Samaher Saif Al Yazal
The expert and special education consultant Osama Madbouly emphasized that the autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder that affects multiple aspects of the child’s growth, and communication is one of the most prominent challenges faced by individuals with this disorder, especially non -speaking children. He explained that understanding the reasons behind the difficulties of speech and how to support these children is very important to improve the quality of their lives and enable them to express themselves and participate effectively in their surroundings.
Causes of speech difficulties
Madbouly pointed out that the difficulties of speech in some children with autism spectrum disorder are not the result of one cause, but rather the result of the interaction of several neurological and developmental factors, including: 1. Differences in the nerve structure. 2. Difficulty processing sensory information. 3. Challenges in joint attention and social interaction 4. Difficulty understanding and using non -verbal signals. 5. General delay in developmental development. 6. The use of different communication patterns. Communication support strategies for non -speaking children, and Madbouly assured that helping non -speaking children require a comprehensive and individual approach that focuses on building bridges of communication and providing tools and strategies that allow them to express themselves. He explained that the goal is not always to make the child speak operative, but rather enable him to communicate effectively by any possible means.
The most prominent of these tools: 1. Specialized evaluation as a basis: The journey begins with an accurate and comprehensive evaluation of the child’s condition and capabilities by a multidisciplinary team. This evaluation defines the strengths of the child, his favorite learning methods, the forms of communication he currently use, and the challenges he faces, based on this evaluation, a single intervention plan is developed commensurate with the needs of the child and his family. 2. Alternative communication systems are adopting: Alternative communication systems are the cornerstone of supporting communication among non -speaking children. These systems open new prospects for expression, reduce frustration, these systems include: o Speech and language treatment: a speech and language specialist focuses on developing pre -language skills (such as visual communication, common attention, imitation), teaching the use of various AAC systems, building language understanding and using them in various contexts, may They also develop any existing pronunciation capabilities. 3. Applied behavior analysis (ABA): ABA programs can help teach communication skills in an organized and effective way by dividing the skills into small steps and enhancing the correct responses positively, ABA contributes to teaching the child how to demand, reject, and interact with others using the appropriate communication system for it. 4. Create a supportive and stimulating communication environment: the environment around the child plays a decisive role in encouraging him to communicate. 5. Providing natural communication opportunities: Merging the use of a child’s daily routine communication system, for example, when eating, pictures can be used to order food or drink, when playing, images can be used to comment on games or seek help. 6. Patience, repetition, attempt and gradual: Learning any new language, including AAS, requires a lot of patience, repetition and consistent practice from all people around the child. 7. Empowering and training the family and the children around the child: the family is the primary partner on the child’s communication journey. 8. Modeling: Adults should use the child’s communication system, for example, if the child uses a photo plate to order juice, an adult can refer to the juice image on the plate saying “I want juice.”
And Madbouly indicated that communication contributes to solving most of the problems faced by children with autism spectrum disorder, as enabling the non -speaking child with autism spectrum disorder to possess an effective means of communication opens many doors, and contributes to overcoming many of the challenges that he may face: 1. Reducing frustration and improving behavior: the inability to express basic needs, desires, feelings, or even pain and distress is a great source of frustration for children, this frustration often leads to difficult behaviors such as attacks of anger, aggression, or self -harm as a means of expressing distress, when the child has a means of communication, he can express these matters more appropriate, which greatly reduces negative behaviors and improves general behavior. 2. Enhancing mutual understanding and improving relationships: communication is the basis for building relationships, when the child can express himself and understand others, his interactions improve with his family, peers, teachers, and others, this mutual understanding reduces misunderstanding and enhances social ties. 3. Increased independence and participation: the ability to request what the child needs, express his choices, or seek help when needed increases his independence in daily activities, he can participate more in making decisions that concern him and becomes less dependent on others in meeting his needs. 4. Expressing complex feelings and needs: With the development of communication skills, the child can move from expressing the basic needs to express the most complex ideas and feelings, this helps him to better understand and organize his emotions, and allows others to understand his inner world. 5. Expanding learning and development opportunities: Communication is an essential means of learning, when the child can ask questions, comment on what he learns, and interacting with educational materials through communication, expands his learning opportunities and his cognitive development. 6. Feeling of empowerment and self -confidence: When the child succeeds in using communication to achieve a goal or express an idea, he feels empowerment and confidence in his abilities, this positive feeling motivates him to continue attempts to communicate and develop his skills more. In conclusion, the focus on supporting communication among non -autistic children is not just a treatment goal, but rather a basic right for them to express their existence and interact with the world, through patience, understanding, understanding, Providing appropriate tools and strategies, and effective participation from the family and those around them, we can open broad horizons for these children to participate in life completely and fruitful, God willing, that every attempt, no matter how small, is a great step towards empowering them and improving the quality of their lives radically.
