Building Communication Skills With Autism In Children

Have you ever experience a moment when you were unable to communicate your words, or couldn’t think of the word to use the feeling you were trying to describe? Everyone has felt this way before, possibly multiple times per day. But the reality is for the people in our community with autism, this is a constant feeling of difficulty to communicate effective with others. The people that are diagnosed with autism face the daily obstacles of being unable to use their voice and having to learn different ways to read body language and tone of voice, something that comes fairly easy to most of us. The communication barriers facing people with autism enable us to work past the differences and find a new way of communicating that is effective for them.

Autism spectrum disorders are a class of developmental disorders that impair social skills, behavior, and communication (Center for Disease Control). ASDs are considered ‘spectrum’ disorders because each patient has a unique experience in the nature and severity of their symptoms (Center for Disease Control). Under the umbrella of ASDs, there are three types of disorders, including Autistic disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (Center for Disease Control). Autistic disorder is the most severe of the three, and patients exhibit significant problems with language, communication, and behavior (Center for Disease Control). Furthermore, people with Autistic disorder often have some intellectual impairment (Center for Disease Control). Asperger Syndrome is a milder form of autistic disorder where patients have some developmental delays, but their language and intellect are not affected (Center for Disease Control). The mildest of the ASDs is the pervasive developmental disorder. These patients usually don’t meet all of the criteria for autistic disorder, but do show some signs of social and communication problems (Center for Disease Control). The number of children diagnosed with ASD is growing, and currently 1 in 88 children fall somewhere on the spectrum (Mari-Bauset et al., 2013). Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism, and while the exact cause of these disorders is unknown, both genetic and

In this book, “Helping children with autism learn: Treatment approaches for parents and professionals” Siegel gives parents of autistic children what they need most: hope. Siegel explains that how to take an inventory of a child particular disabilities that break down the various kinds unique to autism. Many other signs and symptoms are also seen in a child suffering from autism are atypical eating, lack of intuition and less attention to social stimuli. This book has been a great help in the research as it explains about the key understanding of each autism case as a discrete set of learning disabilities, each of which must be treated individually. This book is relevant to my research as it has important documentation and papers about the conference. It provides a detailed account of the issues, at the same time, Siegel offer a new understanding and a practical, thoughtful approach that will give parents a new hope.

This case discusses a 4 year-old girl with high functioning autism that has issues with her emotions and effective communication. For my research, I used observations of the child, interviews with significant people in her life, like her parents and teacher among others, books and the internet. The child can function in an inclusive classroom with the proper guidance and instruction.

Autistic children tend to be delayed in babbling, speaking, and learning to use gestures. By age three, most children are on a pathway to learning language. They begin early with babbling, until they are saying a word or two, point out to objects they want, and turn to you when their names are called. Children who coo and babble in the first few months of life but develop autism tend to loose these communicative behaviors, while other children experience significant language delay and don’t begin to speak until much later. When therapy is applied especially as an early intervention most children learn to use spoken language and communicate. Children who are nonverbal learn to use different communication systems such as sign language, pictures, electronic word processors or even speech generating devices (Autism Speaks, 2015). Depending on your child needs these can be things to look into.

There is a lot of research on Autism. Many people do not know what autism is. “Autism spectrum disorder covers a set of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. People with ASD process information in their brain differently than other people”(Communication Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 2012). Autism can range in severity and is different with each individual child. Autism affects every race, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. People may wonder how does this affect communication? Well ASD people tend to live in a world all about them. People with ASD tend to not understand others emotions or understand what is said. ASD can effect a person’s communication

There has been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism or other autism spectrum disorders. It is likely as an educator that you will have at least one child with this diagnosis in your classroom. This paper explores some of the methods used to teach autistic children.

The purpose of this chapter is to review the literate that identifies and examines early identification of social communication deficits related to autism spectrum disorder. It will also review literature based around early interventions to improve social communication deficits. This paper will begin by identifying retrospective research studies followed by prospective students. It will continue with evidence based interventions identified by the American Speech – Language – Hearing – Associations (ASHS)

The first aspect of an autistic child relates to the impairment of reciprocal communication. As a result of this, children with autism cannot explain their feelings and desires with human language. Instead, they use relentless swimming, tantrums, and silence as their way of communicating with others. Because of the absence of language, and the intensity of their emotions. Parents need to assume that every behavior problem, anxiety or excitement translates into a physical language behavior. The deficiency of language produces frustration in the children 's mind creating their body 's arousal to increase and hit what parents call the “red zone.” This red zone represents the deregulations and distress that,

What were the researchers interested in? What was their hypothesis or what research question were they trying to answer?

Children with autism tend to have their ability to comprehend spoken language overestimated more than any other child with a disability (Miniscalco, 2011). Many children may be able to express language, but their ability to process spoken language is lacking. It is important not to assume they understand and comprehend spoken language especially when it comes to school performance. In the school and home, adults can mistake lack of comprehension for noncompliance. That is when a child with autism is asked to do something and they just stare it may be because they are unable to comprehend the meaning behind what was said. Teachers should talk less and show more (Project Access, 2015). On the other hand, a child may respond to language

Within the area of health and well being there are many issues a person with autism may

A widely used communication tool for with children of autism is a system known as The Picture Exchange System (PECS). This system provides opportunities for communication for children with limited or no functional speech the ability to communicate non-verbally. PECS provides children with autism to communicate non-verbally, enhances children the ability to develop a verbal communication, which limit on appropriate behaviors and enables increase socialization. PECS is composed of six phases- Phase 1), learn how to communicate, 2) Distance and Persistence, 3) Picture Discrimination, 4) Sentence Structure, 5) Answering Questions, and 6) Commenting. (Green, & Sandt, 2013) Utilizing the PAC System children are taught to approach a person, present a picture of a desired item exchange for that item. All communication that can be symbolized on a picture will facilitate communication from both the child and the person the child is communicating.

Her smile brightened the room’s blank dull walls. Her thick curly hair and sparkling brown eyes complimented her physical attributes. Yet, as I began to approach her, I stopped. I could not communicate with her. Katie had autism.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of unknown etiology, but with a strong genetic basis. It develops and is typically diagnosed before 36 months of age. It is characterized by a behavioral phenotype that includes qualitative impairment in the areas of language development or communication skills, social interactions and reciprocity, and imagination and play [1– 3]. Hearing is one of our most important senses as it gives us access to spoken language, necessary for the development of speech, language and communication in general. Development of speech and language in children is a continuous process, in which the first years of life are of the greatest importance.