Helping Your Child with Autism Communicate
Our ability to communicate with others, be it our family or peers, shapes our day-to-day lives. After all, it helps us form strong relationships, advocate for ourselves, and get to where we need to be (both professionally and personally). However, children with autism and related disorders may find it harder than most to communicate with others. There are many reasons for this, but it’s primarily due to the fact that the way in which we communicate in our daily lives caters to neurotypical people over neurodiverse. Not only does it require a certain level of language processing skills, but it often requires speakers to pick up on nonverbal cues, such as body language, too—something that many people with autism find hard to read. Beyond this, a significant number of children with autism are non-verbal or “have problems with the meaning and rhythm of words and sentences.” As such, parents must work proactively with their children to help them develop the communication skills they need t