Communication, like friendship, is important to any human being as a social creature. However, people with autism don’t get the same luxury as their neurotypical (non-autistic) counterparts, because this disorder causes significant social, communication & behavioral challenges. People within this spectrum have challenges with communication & social skills that can make it hard for them to have conversations & may not pick up social cues.
Some even don’t talk at all and some talk very well too. People with autism also have restricted interests & repetitive behaviors in which he/she has focused on 1 topic/attached to a certain object/activities, dislike changes in his/her schedule & changes in ways he/she does something, as well as challenges with understanding & using gestures such as pointing & waving, understanding & using words, following directions, & understanding of what he/she has read, They also may lose words that they got earlier, hard to understand, use robotic/singsong speaking voice, repeat words they hears on TV/ads, talk very little/not at all, repeat phrases/words they just heard (echolalia), & use challenging behaviors/gestures to communicate what they want instead of words.
People in this spectrum also have challenges relating to others in which he/she has challenges with sharing attention with someone else & focus on the same object/event, join in play with others and share his/her toys, responding when others invite them to play/talk, understand how others feel, make & keep friends, and take turns in play/conversation.
In addition, they tend to repeat certain behaviors such as hand & body movements, cry, laugh & get angry for unknown reasons, have trouble shifting from 1 activity to another, get upset by certain sounds, smells & textures, like only few foods & only interested in few objects/topics. People with ASD are also immersed in their private world that causes him/her unable to successfully communicate & interact with others.
They also tend to speak/say something with no meaning/out of context when talking with other people, deliver an in-depth monologue about the topic of his/her interest and develop speech & language skills in the abnormal level of ability in which the person doesn’t respond to others’ speeches & someone calling his/her name, develop strong vocabulary in his/her area of interest very quickly & read words early but don’t understand what he/she reads.
People with autism are also unable to use gestures in which he/she avoids eye contact that makes him/her seem rude, uninterested & inattentive, frustrated in order to make his/her feelings & needs to be known, & act out his/her frustrations through vocal outbursts/inappropriate behavior. They also tend to be socially awkward because of their challenges of using correct grammar & pronouns, responding when spoken to, as well as the differences in their facial expression & tempo of speech.
Teaching people with ASD to communicate is essential in order to reach his/her full potential, and their communicating abilities vary depending on his/her intelligence & social development, which should start as early as possible. People within this spectrum respond very well to highly structures & specialized programs, so their parents, caregivers & other family members should be involved in the program so it becomes part of his/her daily life.
Most people with autism, including myself, are visual learners, on which they understand what they see better than they can hear. Communications doesn’t just involving speech, it also including establishing attention,taking in information & interpreting them, remembering past information & formulate it into a response, along with understanding of body language, facial expression, eye gaze & tone of voice, in which people with autism experience difficulties accomplishing these skills at the speed necessary to effectively participating in interactions (especially auditory information).
They comprehend the demands of their environment based on piecing together visual cues & expected routines instead of understanding specific verbal messages, hence the fact that they only accurately interpreting the parts of communication messages. To make it easier, having a communication with them should be more visual, because it enables him/her to focus on the information & return to it when needed to establish memory for the message that’s communicated.
Visual tools such as body movements, environmental cues, pictures, objects, words, schedules, calendars, etc. help them with communication & build on his/her strengths, as well as supporting changes & transitions & help him/her telling what he/she’s supposed/not supposed to do, which reduce & eliminate communication, social & behavioral challenges. People with ASD’s ability to tune in to others’ thoughts & feelings doesn’t develop in the same way/pace as their neurotypical counterparts due to their difficulties at emphasizing & seeing others’ point of view, which makes it challenging for them to have a 2-sided conversation.
The ways that people with this disorder include through nonverbal communication such as gestures, pictures/drawings, crying & other emotive sounds, & physically directing at someone’s hand to something he/she wants that requires reading through context clues & repetition, echolalia that requires watching the programs the phrases are spoken in order to figure out what he/she wants to communicate, focus on the key words of sentence in which they speak in simple & plain sentences without idioms, similes, metaphors or other figures of speech that hide the true message, moving from topic-to-topic, and speak without eye contact to prevent information & sensory overload.
Tips for someone that wants to communicate with someone in this spectrum include being patient in which the person should give him/her time to process information, teach him/her to express anger without being too aggressive, be persistent but resilient since people in this spectrum have troubles at showing & controlling his/her emotions, stay positive, ignore irritating attention-getting behavior, interact with him/her through physical activities that calms him/her down & a better way of spending time together.
Be affectionate & respectful to him/her by not forcing physical affection & respecting his/her personal space, show love & interest, believe in what he/she can do, ask support from parent support groups, family, friends, etc., keep conversation focused, simple & straight to the point, be careful when saying what the person means because people within this spectrum thinks literally, add visual supports (gestures, objects, pictures) to help them understand better, follow his/her interests & talk about what he/she’s doing/experiencing, be aware & responsive to his/her nonverbal communication (gestures, sounds, looking at something interesting, repetitive speech patterns), give him/her choices in daily life that allows him/her to express preference & give opportunities to new model language, be nice to him/her, instruct him/her nicely & don’t offend him/her to avoid misunderstandings, give him/her meaningful feedback to help him/her navigate social interactions, & don’t talk about the person around him/her.
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