How to communicate with children with autism?

People often talk about autism, another name is autism. This disease mainly occurs in children. The reasons behind it can be divided into two categories. First, it may be caused by genetic reasons, and the other may be caused by some infectious diseases. For example, when a child suffers from infectious meningitis, it is easy to cause autism. Children with autism usually speak very little and have problems with normal communication skills. So how to communicate normally with children with autism?

How to communicate with children with autism?

1. Squat down and be at the same eye level as your child.

It is best to be face to face, but you can also be shoulder to shoulder at 90 degrees so that you can see her eyes. Only in this way can you see the world through the eyes of your child, understand what he is paying attention to, and how he responds to the interaction.

2. Ask caregivers, observe children, and take the time to understand what children like and dislike.

What toys, foods, games, and people does your child like?

3. Ask caregivers and observe children to understand their interactive abilities and preferences.

Children with autism each have their own strengths and abilities. Some children are good at stereotyping language and parroting; some children’s understanding of language is completely situational, and “putting the shoes into the shoe cabinet” means putting them in the same place in the shoe cabinet and not anywhere else; some children have visual advantages, and they don’t understand when they are asked “do you want an apple or a banana”, but they can understand and choose the one they like when they are shown pictures of apples and bananas at the same time; some children are hands-on, and it’s useless to say anything to them, and they only know what to say after they are done step by step; and some children have auditory advantages, and they may not understand a demonstration, but they can understand it while the demonstration and explanation are ongoing. Children are so diverse, so if you understand and prepare in advance, you can play with them.

4. Imitate the child and follow the child’s lead.

For children, strangers are people who should be treated with caution. A good way to interact with your child, which never fails, is to observe what he is doing, imitate him, follow him, so as to attract his attention and become a part of his game. For example, if a child is shoveling sand into a bucket with a shovel, you can also find a shovel or a sand truck and imitate his shoveling movements in front of the child, or even pretend to cooperate with the child, chanting: "One shovel, one shovel! One shovel, one shovel!" As long as you don't let the child feel disturbed (for example, don't take the child's territory and tools) and give him some patience, the child will notice that you are doing the same thing. Once a child notices, or even wants the sand cart, the opportunity for interaction arises. Based on the child's communication level and method, you can decide how to interact, whether to hold up the car and ask the child to express "I want a car" with words, or point to the hourglass in the child's hand and ask for an exchange, or put the car between the two and ask the child to share the toy and shovel sand into the car together. It all depends on the child's ability level and communication characteristics. If the requirements are too difficult for the child to meet, it may easily lead to problematic behaviors; but if the child can easily get what he wants by just stretching out his hand, you lose the opportunity to have meaningful interaction with the child, and the toy box becomes a toy box. Therefore, it is very important to understand and design well in advance!

5. Reasonable expectations

After all, you are not training your children, and sometimes there is no need to set too high standards for yourself. Even if you are making a toy box or bottle opener for children, as long as the children are happy playing, it is a meaningful thing.