Pre-School Children

DEVELOPING SOCIAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE EARLY YEARS

Background Information

Children with social communication difficulties / autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty in communicating and managing social situations. Cognition and language skills vary with ability levels ranging from well below to well above average.

Core Difficulty

The core communication difficulty for autistic children and those with social communication disorders is in not knowing how to effectively use their available skills in social situations. If your child has not yet developed spoken words, he or she may not compensate by using other means, such as gestures, to convey his / her needs. If your child does speak, they may not use their spoken language effectively or appropriately. They may, for example, use words that are learned but unrelated to the context, they may not ask for help when it is needed or they may ignore social niceties such as, “please”, “thank you” and greetings. For this reason, intervention for children with a social communication disorder focuses not only on teaching language skills but more particularly, on how to use language in social situations.

Gaps in Development

Children with social communication difficulties typically have uneven profiles of development. Some skills may be advanced whilst others may be poorly developed or non-existent. It is not uncommon, for example, for some young autistic children to read very well but not understand the content of what they are reading. There are many foundational skills that contribute to the development of good social communication ability. Skills, such as, joint attention, turn taking and eye contact, all play important roles in the communication process. Without these skills, even well-developed spoken language will not be effective in everyday social situations. Intervention for young children with social communication difficulties therefore also focuses on developing these important foundational skills to enable more effective communication.

Environment

The environment is key in facilitating development in children with ASD / social communication difficulties. The environment provides important pieces of information which help your child to understand, to predict what is coming next and to facilitate their communicative attempts. For this reason, the environment is a significant factor in the intervention process.

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Follow the link below for helpful exercises and Strategies for Developing Communication Skills...