suspense (e.g., pausing), when playing with your child, you can create lots of opportunities for them to practice their communication skills. For example, if you pause just before you blow bubbles your child will have . . .
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Create those Opportunities
Simone Griffin
Children with autism communicate at many different levels; some talk, some use sign language, some use pictures to communicate messages and some reach and point for the things they want. But no matter how your child communicates, there are many things you can do in your everyday interactions to help create and make . . .
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Social Challenges for Individuals with Autism
Paula Kluth
For many with autism, engaging in a social interaction is like playing a game without knowing the rules. Some individuals report that the social demands of making small talk or walking into a party can create stress, anxiety, and panic; they may feel as if everyone else knows the secrets necessary for success and they do not. Liane Holliday Willey (1999), a woman with Asperger's Syndrome, illustrates how stressful it can be when one does not understand certain social requirements: "The most simple-sounding duties blew me away. For example, what exactly did it mean to plan a child's class party? With no precise guidelines or definition of terms in tow, I had no answer but plenty of questions. . . .
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Honoring and Including Students with Communication Differences
Paula Kluth
"I have a new student coming to my sixth-grade classroom and I am stumped. Ben does not speak very much but he sometimes uses an electronic device to make choices and greet people. He also knows some sign language. I am not sure how to include him in the class or how to build a relationship with him. HELP! " This note came to me in the form of an e-mail. It was sent by a fourth-grade teacher who has never had a student . . .
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Creating Personal Portfolios for Students: Tools for Transition, Communication & Inclusion
Paula Kluth
One day when I was working in a middle school, a music teacher approached me excitedly to share that Lizzy, a student with Down syndrome in her class, was a pianist. She told me that she had been teaching a lesson on jazz when Lizzy approached the piano and began to play a Thelonious Monk tune. The teacher was absolutely giddy about her discovery and wondered if Lizzy's parents knew about her "hidden ability". This educator was so enthusiastic that I didn't have the heart to tell her that Lizzy had been practicing piano for years and many of her teachers knew about her talent and some had even seen her perform. It is no wonder why many educators do not have this type of important personal information about learners in our schools today. When most teachers get a student with disabilities in their classroom, they are given very little information on the learner's needs, gifts, abilities, strengths. . . .
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Understanding and Decreasing Repeated Questions in Children with Autism
QUESTION: How can I use visual strategies to decrease the amount of repeated questions from students. ANSWER: This is a common question and a great one. Think of it like this. When a student is repeating a question over and over he is driving us nuts. But he is also expressing important information to us. So ask yourself. . ."What is his purpose? Why is he talking? Is he repeating because he is anxious about something? Is he asking about something that is going to happen? What is he trying to communicate?" . . .
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How to Integrate Visual Strategies into Daily Communication
QUESTION: How can I integrate visual strategies into my everyday thinking so that I do it automatically? ANSWER: Great question! If you do manage to integrate this concept into your everyday thinking you will become a master communicator. Here is what I suggest to people sometimes. Imagine that the student you are working with is deaf. In your brain, pretend that his ears don't work. Now. . .how would you communicate with him? If you imagine he can't hear, you will naturally use more visual ways to communicate. Here is what you will do. . .. . . .
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Using Various Representational Levels in Visual Aids
QUESTION: The therapists in my office have disagreements regarding the hierarchy of representational levels. Some think color line drawings are higher than black and white line drawings. Others feel the black and white should be higher, right below photos. What is your recommendation? ANSWER: This is a commonly asked question and a very important one. People are trying to determine what form of visuals to use to create visual supports for students. The answer from MY OWN personal experience is IT ALL DEPENDS. . . .
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I use information from Autism Family Online in my practice. I often tell parents about your website because I know they’ll find reliable information that will give them practical suggestions for helping their children.
Howard Elandt, Psychologist
Your website has been a huge help for me. My students have very different needs and I have downloaded great pictures to use with them. The articles have helped me deal with challenging behaviors.
Kim Renshaw, SLP
Autism Family Online helped me so much. As a parent, it empowers me to find information that I can really use. I printed some choice board pictures and then used them right away. My son loved them.
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Jacksonville, OR
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Kerrville, TX
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