Speech Therapy
The communication problems of autistic children vary to some degree and may depend on the intellectual and social development of the individual. Some may be completely unable to speak, whereas others have well-developed vocabularies and can speak at length on topics that interest them. Any attempt at therapy must begin with an individual assessment of the child's language abilities by a trained speech and language pathologist.
Though some autistic children have little or no problem with the pronunciation of words, most have difficulty effectively using language. Even those children who have no articulation problems exhibit difficulties in the pragmatic use of language such as knowing what to say it, how to say it, and when to say it as well as how to interact socially with people. Many who speak often say things that have no content or information. Others repeat verbatim what they have heard (echolalia) or repeat irrelevant scripts they have memorized. Some autistic children speak in a high-pitched voice or use robotic-sounding speech.
Two pre-skills for language development are joint attention and social initiation. Joint attention involves an eye gaze and referential gestures such as pointing, showing and giving. Children with autism lack social initiation such as questioning, make fewer utterance and fail to use language as a means of social initiation. Though no one treatment is found to successfully improve communication, the best treatment begins early during the preschool years, is individually tailored, and involves parents along with professionals. The goal is always to improve useful communication. For some, verbal communication is realistic. For others, gestured communication or communication through a symbol system such as picture boards can be attempted. Periodic evaluations must be made to find the best approaches and to re-establish goals for the individual child.
Local Resources
First Words, Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre. The clinic is held at various locations throughout the city.
Denise McVicar - Speech-Language Pathologist, Kanata 613.608.5385
Jacquie Ballantine - Speech Language Pathologist, Kanata 613.591.3686
Connie Wilker - Speech Language Pathologist, Nepean 613.228.1174 ext. 43
Jacquee Glance - Speech Language Pathologist, 613.798.5404
Shauna Haight - Speech Language Pathologist, Nepean 613.228.1174 ext. 29
Karen Mallet, Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist, 613.851.4133
Achieve Therapy Centre, Krista Simon, Speech Language Pathologist, 613.291.5194Veronica Saunders - Speech-Language Pathologist, Pembrooke 613.585.3586
Mary-Jane Slingerland, Speech-Language Pathologist, Stepping Stones, Kanata 613.859.0813
Speech Voice, Mary-Anne Zubrycky 613.820.4722
Baby Bumblebee Language DVDs for non-verbal children, children with a limited vocabulary and children who are learning concepts such as questions, numbers, opposites and the alphabet.Marion Pussey — I create and make personalized/individualized visual resources and educational materials for people affected by Autism and/or other disabilities where communication is affected. These products are good for children who are visual learners. I am a mother of a 26 year old son with autism. Eric was and still is a visual learner. Because of the above and for the love of Eric and wanting to help other families, I created my business Picture Card Communication.
