Many children with autism find verbal communication challenging. And because of this a lot of the time children on the spectrum speak using only key words…
For example; “Want juice” or “Down slide” or “Go swimming”.
Helping your child extend these sentences can be difficult. Especially if in the past you’ve given them what they wanted when they used these key words.
Children remember stuff like that!
But, there’s hope…
I’ve lost count of the amount of children I’ve worked with that have been through this…
So over the years I’ve used many different methods to help encourage children to use full sentences.
Teaching your child how to build a full sentence is a great starting point. Once they know which words should be in the sentence they can begin practising using them in their talking.
If they don’t actually know which words to use then of course they aren’t going to suddenly come out with a lovely, long, perfectly formed sentence.
Cutting up the words in a sentence and physically piecing the sentence together correctly is a great visual way of teaching this.
You can begin by prompting your child the start of the sentence if you wish, by teaching them to look for the capital letter. Or if you like you could start by ordering the key words they know into the middle of the sentence for a starting point.
For example, if your child often says “Go swimming” you could write out “Can we go swimming today?” instead. Make sure you cut out each word on it’s own.
For a further visual prompt, you could colour code the beginning middle and end of the sentence.
Try it out and let me know how you get on.
To hear more techniques that will help your child progress with their communication then ‘The Unlimited Autism Success Inner Circle’ may be just what you need…
I’ve created ‘The Unlimited Autism Success Inner Circle’ especially for parents are carers who have children on the spectrum and want to do everything they can to help their child thrive.…
When you’re a member you get tons of videos, information and guides to use and work on with your child. You’ll find out everything from ways to get your child to tell you about their school day, to the best way to help your child make friends.
And right now you have 5 days left to trial out ‘The Unlimited Autism Success Inner Circle’ completely free for 30 days!…
Speak with you soon until then,
Live every moment, Love beyond words and make a difference today
Emma Ottaway
The Ambitious Autism Ambassador
