Autism Therapy: Pragmatic speech therapy
All autism therapies are crucial in helping our children, especially early on. Today I am focusing on one that can help early and even later in development. Pragmatic speech therapy is just as crucial as any autism therapy. If a child doesn’t understand the language he or she is learning to speak, then what good is the language? He or she might as well be speaking Portuguese! But, I digress…
My friend Lisa Jo Rudy has a VERY successful blog: About.com: Autism. http://autism.about.com/od/autismterms/g/pragspeech.htm
One of her columns was about this very subject. I will let her words speak:
“Definition: Speech used to communicate and socialize.
Most people think of speech therapy as a tool for improving
pronunciation, reducing stutters, or simply building the ability to use
words at all. Many people with autism do have the ability to talk, and
some talk a great deal, but almost all can benefit from therapy focused
on speech pragmatics.
Since difficulty with social communication is a hallmark of autism
spectrum disorders, literally everyone with an autism diagnosis will
need some level of pragmatic speech therapy. According to the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association, people with pragmatic speech
issues may:
- say inappropriate or unrelated things during conversations
- tell stories in a disorganized way
- have little variety in language use
Pragmatic speech
therapy is offered by speech therapists and, sometimes, by social
skills therapists and coaches. It is appropriate for children, but may
be equally appropriate for teens and adults.”
Thanks, Lisa Jo! Her blog is great, by the way.
Pragmatic speech therapy should be fought for, just as we are fighting for everything else. When your child recites television shows back to you at inappropriate times, they have problems with pragmatic speech. Light bulb moment? I had one when my son was 7. I didn’t know what pragmatics were. I just knew something was wrong.
Pragmatic speech therapy is actually different from “regular” speech therapy. I was told that my son had beautiful speech (back then) and had no real need for speech therapy, per se. If you are in the same “boat”, don’t accept it. You must find a good pragmatic speech therapist for your child. It is never too late. That’s the good part. You can find a pragmatic speech therapist for your child and help your child process the language he or she is speaking so that they may speak it properly.
Honestly, I wish I had pushed harder for this autism therapy for my son early on. However, he is receiving some pragmatic speech therapy now. His grasp of pragmatic language isn’t where I wish it was. I don’t know if it is because of lack of early intervention or developmental issues…OR BOTH. We will never know. But we keep trying. We never give up. And neither does he!
Tags: autismtherapy, pragmatic speech therapy, Lisa Jo Rudy, autism education, autism information
