Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Social Language Impairments
(Pragmatic Language Impairment – PLI)
Learning Difficulty/Disability (LD)
Hearing Impairment
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
Phonological disorders
Articulation disorder |
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term that covers children with highly-varying abilities. Children with ASD can range from being very proficient in their language use (e.g., some children with Asperger’s syndrome) to being non-verbal. Intellectual abilities can also be very diverse. All children who are diagnosed with ASD are said to have a Triad of Impairments:
Social interaction
- Impaired ability to understand non verbal cues (body posture, tone of voice, facial expressions and gesture)
- Lack of social/emotional reciprocity (seems indifferent to interaction from family members and friends and may resist attempt of interaction)
- Failure to develop appropriate peer relationships
|
Communication
- Delay / absence of spoken language; may use pointing or gesturing rather than words to indicate needs and wants
- Difficulty understanding, processing and retaining verbal information
- Literal understanding and interpretation
- Impairment in the ability to initiate and maintain a conversation
|
Imagination - Flexibility of Thought
- Restricted patterns of behaviour, interest and activities
- Insistence of adherence to routines
- Persistent preoccupations
- Stereotyped repetitive motor mannerisms
|
One of the main concerns expressed by the parents of a child who has been diagnosed with Autism is: “Will my child be able to talk?” Extra help, encouragement and intervention are almost always required to set a child on the right path of communication and teach them what communication is indeed all about. Getting your child involved in a Speech Therapy programme as soon as possible is the first step to enhancing and encouraging more functional speech, language and communication development.
For children with ASD Speech Therapy focuses on:
- Language development (receptive and expressive)
- Social Communication
- Pragmatics, which also focuses on improving a child’s social–language skills
- using language for different purposes (greeting, requesting, informing)
- changing language style according to the listener and situation
- following conversational rules (turn taking, introducing the topic, maintaining the topic and using facial expression appropriately)
- Use of Alternative and Augmentative means of Communication (AAC) where necessary (LINK to AAC)
Asperger’s syndrome (AS) is the highest-functioning form of Autism. Children with AS are also followed at ATLAS Training, using our unique Transdisciplinary team approach.
|
|
