Since Autism is characterized by a deficiency in nonverbal and verbal social skills, implementing Effective Communication between the parents/caregivers/therapists and the child with Autism is especially important. We need to keep in mind the basics before getting into in-depth training:
>Be emotionally available to your child, let him know-“I am here for you.”
>Do not forget to establish contact with the child before speaking or communicating.
>Physically move to the child’s level. Squat down, kneel, and position yourself so that you are face-to-face.
>Establish attention with contact and visual props; ensure that the child is oriented towards you.
>Use gestures meaningfully. Use gestures to accentuate the clarity of your communication, not to confuse the child or distract him.
>Do not use complex sentence forms and expressive forms of language.
>Stick to literal and concrete sentences.
Prompts play an important role to make things easy to understand. These are instructions, demonstrations, and physical help provided to teach or increase the likelihood of correct responses from the child. These are of many types:
>Verbal Prompt: It involves providing a verbal hint or partially or completing providing the response to the child which the child then repeats and learns. E.g., after asking the child “what color is your hair?”
>Visual Prompt: It is like a modeling prompt where the child learns by observing others or looking at videos, flashcards, etc. E.g., teaching a child to shake hands by showing a video.
>Physical Prompt: It involves physically guiding the child to perform an action. E.g., Holding a child’s hand to teach the child how to clap.
>Gestural Prompt: It involves pointing, nodding, or any other action a child can observe to learn. E.g., Pointing towards a cup and asking the child “what is something you drink from”.
>Auditory Prompt: It involves any kind of sound a child can hear to complete a task. E.g., Mother tells the child “put the blocks back in the bag”. The mother will prompt the child by setting up a timer to go off in 5 minutes as a clue for finishing the task.
#autism #communication