Supporting Communication and Social Interactions for Autistic Individuals

The definition of communication is the exchange of thoughts, opinions or information by speech, writing or nonverbal expression. Communication skills are important for everyone because they help a person learn, understand the world, connect with others, and express their thoughts and feelings.

Autistic individuals often have a different way way of communicating and a range of communication skills and abilities that differ from non-autistic people. They may have difficulties developing language, find it difficult to understand or use spoken language, or have no language at all.  Autistic individuals will need support to learn and practice communication skills.

What does communication look like for autistic individuals?

Language may be used in the following ways to communicate:

• repetition of other people’s words or phrases, or words they’ve heard on TV, YouTube or videos.
• echolalia used for communicative purposes such as to ask for things, to say yes, to start an interaction or keep it going, to protest something, or to draw someone’s attention to something.
• using made up words. My son used to say beyoh for a bird and beyah for a butterfly.

These beginnings of language can be built upon and language can developed into more flexible ways of usage.

Autistic children may also (from Raising Children.net.au):

• use direct or ‘matter-of-fact’ language.
• have a less expressive or more formal tone of voice. There can also be variations in intonation, stress pattern, loudness variations, pausing, and rhythm which is called voice prosody.
• start sentences with particular words or phrases. ex. When my son was first learning to talk, he would start every sentence with “I want”. If he wanted something to stop, he would say, “I want no singing.”
• have a slight accent or change their accent while they’re talking.
• not be able to speak when they’re feeling overwhelmed.

How autistic children may use non-verbal communication to communicate

Communication is more than just spoken words – it also has a non-verbal component. Some examples of how an autistic child may use non-verbal communication are:

• physically manipulating a person or object. Ex. Leading you by the hand to the thing that they want.
• pointing or showing and shifting their gaze.
• using objects to show what they want. Ex. Give you crayons indicating that they want to draw or color.
• using repetitive body movements. Ex. My son flaps his hands and does high pitched vocalizations when he is happy and excited about something.
• having little or no eye contact. Many autistic people have told me they find eye contact painful. Neither of my adult children can look directly at people when they are speaking.
• not using gestures along with speech.
• copying other people’s body language or movements.

Movement Differences and How They Affect Communication

Many autistic individuals experience movement differences. The definition of movement difference is a difference, interference, or shift in efficient and effective use of movement. A disruption in the organization and regulation of perception, action, posture, language, speech and emotions.

So – movement differences may affect speech, thoughts, perceptions, memories, and emotions. They profoundly affect early experiences. They may impair learning about oneself, learning about textures, tastes, temperatures; learning about size, learning about orientation of the body in space, the development of perceptual skills and independence from others.

All communication requires movement. Even emotions, thoughts and memories may require “movement” on a smaller neurological level. In terms of speech and communication, movement differences can affect:

Starting or Initiating – Thinking and speaking may be challenging if a person freezes. Starting a conversation then ending it may be impossible. Having to retrieve information on how to do something may take extra time. Accessing memory for people’s names, places, instructions, the daily timetable, where to go, or when to do something can be difficult.

Stopping – Sometimes when we start something, it can be hard to stop it. Some examples of not being able to stop are singing or talking out loud or asking the same questions over and over.

Continuation – This is about flow either in thinking or movement. To have a conversation, your thought process has continual movement.

Combining – There are many activities that involve combining functions such as watching and listening, looking and doing, and listening and speaking. These are all needed for conversing and communication.

Transitions – Switching – Transitions can happen internally – a shift in thinking, action, perception, or from one emotional state to another.

How can we support communication and increase social interactions?

Use Visual Supports

Visual supports are the cornerstone of communication. They provide structure, routine, consistency and predictability. Visuals can give a non-speaking person a voice or provide another way to communicate when anxiety and stress take over and words fail. Use visuals to establish a communication system. Visual supports can take many forms; you may have to try several different types to figure out which ones a person prefers and understands best.

Structured Play

Structured play is when an adult provides resources, starts play or joins in with children’s play to offer some direction or guidelines. Structured play activities support autistic children who are learning play skills such as sharing, taking turns and interacting with other children – all skills that are needed for successful social interactions.

Providing structure creates predictability, which lowers anxiety and stress, allowing a child to be more comfortable exploring play and interaction with other children. With some practice, a child may be able to start and finish an activity independently.

Play is really about interaction. Initially, that interaction will need to be structured to support communication and learning. Toys are the props to foster interaction through play. Toys don’t need to be formal either – they can be a box, blanket, feather, pillow etc.

Develop Interoceptive Awareness

Interoception, the eighth sense, helps a person understand what is going on inside of their body like hunger, thirst, feeling hot or cold, fatigue, or a full bladder. It also affects the ability to interpret emotions. Emotions may not be “felt”. If you can’t tune in to the body cues that help interpret emotion, it’s harder to identify the emotion. It’s important to understand this aspect, because not feeling emotions affects a person’s behavior.

Alexithymia, also related to interoception, is a term used to describe when someone has difficulty identifying their feelings – or more specifically, identifying and describing their emotions. Alexithymia doesn’t mean that a person lacks emotions, it just means that they have a hard time figuring out exactly what emotion they’re experiencing and sometimes even putting words to that experience. Not understanding one’s emotions has a huge impact on social interactions.

Incorporate Interests and Passions

Supporting an autistic person’s interests and passions are important because they are motivating, engaging, conversation starters, friendship builders, skill builders, employable, meaningful, calming, enhancing, and expandable. Being able to pursue interests and enjoyable activities adds meaning and pleasure to a person’s life. A person who feels happy and fulfilled tends to be more flexible, adaptable, calm, content, and resilient.

A 2018 study found that interests had a positive impact on autistic adults and were associated with higher subjective wellbeing and satisfaction across specific life domains including social contact and leisure.

Interests can increase meaningful social interaction because they can bring like-minded people together who can share experiences around things that excite them. For example, our son loves classical music and enjoys attending concerts. He is able to converse with other concert goers about the music and performers. He saves the concert program and refers to that experience during his weekly tutoring session and other social groups that he attends.

Support Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing and using social and emotional skills. SEL skills are necessary to understand and manage emotions, set goals, make decisions, cooperate, resolve conflicts, feel empathy for others, solve problems, and work on a team (just to name a few). Children start to learn these skills from the time they are babies and continue to build them into adulthood.

While developing and building interoceptive awareness skills, we can also practice SEL skills during everyday activities. SLP Elizabeth Sautter does superb work in this area. Her website has lots of great ideas how to incorporate SEL learning into everyday routines and activities.

Teaching social-emotional learning is a process that begins with recognizing and understanding emotions within one’s self. This is a long, on-going process, but the journey can be both fun and interesting as an individual learns more about themselves and how they feel.

Communication and social skills are vast topics to explore. It begins with us understanding autistic neurology and respecting who that person is that we’re supporting.  Autistic individuals will have their own communication style and way of interacting. Our role is to help that person be understood by fostering skills within a supportive environment that recognizes a person’s unique needs.

References

May 14, 2024. Communication: autistic children. raisingchildren.net.au