Covering verbal and non-verbal communication, Paddy-Joe Moran presents 35 simple tips and strategies to help professionals improve their communication and relationships with individuals on the autism spectrum. The language that professionals choose to use can have a long-term impact on autistic people. This book provides easy-to-implement suggestions to guarantee effective and sensitive communication. It explains everything from person-first language through to the use of specific, rather than open-ended, questions, and a focus on taking the individual's lead with their preferred language and terminology is central to the book.

Providing a theoretical foundation for understanding communication and language impairments specific to autism, Olga Bogdashina explores the effects of different perceptual and cognitive styles on the communication and language development of autistic children. She stresses the importance of identifying each autistic individual's nonverbal language - which can be visual, tactile, kinaesthetic, auditory, olfactory or gustatory - with a view to establish a shared means of verbal communication. She offers an explanation of why certain approaches, for example PECS, might work with some autistic children but not others. Offering real insights, the `What They Say' sections enable the reader to see through the eyes of autistic individuals and to understand their language differences first hand. `What We Can Do to Help' sections throughout the book give practical recommendations on what to do in order to help autistic individuals use their natural mechanisms to learn and develop social and communicative skills. The final chapters are devoted to assessment and intervention issues with practical recommendations for selecting appropriate methods and techniques to enhance communication, based on the specific mode of communication a person uses.

Discover comprehensive strategies and techniques in this revised and updated edition and unlock the power of visual aids and supports to help neurodiverse students (autism, ADHD and related learning needs) succeed in communication, social opportunities and life routines.

Step by step guide for parents of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder and other social communication difficulties.

Just as autism is a continuum of disorders, it is associated with a broad range of neurodevelopmental, social, and communication deficits. For individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has a major impact on their daily lives, often reducing the occurrence of challenging behaviors. Aided Augmentative Communication for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders is a practical guide to the field, offering readers a solid grounding in ASD, related complex communication needs (CCN), and AAC, especially visual and computer-based technologies. Widely used interventions and tools in AAC are reviewed—not just how they work, but why they work—to aid practitioners in choosing those most suited to individual clients or students. Issues in evaluation for aided AAC and debates concerning its usability round out the coverage. Readers come away with a deeper understanding of the centrality of communication for clients with ASD and the many possibilities for intervention. Key areas of coverage include: AAC and assessment of people with ASD and CCN. Interdisciplinary issues and collaboration in assessment and treatment. AAC intervention mediated by natural communication partners. Functional communication training with AAC. The controversy surrounding facilitated communication. Sign language versus AAC. Aided Augmentative Communication for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders is an essential resource for clinicians/practitioners, researchers, and graduate students in such fields as child and school psychology, speech pathology, language education, developmental psychology, behavior therapy, and educational technology.

This book teaches drama and immersive theatre-based activities for parents and professionals working with children and young people on the autism spectrum. The exercises follow the author's simple, person-centred '3C pathway' of connecting, calming and communicating, and enable parents to gain an understanding of the challenges an autistic child may face by 'walking in their shoes', while empowering children to become more self-aware and express themselves in healthy ways. The activities included in the book are tried-and-tested, accessible and easy to implement, such as breathing exercises, mirroring movements, and treasure hunts. Using these activities, parents and professionals can gain insight into the sensory and social challenges experienced by those on the spectrum and can work to build a positive and trusting relationship, offering a secure base for children's emotional development.

The North Carolina State Legislature's mandate to Division TEACCH has three major components. First, to provide the most up-to-date and cost effective services possible for families with autistic or similar language impaired children; second, to conduct research aimed toward the better under standing of such devastating disorders; and third, to provide training for the professionals needed to pursue these goals. One element in achieving these aims is to hold annual conferences on topics of special importance to the under standing and treatment of autism and similar disorders. In addition to training professionals and parents on the most recent de velopments in each conference topic, we are publishing a series, Current Issues in Autism, based on these conferences. These books are not, however, simply the published proceedings of the conference papers. Instead, some chapters are expanded conference presentations, whereas others come from national and in ternational experts whose work is beyond the scope of the conference, but es sential in our attempt at comprehensive coverage of the conference theme. These volumes are intended to provide the most current knowledge and profes sional practice available to us at the time.