What would you do if everyone around you spoke a foreign language? What if this fact had nothing to do with your location? No matter where you moved, you were unable to communicate with those around you. Imagine how trapped and frustrated you would feel. That may be a taste of how someone who has autism and the communication problems that go with it feels.
As we grow, there are milestones to reach physically and mentally. Our brain develops very rapidly as children and we are immersed in a complex world with never ending sources of information. Our bodies, brain and emotions all work together to develop a personality. However, it is thought that in those with autism, the synapses in the brain are not always connecting when they should be. Basically what that means is that the brain is receiving the information and sending it along the line, but somewhere along that line the message is getting garbled. If you think of minds like calculators this concept is not so hard to understand.
The calculator performs the function that you request it to. However, if you take a basic calculator that is made only to perform basic functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, there is no sign for the concept of cubed. You must do the problem long form. In other words, instead of putting in 3 cubed, you would put in 3x3x3. The answer is the same, it's the method of getting there that has to modified.
For those with autism that have problems with communication, you have to find the source of the problem. This may be done by trial and error. For instance, the autistic child hears what you say, but the message is not translated in their mind so that they can understand you. What if you wrote it out or used pictures? This method uses a whole other process in the brain to communicate. Eventually, using this method, the autistic child may be able to communicate orally, but the use of visual aids helps to stimulate oral recognition. Here are a few methods to consider using when developing communication with the uncommunicative autistic child.
- visual aids such as pictures
- keyboards
- sign language for those able to use their hands in such a way
- drawing
- story boards
These are just a few ways that communication may be developed. Explore with the autistic child to see what works for them. Once you find what works for them, expand on it. In a way, their communication is trapped inside a box. In turn, you must think outside the box!