Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects the development of social interaction and communication skills. Individuals with ASD vary widely in their communication abilities. Some children have no verbal speech. Other children may be limited to repeating commonly heard phrases. Individuals with higher-level language skills may be verbally fluent but are restricted to a small range of topics, and have difficulty with conversation, using language in a functional way.
When providing speech and language therapy to individuals with ASD, we follow six different skills of speech and communication: vocal imitation, motor imitation (sign language), requesting, labeling, conversation/communication, and understanding.
Many individuals with ASD have difficulty responding with respect to some or all of these skills. They may have strong ability in labeling (giving names to objects), but they may be unable to verbally request that same object.
Our approach at Talk-Talk when working with individuals with ASD is to help them with functional communication. We are focused on improving their ability to communicate functionally, and meet their needs and wants.
Individuals with ASD may have strong skills in labeling objects and answering basic questions about their favourite things, but they may face difficulty verbally requesting items. Typically, vocal imitation transfers to labeling, and labeling to requesting without training in children. However, individuals with ASD need to be trained for these skills step by step.
How Can We Help?
Because of the communication difficulties typical in children with ASD, Speech-Language Pathologists are often the first professionals contacted by parents. By helping individuals with ASD to communicate functionally, we help them to reduce the frustrations and behaviours as a result of their inability to express themselves.
Early intervention helps children reach their potential to communicate wants, needs, ideas and opinions with others.
Some of the skills we work on include:
- Eye contact
- Joint attention
- Understanding communication (following directions)
- Using language (gestures, vocabulary and joining words to form sentences)
- Social communication
- Engaging in social interactions with others
- Understanding verbal and non-verbal cues
- Understanding someone else’s point of view
- Telling stories
- Expressing opinions
- Critical thinking
- School performance such as literacy
Symptoms / Signs
Communication
- Not speaking or very limited speech
- Loss of words the child was previously able to say
- Difficulty expressing basic wants and needs
- Poor vocabulary development or regression of language skills
- Problems following directions or finding objects that are named
- Repeating what is said (echolalia)
- Problems answering questions
- Speech that sounds different (e.g., lacking prosody and inflection or speech that is high-pitched)
Social Skills
- Poor eye contact with people or objects
- Poor play skills (pretend or social play)
- Using objects in unusual ways
- Unusual attachments to objects/items
- Being overly focused on a topic or object that interests them
- Not paying attention to things the child sees or hears
- Problems dealing with changes in routine
Social communication
- Difficulty paying attention to you or others. They may have difficulty following what you or others are interested in or may not follow where you point.
- Language may be present, but they struggle using words to carry on a conversation. Individuals may have the ability to answer a question or initiate a request, but they cannot tell a simple story or engage in a back-and-forth conversation.
- Preference of solitary play. They may demonstrate parallel play (playing side by side), but there is minimal or no involvement of another person.
- May pull someone’s hand or lead someone to indicate what he or she wants.
- May have unconventional or limited interests.