Fundamentals Of Speech Therapy For An Autistic Child

1. Fundamentals Of Speech Therapy For An Autistic Child Speech therapy for autistic children cannot be generalized. There is no one-size-fits-all activity that will yield the same result in every child with autism. Despite this reality, there are a few fundamentals that should govern the way in which speech therapy for autistic children is conducted. Let us look at these fundamentals. Communication should be functional and spontaneous The first step taken by every child psychologist is to establish communication with the autistic child. This communication cannot be forced, it should be spontaneous for the child to respond. Moreover, it is important to ensure that the communication is functional, i.e., the child should be able to understand exactly what is being told and respond in accordance to the communication. Once the psychologist is able to consistently communicate with the child functionally and spontaneously, the child should be encouraged to do the same with others, starting with their parents. Social instruction is key Social instruction simply refers to instructions on how to behave in different social scenarios. Some really effective tools used by child psychologists in imparting social instruction are visual aids like picture cards or visual boards, video aids that demonstrate different ways of behaviour in different settings, and storybooks that deal with socially acceptable behaviour. The child will slowly grow to recognize these scenarios in life and implement the social instruction taught. Encourage interaction with peers The intention of speech therapy for autistic children is to encourage them to be verbal. Autistic children generally shy away from interactions with their peers. Speech therapy activities that involve group activities have proven to be very useful. The first step is to help the child respond to their name, it should be physically demonstrated to the child how one is to play together with others and joint attention should be established to help peer interaction. Train the adults to help A child spends the majority of the time in a day with the adults at home. This is why it is important for child psychologists to train these adults to help the children. It will not help if the child does not practice the instruction imparted by the psychologist at home. Consistent practice is the only way to esure progress. The adults in an autistic child’s life can only help the child if they know what to do and how to do it.