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Communication Over Compliance: Promoting Assent, Autonomy and Self-Advocacy
Consider an individual participating in a learning activity who suddenly turns away, throws their markers on the floor, and places their head in their hands on the table. A compliance-focused approach might interpret these behaviors as task refusal and encourage the individual to continue the...
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Mental Health Care for People Who Use AAC: Rationale and Practice
Introduction: A Speller's POV Therapists are my heroes — they transform problems into paths toward the future you want to build. I was scared to start. My psychiatrist told me that meds alone would not solve my anxiety, and she encouraged me to give therapy a try. Dreams make work, and...
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Supporting Emotional Regulation in Non-Speaking Children
Every parent of a non-speaking child knows the moment. The grocery store gets too loud, a routine shifts without warning, a sibling grabs the wrong toy, and a child who seemed fine a minute ago is on the floor, or running, or frozen. Adults nearby may see "bad behavior." What is actually happening...
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Supporting Social Communication in Autism: A Review of Evidence-Based Speech Therapy Approaches
When people think about autism and communication challenges, they often focus on speech itself. However, many autistic children develop age-appropriate vocabulary and grammar while continuing to experience significant difficulties with social communication. These challenges may include...
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Communication, Regulation, and Trust: Supporting Non-speaking Autistic Individuals in Everyday Life
A Few Truths The world is often set up in ways that are highly unreliable and unpredictable for autistic people. This sets the stage for frequent dysregulation, disengagement, and disability, all of which can be even more extreme for non-speaking autistic individuals. The frequent bias towards...
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Beyond the Device: Teaching Meaningful, Spontaneous Communication with Speech-Generating Devices
A key component of a high quality of life is the ability to clearly communicate one's needs and desires with others. Effective communication allows individuals to advocate for themselves, make choices within their environment, and express their thoughts and feelings. For autistic individuals,...
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“All Done Talkin’ ‘Bout It:” One Mom’s Journey to Communicating With Her Autistic Daughter
I vividly remember when Annie was diagnosed with autism on Jan. 8, 2004, the day before her second birthday. I had no idea what autism was, other than how it was depicted in the movie “Rain Man,” starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. I felt shocked, worried and alone. I didn't know any other...
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A Stronger, Unified Voice for Autism Professionals
I went to my first ABA conference recently as a newcomer twice over: as a psychologist who had spent a career adjacent to the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) without ever truly stepping inside it, and as the parent of an autistic son. As a psychologist, I built a multi-disciplinary...
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The Visual Aspect of Increasing Communication Across Disciplines
Speech pathologists and behavior analysts each bring distinct expertise, yet their greatest impact is realized through integrated service delivery. Separately, these two provider groups apply principles unique to their respective science and discipline, but it is together, with support from...
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The Quietest People in the Room Often Have the Most to Say
Note: Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy. The phone rang on a weekend. On the other end was a young woman from one of our community-based programs. Just hours earlier, she had experienced every child's nightmare. She had witnessed her mother suffer a fatal...
