Autism Corner: 7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Child’s Language Skills

Tweet Save Editor’s Note: This article is written for parents. We reprint it here so that you may share it with the parents of your kiddos. Excerpted from the article, “Breaking the Language Barrier” that appears in the March/April 2011 issue of Autism Asperger’s Digest magazine. Reprinted with permission. The Autism Asperger’s Digest is offering a subscription special during April, to celebrate National Autism Awareness Month. Language and communication – we use them to get our needs met, express ourselves and bond with others. Except, that is, if your child is on the autism spectrum. The one comment I hear most from other parents of children with ASD is that they just wish their child could communicate “better.” However, given the structure of the English language, this is not an easily learned skill. Our language is filled with prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, idioms and metaphors, clichés – all pretty foreign concepts to our kids who think in literal terms and tend to learn specific to general, rather than the other way around, as do typical kids. Some easy ways I discovered to improve communication with (my son) Brett follow. You can use them with your child with autism, no matter where he or she falls on the spectrum. These techniques are not, in themselves, end products. They are actions meant to be adjusted and played with, so they become relevant for your child. Attention First and foremost, before you try to communicate with your child, before you try to teach him anything, get his attention . This may be as simple as calling his name, or you may have to physically move your child’s face to look you in the eye. Children give indications of attention in different ways, and for some kids with ASD, eye contact is not […]

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