Speech pathology addresses the battles faced with communication and language. Thus, speech therapy can help people living with autism improve their non-verbal, verbal, and social communication skills. Lizard are dedicated to assisting your child in developing the skills needed to communicate in a functional way.
What are Speech Therapy Goals for Non-verbal Autism?
It is vital to understand that each child is different, therefore they need to have different goals set for them. However, in general the six primary goals that will assist with your child’s development are:
1. Developing skills to make it easier to communicate with others
If your child faces hardships when learning the foundational skills required to communicate due to limited or non-verbal skills, Lizard’s dedicated speech pathologists can help. They’ll assist your child in understanding the abilities of joint attention, listening, engagement, attending to objects, imitation, initiation, turn taking, anticipation, cause and effect and object permanence.
2. Understanding what is spoken to them
Lizard can help with the development of skills such as understanding the names of objects, verbs, and location words, comprehending concepts and simple ‘wh’ questions, and following complex and simple instructions.
3. Conveying their wants and needs
Speech pathologists are committed to helping children communicate their wants and needs, including learning skills such as asking for objects, commenting on what they see, explaining how they feel, gaining people’s attention by calling out, making choices, and answering questions.
4. Leaning augmentative and alternative forms to communicate (AAC)
Your child may benefit by learning other ways to express their thoughts. Speech pathologists can assist children in discovering AAC, involving the use of informal picture boards, signs, and gestures, or a more formal AAC system such as Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or Proloquo2Go (speech generating application).
5. Improving play skills
Play skills are essential for cognitive and social development. Lizard’s speech pathologists can assist in your child’s development of play skills, this involves developing early play skills, imaginative, functional, and pretend play, which will then further support the child’s engagement with a parent or care giver, and future friendships.
6. Improving clarity in speech
Your child may be experiencing errors in speech sounds or phonological processes, thus, making it difficult to comprehend. Speech pathologists can work with you and your child to help with the development and understanding the steps to make sounds and the appropriate time to use them, therefore making their speech clearer.
For further informal regarding speech and language Pathology, contact Lizard on 1300 752 617, and one of their experienced team members will be able to help you.