The K-SLP & Autism Spectrum Disorder
Methods that act as a bridge to vocal communication
There are many children with autism spectrum disorders who are not vocal verbal communicators. It is difficult to determine whether or not CAS is the causal factor. Nevertheless, best practices for CAS are also best practices for these children. Very often, however, the child may not clearly understand the task of producing isolated vowels and consonants. They may not yet be able to imitate behavior in general.
Here are specific methods that have been developed by speech-language pathologists and others to help this special population.
These techniques are used to provide tactile/sensory cues so a child is able to find the correct oral placement or posture to produce sounds they are not yet able to directly imitate.
Renee Roy Hill's Apraxia Shapes are ideal for transitioning kids with motor-planning deficits from oral placement activities to speech production.
Rapid Motor Imitation Antecedent training effectively uses behavioral momentum to gain first words for many children with autism who struggle to speak. This method is used in our ABA program with input from our SLPs.
Sign/Select to Talk, authored by Tamara Kasper and Nancy Kaufman, is a method to bridge sign language to vocal skills especially for children with ASD who struggle to speak.
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