We take a neurodiversity affirming approach to Autism. We honour each child’s strengths, interests, sensory needs, social communication and play styles while building communication skills.
Our primary goal for Autistic children is for them to "‘be able to say what they want to say, to whoever they want to say it to, whenever they want to say it, however they choose to say it’." (Gayle Porter, Speech and Language Pathologist – Creator of PODD).
Other goals for our autistic clients include:
- Understanding their own sensory needs
- Self-advocacy
- Moving through the stages of gestalt language development
- To feel understood, listened to and empowered
- To build communication trust with those around them
- To understand the world and how to navigate its complexities
- To be supported within a total communication environment where all forms of communication are available, modelled, encouraged and accepted
Assessment
In order to build a picture of the client’s communication strengths and support needs our assessment consists of the following:
- Forms to be completed by parents
- Face to face child-led play session with the child and parent/caregiver
- Follow up call with the parent/caregiver to continue building a profile for the client and discuss goals for therapy
- A comprehensive report
Here are some of the tools we use in assessment:
- Observation of the client in play and interacting with their caregiver
- Talking mats: this is a visual based communication system where a client can let us know about their interests and preferences
- Self-rating questionnaires for older students
- Parent/school questionnaires
- Observation of the client’s response to the therapist or parent modelling Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC)
- Sensory profiles completed by parents and educators
- A gestalt language development log
- Language sampling; where we record the language the client uses in a session, preferably a few sessions in to obtain an accurate sample
- Language assessment such as Language for Behaviour and Emotions (Routledge)
We may on occasion use a formal language assessment such as the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) however these assessments are standardised on English speaking children who are neurotypical therefore, the results of these assessments must be interpreted with caution and never in isolation.
Support
Speech and Language Therapy support for autistic people looks different for everyone, here are some of the common things we support our clients with:
- Finding an Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) system that works for them.
- Self-advocacy: developing communication skills to be able to communicate ‘no’, ‘stop that’, ‘I’m hungry’, ‘I need a break’ etc.
- Moving through the stages of gestalt language development using the Natural Language Acquisition framework
- Creating communication passports with parents and clients, so that an autistic person can be understood by new and unfamiliar adults
- Communicating sensory needs: being able to let others know when they need a break, need to move, or are feeling dysregulated
- Communicating emotions and energy levels
- Understanding language including non-literal language and language for behaviour and emotions
- Perspective taking
- Forming and maintaining friendships
- Executive functioning
We believe that as well as equipping the autistic person with the skills they need to self-advocate, communicate with others and get their voice heard it is also essential to make sure the environment is right. Often when we make changes to the environment, the autistic client’s communication is able to develop more naturally and they are able to feel more regulated throughout the day. In order to achieve this we:
- Work closely with parents, sometimes using parent coaching models
- Provide training to parents and schools
- Provide parents and educators with advice on how to change the physical environment
- Provide links to neurodiversity affirming resources and websites
- Ensure that AAC is being used in all environments
We also advocate for families and support them with:
- Applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Applying for an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA)
- Updating Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
- Understanding SEND law and their rights
