Try This Tuesday #33: Communicating with Non-verbal Children

For details on how to participate, please check out the welcome post. If you'd like to join in but aren't sure what to write about, try the topic suggestion for this week: Communicating with Non-Verbal Children.

I encourage those of you living or working with non-verbal children to join in and post or leave a comment about what is working with your child or student. What suggestions would you give parents who are trying to increase effective communication with their non-verbal child?

This topic was suggested by one of our readers, and, not being an expert in this area by any means, I went on a hunt to see what information I could find. Here are a few highlights, some autism-specific and others more inclusive:

Autism-Specific Articles

Developing Expressive Communication Skills for Non-verbal Children With Autism by Susan Stokes, Autism Consultant.
This in-depth article explains how to evaluate a child's current communication abilities and then discusses how to make a plan to help him or her increase their communication skills.

Promoting Communication in Your Non-verbal Child by Kristyn Crow
This post from the Special Needs Blog at Families.com focuses on how to use Floortime techniques with a non-verbal child to encourage more communication.

General Information on Assistive Technology (AT) and Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC)

Family Information Guide to Assistive Technology by the Family Center on Technology and Disability
This helpful guide includes sections on the possibilities of assistive technology, as well as using it in school and how to fund it. It also has a comprehensive glossary and extensive list of resources for more information.

International Society for Augmentative & Alternative Communication (ISAAC)
The mission of ISAAC is to improve communication and the quality of life for people with severe communication impairments. They have chapters in over 15 countries and work to educate people about the different communication methods available, from unaided systems such as gestures or signing to aided systems including picture boards or voice output devices.

If you are interested in more detailed information, doing searches on Amazon.com for Assistive Technology and Augmentative and Alternative Communication brings up quite a few books on these subjects as well.

Please join in and share the creative solutions YOU have found to your own challenges, or feel free to post your own challenge for input from others.

Topic Suggestion for Next Week: Teaching the Value of Money. How do you teach your children how to manage money and how to make decisions about spending, saving and giving?

As the host of Try This Tuesday, Trish shares some of the solutions she has found to make life easier and invites you to do the same. You can also find her blogging at Another Piece of the Puzzle and Autism Interrupted.