I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the course of the last two decades; I’ve also seen both parents and professionals make a lot of mistakes as well. So, for this episode, I’m going to discuss the seven big mistakes that people make when trying to teach children with autism to start talking in sentences.
Becoming conversational is a major goal many parents and professionals have for their autistic loved one. It’s not an unreasonable goal, but there are a lot of mishaps along the way if you aren’t methodical in the process. So, I’m going to give you as much advice as I possibly can and, hopefully, you can avoid making some of the same mistakes that I and countless others have.
The first mistake many people make in their goal to improve their child’s conversational skills is that they try to teach too many words at one time. If your child or client has little to no language skills, don’t try to teach them long sentences. Focus on a handful of easy words.
Most people also have a tendency to prioritize talking in sentences and phrases over syllable length. Instead, you need to focus on drawing out the vowel sounds and on building their vocabulary first.
Another mistake I’ve made, and seen others make as well, is to jump straight into carrier phrases. If not taught correctly, not only do carrier phrases make the child dependent upon prompts, but they also kill the student’s motivation to speak at all.
I’ll review these three mistakes, as well as the other four for getting children to start talking in sentences, in this episode so have a pen and notepad handy. You’re going to want to jot down the practical advice I’m about to give you.
Mentioned In This Episode:
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