Reply to Seeking advice on sign language for mostly non-verbal ASD son

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Seeking advice on sign language for mostly non-verbal ASD son"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My DS has ASD and had severe expressive disorder when he was six. He had severe echolalia and couldn't answer most questions. He would say I don't know to answer most questions till recently. We saw no improvement the first few years of therapy but he continued to receive speech therapy for 9 years and now can hold short conversations. I tried sign language. I tried PECs. At the end, I understood that if he can answer some questions even with help or just to say I don't know, he can talk. In other words, he can produce the sounds for the speech and if he can sign something, he can say it. If he can't say it because of expressive delay, he can't say it in any form. For years, I have giving him words for everything. Point it, sign it, say it, put it in a sentence, give the meaning, repeat it, ask it in a question, give synonyms, give antonyms, and don't accept I don't know as an answer, give him acceptable answers and let him pick one and say it. He would get frustrated at the beginning and he would always pick the last option for answers to end the conversation but when he started to get the carrots instead of ice-cream he caught on. Now he asks for meanings and tries to understand how to use a word.

I understand augmented communication devices help if the child is non-verbal but he is verbal and can communicate so how can augmented communication help with a verbal child?

My be my DS has a different problem than OP's. I am not saying my way is correct or augmented communication is wrong in this case but I am wondering if 2 years of therapy is enough. OP, have you tried other speech therapists? 
[/quote]

I'm the PP special educator above.  AAC can be a powerful support for kids who are verbal but have low skills.  It provides a visual model, and is much easier for most kids to imitate.  It also helps kids make connections.   It also forces the person teaching language to be more systematic about how they model and teach language, which can be very helpful for some kids.  Finally, it gives kids a way to explore language on their own, particularly kids who like repetition and cause and effect, which can include many kids with ASD.

I'm not saying that it's right for your kid, but it could be a very good match for OP's kid, even if he has some language.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics