Improving communication

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www.attentionautism.com
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The practicalities of delivering effective
therapy for children with autism spectrum
disorders
The problems, some answers and some fun!

• Gina Davies
• Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

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In the next hour we are going to look at

• What does autism do to a childs learning and
  communication?
• Thinking it through
• Getting started and making a plan
• Offering an irresistible invitation to learn and
  creating therapy that is worth communicating
  about
• Practical strategies, hints and tips

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Whats the problem?

• Autism is a neurological developmental disorder
• Communication
• Social interaction
• Social imaginative play and rigid thinking
• Additional problems
• sensory issues attention problems
• sleep problems anxiety
• gut problems developmental delay
• epilepsy

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What does this mean in practice?

• Our usual ways of building relationships and
  sharing knowledge are severely and fundamentally
  compromised
• we cant rely on talking
• we cant rely on the child being socially
  motivated or socially motivated
• we cant rely on the child wanting to play or to
  explore the world through play

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The effects of autism and what does this mean for
therapists?

• Exhausted anxious parents
• Confused anxious children
• This is going to make both the children and their
  parents difficult to work with.

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Beware the mismatch of expectations!!!

• What do parents expect will happen in
• The first appointment
• Therapy
• What are you expecting to achieve in
• The first appointment
• Intervention
• What do you think the child is expecting
• In the first appointment
• The next time

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Thinking it through

• Declare agenda and expectations
• Phone call and the message you give
• The letter or email confirmation
• Agree appointment and setting
• Respect the needs of anxious and worn out
  parents. First impressions are very important and
  are the start of your working relationship with
  the child and their family.

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Thinking it through

• What do you need or want from the first session?
• LISTEN
• Focus on the child and parent not the forms
• Decide what information you really need
• What do you want the child to do?
• What will you do if it all goes wrong?
• The parent and child wont forget the first
  sessionwhat do you want them to remember?

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What information do you want?

• Can you ask or alert parents to this before
• the session?
• 1. Case Historyrelevance/how much do you
  already know?
• 2. Evaluation of communication
• Pre verbal
• Non-verbal
• Verbal
• Emotion
• 3. Play
• 4. Own agenda
• 5. Interaction
• 6. Tolerance
• Can you get the childs interest or make a
  connection?

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Getting started and making a plan

• Remember the parent will be very anxious.
• Organise the environment
• Don t keep them waiting
• Have activities ready
• Be clear about what you want the adult to do
• Can the child occupy themselves whilst you talk
  to Mum/Dad?
• Give feedback and say what will happen next and
  confirm this by email/phone call

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The plan for therapy

• Parents will have tried everything
• Autism does dreadful things to self confidence
• How will you empower parents?
• How will you encourage parents?

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First things first!

• Dont ask parents to do something you cant do
  yourself
• Make sure the first thing the parents have to do
  is something they can do, something they can get
  right, something they can succeed with.
• Whatever the first step is going to be practise
  it with them. Dont tell them how to do it show
  them.
• Exhausted parents find it hard to get organised
  even if they are willing!

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Therapy

• Is it worth talking about?
• Is it irresistible?
• Does your objective make sense in functional
  communication terms?
• Is it worth the effort of learning?

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Tricks of the trade

• Practice so you are confident!
• Make it visual
• Make it fantastic
• Make it structured
• Make it fun

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Keeping going

• Trytry and try again
• Encourage
• Approve
• Listen

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Keeping going

• Shared good times and positive experiences form
  powerful memories and are the basis for building
  relationships
• We need to create things that are worth
  communicating about to inspire communication at
  the best level an individual can achieve
• We need to travel the journey with parents and
  families

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gina_at_attentionautism.com

• What do you think about this workshop?
• Email me with your suggestions, comments and
  questions.
• By working together to share skills and ideas we
  can improve the therapy we give children, adults
  and their families.

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Gina Davies Specialist Speech and Language
Therapist Dip CSLT, HPC Reg. RSA Spec
LD Advanced Cert in Educ Pupils with
Autism Founder of the little group
www.attentionautism.com