Activities to Help Autistic Children Start a Conversation
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder struggle with social cues. "Many kids who have autism spectrum disorders have trouble understanding what emotions look like and what another person is thinking," states KidsHealth.org. This can lead to difficulties connecting with other people. Children with ASD struggle to learn social skills that other kids pick up naturally.
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Facilitated Conversation
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When autistic children have a hard time finding the words to start a conversation, it can help to practice with another child, while a someone trained in the area of ASD facilitates. The facilitator can suggest a topic of discussion, and if one of the children needs assistance during the talk, he can instantly get ideas on how to continue the conversation. This exercise helps the children to practice coming up with varied, appropriate responses when talking to others. It is also provides a safe, comfortable environment for the autistic child to practice their social skills without feeling judged.
Learn Conversation Basics
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The next step will be for the autistic child to initiate conversation with a non-autistic child. For help in this situation, you as the parent, can provide conversational basics to give the child a chance to avoid common ASD pitfalls, such as telling the never-ending story or repeating a comment multiple times. Children with autism need these basics outlined for them because they don't naturally pick up on the rhythm of a conversation. They might be missing social cues that would otherwise help them avoid an awkward social situation.
Follow a Script
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Autistic children have a tendency to repeat the same responses over and over in conversation, which makes it tough for other children to feel as though they are connecting with them. This can lead to social isolation for the child with autism. In order to help them respond as a non-autistic child does, a teacher or parent can come up with with a script for conversation. The child can reference the script to help them if they decide to start talking to another child. The script might include suggestions like, "Ask them about a toy they are holding. Now find something else to say about that toy." Ideally, the child will gain confidence in conversation with this method, and will need the script less and less.
Video Modeling
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Another way to help autistic children to understand the nuances of conversation, is to use video modeling to show appropriate social interactions. Video modeling is an effective way to show autistic children how people respond to each other in way that keeps the conversation going. If the autistic child can see how normal conversation flows, he will have an easier time imitating that practice when he is on his own in a social setting.
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