Autistic children repeat themselves

Children with autism always repeat themselves when they speak. This is a common symptom of autism. Children with autism will experience this situation in the early stages of the disease. After discovering this, parents must adjust their emotions, give their children more language guidance, and gradually restore their own language abilities, so that they can speak more clearly.

Imitation is an important lesson for children with autism to learn. The development of imitation skills is an essential and fundamental component in any child's growth and development. Children with autism have special difficulties in learning to imitate, so they must be taught imitation skills from the beginning, so that their slow or strange behaviors can be incorporated into normal learning patterns, and they can be guided step by step to develop the behaviors we need.

The content of imitation ability training includes: imitation of object operation, imitation of actions, and imitation of sounds. It is best to start training with imitation of gross movements. For children without language, it is easier to gradually move from imitating actions to imitating sounds.

Methods and procedures for training imitation ability: give instructions → demonstrate → assist → encourage.

Here are some examples:

Goal: Be able to touch three body parts by imitating

method:

(1) Sit across from your child and do anything that can capture your child’s attention.

(2) As soon as the child looks at you, say, “So-and-so, touch your nose.” Touch your own nose with your index finger.

(3) If the child does not respond, then while you touch your own nose, use your other hand to touch the child’s nose with his or her index finger, and immediately encourage the child (for example, smile, praise, or give him or her something to eat or play with).

(4) Repeat this process until he can respond consistently without assistance.

Note: ① Every time you touch your nose and say, "So-and-so, touch your nose," make sure your child is looking at you. ② Reward him whenever he responds correctly. ③ After your child responds to your instructions more than 90% correctly, touch one body part at a time in the following order: hair, mouth, eyes, ears.