Encouraging Language Reciprocity In Children With Autism

6th April 2022

What is a conversation?

Appropriate conversations involve speaking to one another with turn-taking, the ability to stay on a topic and follow the trail, and the ability to change the topic or the flow by following the communication of your partner. Additionally, as communicators, we must understand the nonverbal social signals and perspectives of others while at the same time trying to get our point across using non-verbal cues through facial expressions, gestures, eye gaze, etc. Also not to forget the fact that social interactions are dynamic by nature rarely the same and are ever-evolving.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have trouble with keeping a conversation going, which is technically termed language reciprocity. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder find social interaction a real puzzle. Teachers trained in special education teacher training courses are more likely to know what is going on in the child’s minds as they approach social settings.

Conversations and autistic children

Like all children, autistic children need to have conversations in many situations – for example, with friends, teachers or anyone that they know.

Conversations have unspoken rules and social demands, which children having autism spectrum disorder must know and for that, these special children might need support to understand and practice. For example, teachers and parents must help them:
 

• learn that conversations involve speaking and listening
• learn to let other people speak and not talk only about their interests
• learn to manage anxiety and stress about conversations.

For children with ASD, there is little comfort in real conversations. It would not matter how many word plays or jokes or stories are shared—the talking would produce anxiety for them.

Children with ASD are anxious about social interactions, the reasons varying from past experiences to the situation at hand. Some features commonly characterizing these children are:
 

• They cannot understand or tend to misunderstand what the words mean when people talk.
• They do not see the point in small talk, nor do they understand the pleasantry of it. In short, it does not produce positive emotion for them the way it might for you and me.
• They do not see a purpose behind the communication, because they are in a world of their own.
• They find people too unpredictable to be comfortable risking a conversation.
• They might find the setting too crowded (more people makes it harder). This often leads to more inappropriate behavior, in direct proportion with the crowd.
• They miss their solitude, where they feel safe and unthreatened.

Ways to help encourage social communications at school

Speech-language therapy involves targeted treatment for individuals to increase conversational skills such as turn-taking, maintaining topics, social initiation, and asking questions to gain information. Nonverbal communication skills including eye gaze which usually help to interpret the speaker’s facial expressions and body language of others must also be kept in mind. Conversational abilities should be quickly generalized to social groups, beginnings with two children at a time and then with larger social opportunities, such as a “lunch bunch” or “recess club”.

Visuals help encourage communication development in children with ASD and also to structure conversations. Movies and cartoons can help children become more social. The internet and local newspapers can be one’s best friends when it comes to improving social interactions.

As we watch the cartoon for the first time, let us just enjoy it, as we get a feel of the characters and story.

Once watched, let us go back to the beginning to play it again. This time, pause every time you identify an emotion it portrays. The child can help out by identifying emotions, expressions, and words that make sense to them.

When we have completed a list of emotions, the child can be asked to make cards with a picture and word for each emotion. Then the cards can be passed out to the other members present.  Once the cards are distributed, the cartoon can be replayed a third time, asking kids to hold up the emotion card when they see it portrayed.

Social stories are short vignettes that we read and write with a child to help them understand what to expect, what specifically to say, how to act, and how to react in a variety of conversational or social settings. The text should have simple language that is appropriate to the student's emotional development and level of understanding. ("I go to school on the bus."). The story should also evoke a mental image or picture that the children can visualize.

It provides a script that they can review as often as they like until they internalize the process so that they can create social stories on their own. For example, we can write them to help our children converse, learn new skills, and transfer old skills to new conversations or settings, and soon.

Role-playing and drama is another way that may provide opportunities and practice for developing varied social communication abilities. When we give them a role to play, it comes with a set of rules—a way they are supposed to act. So they can think about it without feeling it, and it often works. A mask, a prop, a set of lines—these things can be incredibly liberating, providing the children with a chance to be different people.

In role-plays, the child delivers by reciting lines from their chairs. It is a low-budget, friendly, fun way to understand and showcase words in context. Giving the children the freedom of opportunity to experiment with roles and emotions, these are fun ways to instill some learning in them.

Besides, this game does not require props, costumes, or sets, so it is easy to find a script and get going. It also helps the child improve reading fluency, non-verbal communication through gestures, and verbal communication through tone and pitch.

Conclusion

Today we learned why children with ASD are prone to social trouble. With the non-verbal and verbal strategies we discussed here, it becomes a lot easier to foster positive changes in these special children’s social competency. As a parting thought on this topic, we need to remember that it often helps to consider the child’s emotional ages rather than their actual age. Teachers pursuing online Special Education Courses Singapore will get to learn more about these and help children with ASD.