Nanny to Mommy

Find out about 7 innovative ways to help a child with autism communicate. Read on for the answers!

Children that have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder will often have trouble communicating as they grow up. Fortunately, there are many different ways to help a child with autism develop their communication skills so that they can forge meaningful relationships with others as young children and adults. Some examples include things like imitating your child and giving them space to talk. You can find lots of information about how to help your child with autism at places like an aba center, which create programs that are tailored to help children with autism learn new skills and how to behave. Here are six innovative ways to help a child with autism to communicate.

Play is an extremely important aspect of a child’s development. It helps them to learn and is essential for their growth as individuals. Children with autism are no different, and should be encouraged to play and have plenty of social interaction. The more a child with autism is exposed to being around others, the more comfortable they will be in the company of new people, which will give them opportunities to develop relationships and make friends. The games you can play with your child can be as simple as things such as singing together and playing fun games that stimulate their brain to solve tasks. One thing that you can do whilst playing with your child is to make sure you are sitting right in front of them at eye level so it’s easy for them to see and hear you.

Imitating your child doesn’t sound like it would be that useful in helping them develop through their early years, but it’s actually true. Repeating what your child says helps to engage their mind and focus on you. This is good for forming bonds with your child and encourages them to interact with you and use their voice. Being vocal is something that can be difficult for those with an autism spectrum disorder, so doing this from an early age is a great way to help them become comfortable with speaking more often.

You can also imitate your child's actions when you play with them, which will engage their brain to focus on your actions so that they will be more likely to respond. This is also useful in creating connections with others from an early age, which is something that people with autism can struggle with. One thing to keep in mind is to only imitate positive behaviors so that you don’t run the risk of reinforcing bad habits.

Children use a lot of nonverbal cues to communicate, so it’s important to encourage this from an early age. This can be done by using lots of eye contact and gestures as you interact with them. Because individuals with autism can struggle with recognizing the emotions of others, encouraging nonverbal communication from an early age will help them to better understand how others are feeling through their actions and the way they speak. This type of communication lays the foundation for language that will stay with the child throughout their adult life.

Lots of parents love speaking to their children as much as possible, but it’s important that the child is given some time to talk. By leaving some space for them to reply to something you’ve said or done, you will encourage them to learn to communicate much faster and more effectively, as well as to understand others. When the child does reply with a sound or gesture, it’s a good idea to respond quickly so that the child understands how powerful communication can be.

Using simple language whilst communicating with a child with an autism spectrum disorder makes it a lot easier for them to start learning how to listen and reply to you. Some children with autism are nonverbal, and in these cases, it is a good idea to talk to them using single words. If they’re capable of saying single words then you can start using short phrases. Continue to communicate like this until they begin to understand and respond to full sentences.

Whilst playing with a child, it can be a good idea to narrate their actions. For example, if they’re playing with shapes that fit into different holes, you can say “shape” when the child holds a shape, and “in” when they fit it into the correct hole. This helps the child to understand language by associating words with their actions.