Sue Larkey

Using Communication Temptations to Motivate Communication

USING COMMUNICATION TEMPTATIONSΒ TO MOTIVATE COMMUNICATION

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Many children with ASD do not feel the need or motivated to communicate as everyone in theirΒ environment thinks for them, gives them what they want or even anticipates their needs. When youΒ create a communication programme it is VITAL you create as many opportunities as possible for theΒ child to communicate.

Start with activities that are particularly desirable or intriguing for your child are more likely to β€˜tempt’ them or provide them with sufficient motivation to communicate with another person. EncourageΒ verbal children to use their words or extend their word i.e. β€œDrink” to β€œI want drink” and non-verbalΒ children to use visuals/signs/gesture to communicate.

12 Ideas to Provide Opportunities to Communicate

*Β Remember if the child is nonverbal they will need a visual to ask for help. You need to make sure their communication method is alwaysΒ avliable.Β Make sure you make spare visuals, so if they getΒ lostΒ always have a back upΒ available.

Rewards are an important element of communication for children with ASD. So always remember to make activities fun, fast and rewarding.

 

10 Key Rules to a Successful Communication Programme

  1. Ensure consistencyΒ between environments.
  2. Be eclectic; try lots of different ideas and strategies.
  3. RememberΒ not every strategyΒ works for everyone.
  4. Never assumeΒ incompetence.
  5. Always modelΒ good communication practices.
  6. Make communicationΒ functional.Β 
  7. Make communicationΒ fun and enjoyable.Β 
  8. UseΒ rewards and motivators.
  9. Ensure the child hasΒ communication enriched environments.
  10. Be persistent andΒ REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT.

Every strategy, no matter how bizarre, is worth a try and if at first you don’t succeed then try and try again. No one child with ASD is the same so not all strategies will work with every child – so think carefully of how to adapt a strategy to suit the particular individual.

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