Speech language pathologists essential when treating Autism Spectrum Disorders

"Logan" was a nervous boy. He would bite himself whenever he was afraid. As a child with autism, changes frightened him. His biting was increasing because he could not communicate what he was feeling. Speech, the type, most people were used to, was not occurring with Logan. He was a 6-year-old that was totally non-verbal.

The child required constant work on helping him learn how to speak. Logan would make noises, mostly an "eeeee" sound. The question was would Logan ever be able to verbally talk? A speech language pathologist (SLP) was asked to work with Logan twice a week. A plan was developed to help Logan speak. The hope was that he would talk one day. In the meantime, there were other methods to help him speak.

One day, the teacher placed several items in front of the boy to see what Logan liked. Logan kept reaching for red gummy bears, only the red ones. He quickly learned to ask for red gummy bears by handing over an icon of gummy bear. Gradually, other picture icons were introduced to the boy. Logan immediately grasped what was expected of him. The teacher had never seen a child learn so quickly. She decided to try a wonderful reading program called Edmark while he learned the alphabet. He took to it like a duck with water.

Logan, typical of many children with autism, loved animals, especially horses. The boy, while still learning the alphabet, grasped what "h-o-r-s-e" meant. He loved the word and began to love computers too. The teacher and SLP continued to work with the boy on grasping words. Logan moved rapidly understanding that "c-a-r" could be lots of pictures of different cars. The word "b-a-l-l" and "d-o-g" could be lots of different pictures, too. The challenge was yellow car and blue ball. Two words together were hard. With lots of physical examples, two words started to make sense. The boy easily moved forward in the reading program. He was also using a voice activated communication device, a Dynavox.

While using the Dynavox, Logan began to try and speak, a small word here a small word there. For the most part though, very little verbalization was happening. Every day, the boy would sit with the group on the floor during circle time listening to songs. All the children, but not Logan, sang songs about animals, days, months, and math. Not a word was uttered. Then, it happened. In fifth grade, all of sudden a tiny voice came out shocking the whole class. He began to sing the words that he had heard for the last several years.

During his fifth grade, the boy began to develop echo laic behavior, a typical developmental level in speech. The boy continued to read and answer questions through typing and pictures, amazing everyone around him. Later that spring, little Logan sang a whole song in front of the school.

Speech language pathologists are critical in helping individuals with autism learn to communicate. All people with autism spectrum disorders have communication issues. The term communication can be broken into three areas: speech (articulation, intonation, rate, intensity, voice, resonance and fluency), language (both receptive and expressive including reading and writing) and non-verbal communication (facial expression, posture and gestures). Speech language pathologists work with individuals in all of these areas and more. Some ASD children who are nonverbal will learn with assistance to use picture symbols or an augmentative-alternative communication device. Other ASD individuals with higher functioning autism require more work in the receptive and expressive communication. Every person with autism requires work in non-verbal communication as social cues are missed. Speech language pathologists develop individual programs to address the specific needs of a person with autism.