Autism and signing

[Boo and Bumpy]

basically as the title says. Baileys social worker has been talking to his speach therapist and they have been discusing signing for him. atm we have to have pictures everywhere which can be difficult when out. anyway just wondered if anyone else has done this and what they thought and how they got along. thanks

 

[ALY]

we are having to do signing for sam as the doesnt talk and is in the middle of an assesment for autism but we arnt getting anywhere sam will not do it so we are having to cahnge it so he has pics

but if your little boy picks things up well he should be able to do the signs also with sign you also say the words that way they have an option of what they want to use

 

[Boo and Bumpy]

Bailey doesnt speak either which is why they are suggesting this. although im very wary of it as getting him to pick new things up is a challenge. currently im finding it difficult and dreading him starting nursery. his speach, language is at apparently near the 18month mark. currently waiting for his new timeline to come, it has velcro pictures. yeay. i just dont know if its a good idea with the signing. also is 3 to late to learn to sign?

 

[ALY]

sam hasnt picked up sign and e have been doing it about 4 mths

no babes i wouldnt say 3 is too old to pick sign up my little girl is 4 and she picked it up but she is a quick learner xxxx

if your worried can you talk to his HV as she may be able to help and put your mind at ease

 

[blessed]

Just popping my head in... I have a younger brother with Autism, and I'm a behavioral therapist for autistic children in the US. (and I'm expecting in January! yay!) If any genetics theories on autism are right, our chances for a child on the spectrum are high as my husband has a sister with autism as well...

Signing is great!! Even if it seems that your child is not picking it up.. keep doing it. He/She might not be able to do it physically with their own hands for many reasons (muscle tone all the way up to just being stubborn, lol) but if you continue to pair your words with the sign... it helps them understand.

Pictures are awesome too... each child will respond differently to different communication methods. You will in time figure out what works best for your little one. But I couldn't advise you enough.... don't go back and forth between methods!! Do them both at the same time if you like... but don't try sign... then go to picture... then back to sign... then back to picture. Consistency is key!

You guys are amazing parents! Keep up the hard work!

 

[JASMAK]

My daughter did a bit of signing when she was first diagnosed at 2 years, 10 months. I don't know how much it helped her really, and it was alot of effort on my part for not much reward, although she would understand etc. I found that even though my daughter did not speak, she could understand some (started with one or two words), and just saying the word was probably as effective as signing. She was at a 9 month communuication level at age 3.

We did pictures too, but those didn't really work. In the end, I wanted my child to learn the words, not pictures or signs, so we got a book "More Than Words". It was great. Our main focus became communication and we hired a Speech Path and we worked on just communication and even non-verbal (eye contact, facial expressions). Now my daughter is 5 1/2 and although her communication is her biggest weakness, she talks FULL sentences. She can trick people though. She will NEVER let on that she doesn't understand something, so sometimes she will act confused when you ask something of her, or she won't do something, and in reality, she didn't understand at all! She is starting kindergarten this September, and she has worked on and has passed her kindergarten required curriculum, so her main focus won't be learning, but communication and social skills.

My advice, is try a bit of everything. Communication is communication and what works for one child, might not for the next. Or, a combo might work and he might do a little of everything. Nothing wrong with that. Once that communication is there, even a little, it opens the door for more and a whole new world for us as parents, to really "see" our child and their world.

 

[lozzy21]

All the training iv been on says that children and adults with autism dont realy do well with signing. They can usualy learn one or two but the brain finds signs just as confusing to process as words.

 

[JASMAK]

Just popping my head in... I have a younger brother with Autism, and I'm a behavioral therapist for autistic children in the US. (and I'm expecting in January! yay!) If any genetics theories on autism are right, our chances for a child on the spectrum are high as my husband has a sister with autism as well...

Signing is great!! Even if it seems that your child is not picking it up.. keep doing it. He/She might not be able to do it physically with their own hands for many reasons (muscle tone all the way up to just being stubborn, lol) but if you continue to pair your words with the sign... it helps them understand.

Pictures are awesome too... each child will respond differently to different communication methods. You will in time figure out what works best for your little one. But I couldn't advise you enough.... don't go back and forth between methods!! Do them both at the same time if you like... but don't try sign... then go to picture... then back to sign... then back to picture. Consistency is key!

You guys are amazing parents! Keep up the hard work!

Sorry, I am sure you mean well, but I like to educate people when I hear/see this. I get really offended when someone calls my child "autistic". She is a child FIRST, who also happens to have autism. Sorry, don't mean to offend, but I really don't like it, and I feel I must say something.

 

[MUMOF5]

We havent tried signing with Sonny (he has no speech), but we use PECs cards and its really helping him communicate with us. It can be hard when you are out and about, and for those times I have a small card with velcro on in my bag and a few PECs cards that I think he may need/use . xx