Facilitating Communication for Children with Autism

For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), communication is known to be one of the biggest deficits secondary to the disorder. Some behaviors can arise due to these deficits. It is important to be aware of the strategies that can be used when treating children with an ASD diagnosis. Additionally, learn how it can help to promote language skills and reduce the prevalence of behaviors.

One type of therapy approach that is research-based and commonly used with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). ABA is a type of therapy that focuses on specific behaviors (e.g., communication, social skills, academics) in order to improve daily functioning as well as reduce negative behaviors that may arise due to difficulties with communication and other skills. This is not a type of therapy that we provide at our clinics, however many of our clinicians work with patients who also receive ABA. 

One type of teaching strategy that falls under Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is Discrete Trial Training (DTT). DTT is used to facilitate a change in behavior by following 3 steps: the antecedent (the cue or the instruction), followed by the child’s behavior, and the consequence presented by the clinician, teacher or communicative partner.

Before further discussing discrete trial training and specific strategies to use in order to facilitate communication skills, let’s talk about language and why it is important to utilize these strategies early in a child’s life.

A child’s ability to learn starts off very early in life. Research shows that children who are exposed to language prior to their third birthday have a larger vocabulary, which can affect academic achievement.

When working on communication skills with children with autism, one of the overall goals is to be able to increase the child’s opportunity to respond by setting them up with language-rich environments and utilizing strategies to increase their overall independence.

How do you create a language-rich environment and give children the opportunity to communicate?

• Make the activity motivating for the child
• Teach children how to use their language
• Allow the children to say “no” and have an opinion
• Share the control to keep the activity motivating
• Respond every time a child initiates

The process of Discrete Trial Training (DTT) can be embedded into the following treatment strategies, including: choice-making, mand-model, timed delay, incidental teaching.

• Choice-making is typically used with children who have a limited vocabulary. First, the clinician/teacher establishes joint attention with the child. Then, allows the child to choose an item and then provides the child with two different options of the motivating item. This gives the child the ability to practice making choices, initiate interactions, and allows for the clinician/teacher to maintain control of the environment.
• Mand-model involves requesting a verbal response from the child. This may require the use of a prompt, such as “tell me what you want.” When the child responds correctly, he or she is rewarded with the object of interest. This type of strategy teaches new vocabulary and promotes an increase in responses from the child.
• Timed-delay allows for changing the control of the interaction from teacher to student. This type of strategy involves setting up the child in order to elicit increased independence with initiations when giving the child time to do so. For example, if the student is motivated to go outside, the teacher might say “Let’s go outside for recess.” Once at the door, the teacher would expect for the child to initiate communication by stating “open the door” once given time to do so.
• Last, but not least, incidental teaching is a different type of strategy that helps to expand or elaborate on the child’s initiations. This can be used with all different forms of communication. When a child initiates by either pointing or verbally requesting or commenting, the teacher makes it a teachable moment by manipulating the environment in order to expand or elaborate upon the child’s initiations. The teacher/clinician can either move a motivating item out of reach or out of sight (if it is typically something a child uses within their daily routine) in order to increase initiation. For example, if a child typically plays with a certain toy every day and it is kept in a certain spot of the room, they will most likely notice the object missing, which allows for the teacher/clinician to ask a question such as, “What’s wrong?” This gives the child an opportunity to respond, even if prompting is needed, which sets up the child to initiate language in a different manner.

In conclusion, one of the main characteristics of ASD is difficulties with communication. Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is a type of therapy approach that helps to improve specific behaviors related to communication, social skills, and academia in order to improve daily functioning and decrease negative behaviors that may arise due to difficulties in the aforementioned areas. Specific strategies, such as choice-making, mand-model, timed-delay and incidental teaching can all be used by teachers and clinicians in order to facilitate further language acquisition. These strategies can be taught to parents/caregivers in order to improve communication skills at home and promote generalization of skills.

Thanks for reading! 

References:

Schwartz, I. (2020). Facilitating Communication for Children with Autism [Power Point presentation]. Retrieved from MedbridgeEducation.com