The second area where parents and professionals often feel stuck when working with a child or client with autism is in the area of teaching receptive language skills. Receptive skills involve a person learning to follow directions. At the beginning for children with little to no language those instructions could be simple such as “stand up,” “get your shoes,” or “touch your belly.”
For instance, if I tell a child to touch his head, I want him to be able to touch his own head without me having to touch mine first. This is called a receptive language skill which is important for children and young adults with autism.
When kids with autism get stuck when they can’t follow even simple directions, we need to put in procedures to help them since developing receptive language skills is really important in so many areas.
In my two decades of experience, I’ve found that before we can get kids to respond to receptive commands and identify receptively, we need to first nail down imitation and matching skills.
You can also work on receptive identification skills of pictures such as teaching children to touch cat versus a banana by first teaching them to match an identical picture of a cat to a cat or a picture of a banana to a banana. And, instead of saying “match” or “put with same” I’d recommend saying the item name only such as “cat.” This way, if the child echoes you, while he matches, it will be a real and functional word! Using multiple control procedures like this is often key to helping kids who are making little to no progress.
The more objects and pictures your child or client can receptively identify and the more able to follow directions, the better their quality of life will be. They will understand their world to a greater degree and may be able to participate in more activities within their homes, schools, and communities.
