Language is pliable in infancy and a child with strong language skill can outperform their peers as they grow up. Whereas kids with poor or underdeveloped language skill tend to lag behind. In individuals with autism, their inability to use language effectively is associated with emotional adjustment, poor social adjustment. As they grow up, it may also affect their job prospects. Therefore, an early enrolment for speech therapy for autism helps kids with lower vocabulary progress steadily in communication as they get older.
SPEECH THERAPY
Some children with autism develop language slowly and repeat familiar phrases instead of using language. Conventional therapies for autism such as speech therapy help a child enhance their ability to express their needs both verbally and non-verbally. It is advised to get your child tested by a registered Speech Therapist if they do not attain the required milestone of speech/language. A speech therapist may perform a number of tests to determine the individual’s deficits or language limitations.
A speech therapist may also administer standardized tests to identify his/her’s neurological problem that interfere with speech disorder. After diagnosis, the speech therapists may plan out several exercises to strengthen the jaw muscles to help the person improve the pronunciation of letters and words. They also teach them to use non-verbal or sign language as an alternative way of communication. Parents can also seek apt answers to all the verbal and non-verbal issues queries by visiting here.
Therapy techniques
Speech therapy for autism involves oral-motor exercises and massages to improve muscle tone. The speech therapist may also introduce singing, picture exchange communication or the child may be asked to pay close attention while using sounds such as rounding of lips to produce the ‘shhh’ sound.
- Building a relaxed conversation to encourage language is also an important part of the therapy. Simple routines like counting, alphabet pronunciation, etc. encourage your child to recognize and say some of the words.
- Speech therapy for autism addresses both verbal as well as non-verbal communication as part of the treatment. Playing games with a child help to enhance non-verbal communication through gesture.
- Music and singing facilitate a child’s social development. This approach enhances the joint attention behaviors of children with autism and also to empower vocabulary.
- Assistive technology like ‘electronic talkers and apps like ‘Autimo – Discover emotion’ can be used to support communication for people with autism. to know about ‘Autimo – Discover emotion’ click here.
Rewarding individuals with autism enables them to be attentive.
Conclusion
For children with autism, speech therapy is a building block for creating an environment that is fruitful for a normal social life and for living an independent and active life. If parents suspect that their child lags in reaching the needed speech milestone, they can get in touch with the nearest speech therapist with the help of ‘Autism Connect Directory’.
Good Post
My son has autism, and he’s been having a hard time learning to speak properly. It makes sense that speech therapy would help him out with this a lot! We should definitely find a speech therapist near us that can handle this.
It’s good to know that speech therapists examine their patients through standardized tests to know what type of therapy they would be needing. I would assume that speech therapy centers would want to categorize their patients properly so that they would be given the right attention. If I were to work in this field, I will apply the techniques in this article to help my patients get better and to understand what kind of approach should I do to kids with autism.
My daughter has autism and she was non verbal. After intensive work with her she got better. But she has been struggling with language . She can talk but she is stuck in answering qst. We have tried speech therapy but it doesn’t seem to help her language delay. I tied visuals, and no visuals I tried stories and pictures to support her understanding but instead of understanding she just looks for the words that are missing from the statement that I made. When I push her she becomes absent like she is in another word