Communication

All children with autism have some trouble with communication although the level of difficulty varies widely from child to child. As teachers, we must understand the child’s individual communication capabilities and the impact this has on their behavior at home and school.  This information will help us choose appropriate teaching strategies.

Children with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have trouble with both receptive communication (understanding) and expressive communication but the level of difficulty in these areas will depend on the individual student. Some students with autism may be non-verbal and have tremendous challenges with all types of expressive communication, while others may be verbal but use language inappropriately or get confused by the language of others. It is important to remember that being able to speak does not mean that a student with autism is an effective communicator.

Reference:

http://www.autismtraining.com

Proloquo2go is a fantastic application that assists children who struggle with communication.  It helps students voice their needs when they are non-verbal or have trouble speaking.  It also provides multiple means for communicating, and in the proper sentence structure the longer and more proficient you are at using it.  This is very helpful for parents to understand their child's needs, and also for the child to express their needs.  It would also be a great tool to use in school because the teacher would be able to understand if the child needs something even if they cannot verbally express it.

This video shows a child with autism (Nick) using the communication application Proloquo2go.