When your child’s communication develops in atypical way, you might feel lost and confused. Waiting ages for a speech and language therapist appointment does not help. You might start to consider introducing some kind of alternative communication, but a few popular believes might make you worried and delay your decision. Let’s have a closer look at these myths.
Myth: When a child starts to use pictures or signs to communicate, verbal language will not develop.
Fact: It works oppositely. There is a lot of research stating that different forms of alternative communication support the development of speech. When neurotypical children learn language intuitively, our children use their intellect. They learn their native language similarly to adults learning a foreign language. Would you understand anything if somebody just talked to you in another language? Or would it be easier if they said, for example, “rabbit” and showed you a picture of a rabbit or positioned their hands on the top of their head, making waving movements to pretend the rabbit’s ears? Speech and Language therapists in Great Britain recommend a “total communication” approach – the right combination of communication methods for each person.
Myth: My child will start to talk if I expose him to as much verbal language as possible.
Fact: It is a truth for neurotypical children, who soak the language like a sponge. It’s not true for our children, who learn everything using their intellect. Autistic people focus their attention in a different way than their neurotypical peers, which causes differences in sensory processing. Even if there are many sounds in the environment, neurotypical people can ignore most of them, focusing only on the important ones, for example, the other person talking. Lots of autistic people simply can’t do it. Children can hear mummy’s voice, cars behind the window, TV, birds chirping, and even electricity in the wall at a similar intensity. The constant stream of talk becomes just another background noise, causing more audio-chaos. Single words, though, supported with visuals, have a much better chance of being heard and understood. Reduce your verbal language, but at the same time, use one-word labels for everything you are doing, showing, or giving to your child. When you give them an apple, for example, don’t say: “Here you have a delicious, juicy apple”. Just say “apple”, preferably with a sign, a symbol or a picture. Use always the same word for the same object. For example – don’t use the words “biscuit”,” “cookie”,” “shortbread”, or “custard cream”.” Use “biscuit” for all of these products and ask other members of your family to do the same. And again, support it with a sign, a picture, or a symbol.
Myth: Picture exchange doesn’t work for my child.
Fact: Visual support works for all the children, but not all of them get it straight away. For some of them, it will be a long learning process. Some can be simply developmentally not ready for it. A child needs to develop symbolic thinking first and realise that a picture can represent an object, a place or an activity. If your child was not able to learn to exchange pictures a year ago, it doesn’t mean that he/she is not ready to do it now. There are also a few ways of supporting the very early communication before they will be able to sign, point or exchange pictures.
If you have any questions, please, write it in the comments below.