Children with autism find it difficult to communicate with others.
They can struggle to understand other people and to make themselves understood.
Part 2 of my essential tips to improve your child’s ability to communicate.
Here are 6 more essential strategies :
By considering these simple strategies you can help to improve and increase your child’s ability to communicate:
Use nonverbal communication to support what you are saying such as gestures and signs. Exaggerate your words and actions and pay attention to your body movements and eye contact.
Use visuals such as pictures, photos. Draw simple diagrams on a small whiteboard which is portable and can easily be changed for different circumstances. Simple stick characters will do!
Read, read, and read with your child and talk about the details of the pictures. Books with repeating sentences are great! Touchy feely books and ones with different textures add interest. Doing this regularly will foster their love for language
Be aware of how your child is communicating with you non-verbally by watching their body language, eye movements, positioning of their body, expressions, gestures and the sounds they make.
Use music and nursery rhymes to engage. Encourage movement to music, playing instruments, and singing which are all great for language development and social interaction.
Art activities can help to build social skills especially if on a one to one basis. It can help develop joint attention and support language development and expression and requires minimal or no verbal interaction.
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