Kids with Autism- Communication Skills Indicate Outcome

It isn't something I like to think about too much or I begin to feel sad, overwhelmed and anxious.  Despite my hesitancy to linger in the realm of 'what if', I need to be realistic and understand that my son might not have an adult life simliar to mine.  When it comes to autism the biggest indicator of how well a child will do as an adult (by way of how far they will progress developmentally) is verbal communication.  This is why everyday, and I'm not kidding, I work on communication with my two boys.

I studied cognitive neuroscience, which includes five disciplines, so I have a pretty diverse and interdisciplinary take on things - especially autism.  Physiologically, I believe that verbal communication requires so much cognitive ability and so many areas of the brain that, if this skill is mastered, the brain and neural connections are functioning as they should be.  That is terribly gross understatement, since language is so complex, but for lack of a better description it works. 

Consider the idea that you cannot run until you can walk.  Few of us would argue this point and the same premise applies to verbal communication.  For communication ability to be in place, and age appropriate, a multitude of other abilities must be in place first.

This all translates into one point: I need to do whatever I can to help Ian continue mastering verbal communication and, as we all know, this is more then a challenge and daunting to say the least.

To teach verbal communication, there are dynamics of communication that must be present first.  If you simply imagine an infant, and how they communicate, you'll see that crying is their form of communication.  As they grow, they begin to point, or raise their arms to be picked up and this is gestural communication at work.  When your child is old enough to tell you secrets (whisper in your ear), this means they are beginning to employ the social rules of communication.  For kids with autism, the needs and abilities are across all these areas; at least in most instances.

I don't believe in trying to teach a skill without ensuring the fundamental abilities are in place.  In other words, I recommend teaching your child, by beginning at whatever point they deviated from typical development.  If this occurred around age two, then start researching how two year olds communicate, the developmental milestones from that point and begin working on those skills immediately.

Most children will also have splintered skills, and I recommend you work with each individually from whatever level your child is at.  For example, my son uses non-verbal communication strategies, including gestures/facial expressions and alike, but his verbal communication has a long way to come.  He talks - he can tell you anything you want to know, he even conversates now, but the social appropriateness and other dynamics (volume, articulation, mental lexicon 'depth') are challenges we still face.  His language is also odd, as he doesn't use words without meaning.

No matter where your child is on the spectrum of autism or on the developmental path, take a minute and figure out where your child deviated and start there.  From that point, make it your mission to work on verbal communication!  If you need any ideas or would like more information on linguistics and child development, let me know.