Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is developmental disorder that may involve impairment of communication and social interaction and cognitive skills. There are also some traits that associated with autism such as repetitive behaviours, inability to interact with environment, unusual responses to things like touch, and extreme resistance to change like schedules in daily activities.
People with ASD has difficulty both speech and nonverbal communication. It is hard for them to interact socially that is why speech therapy is one of the major parts of treatment for autism. Speech therapy can help a wide range of communication problem for people with autism.
Speech-language pathologists are the therapist who is specialize in treating both language and speech problem. With the help of speech therapies, a child may improve the overall communication.
The goals of speech therapy are the following:
- Help your child to communicate both verbally and non verbally
- Initiate communication
- Develop conversational skills
- Articulate words very well
- Enjoy communicating and interacting with others
Here are some of the techniques used by speech therapies:
- By the use of electronic talkers
- Picture board with words. It start with a picture instead of words to help a child learn to communicate
- Massage or exercise lips or facial muscle to improve articulation of speech
- Sing a song contains rhythms, stress and flow of sentences
- By signing or typing