Tips from a speech-language pathologist for parents of children who communicate without words, or who communicate with few words
Imitation matters!
As a parent, it is natural to want to know what you can do to support your child in reaching their greatest possible outcomes. And that desire is extremely crucial for your child: studies have shown, again and again, that parent involvement in early intervention for children with ASD is hugely beneficial for helping support that child’s growth. But where should you start when you support your child? What first steps should you take?
For parents of children who communicate without words, or with few words, I always give the same piece of advice to begin with… imitation matters!
What is it? Imitation is basically the ability to “see and do”, and it is a huge developmental marker that means that language is on its way in. Typically, children develop the ability to imitate very early on; some studies show they can even imitate facial expressions at birth.
What should a parent do? Imitation is as simple as copying your child’s sounds and movements. If he says “bababa”, you say, “bababa”. If she bangs a toy on the ground, you bang that toy on the ground with her.
Why? It just so happens that when you imitate a child, the chance that they imitate your imitation skyrockets. And this is an important piece of the puzzle towards language acquisition! That’s not all: studies also show that imitation is uniquely able to increase your child’s social orienting and social engagement. Plus, imitation is a fun experience for both the parents and the children involved.
And it gets better! Imitation has been researched in some form for decades, and now belongs to a family of language treatments called “responsive treatments”. There are many other responsive language treatments that you have probably heard about – following the child’s lead, asking fewer questions and making more comments, getting on the child’s level, and responding to their communication attempts. The cool thing about imitation is, if you are imitating your child, chances are you are using all of these other research-based strategies without even thinking about it!
Imitation is a fantastic skill to learn with many, many downstream positive effects. So if you are wondering about a strategy to use with your child that you both will enjoy, that will help your child’s language development as well as their social communication skills, and that most importantly, will allow for a stronger bond to develop between you and your child – look no further.
Sara Perillo – Footholds SLP
