Using Sign Language With Pre-school Aged Autistic Children
Autism is a development disability which mainly involves delays and impairments in social skills, language and behavioral aspects of a child. This disorder causes restricted and repetitive behavior which can be identified during infancy or childhood years. Latest research has now revealed that autism can be treated. Contrary to what was earlier believed children suffering from autism have the potential to grow and improve. Finding effective services, treatments and education for autistic children as soon as possible is very important. The earlier the appropriate treatments are introduced for these children the better their chances of progress are.
One of the main questions which arise in the mind of a parent of a child who is suffering from autism is whether the child would ever develop speech. Any parent or caregiver would agree that the most exasperating aspect of autism is the breakdown of communication or the lack of communication. Children suffering from autism struggle with the complexity of the spoken language.
Sign language has been identified as one of the best ways to strengthen speech and language development of an autistic child. Teaching speech with sign language is referred to as “simultaneous communication” or “signed speech”. According to research the use of sign language increases the chance of children learning the spoken language. Hence using sign language with pre-school aged autistic children would enable them to stimulate and strengthen their communication. In addition it also provides children with an alternative mode of communication.
Sign language has been identified to provide many social, emotional, cognitive and communicative benefits for children with autism. Some of the benefits of using sign language are the stimulation of speech and language development of the child, reduction of negative social behaviors due to the ability to communicate and express themselves, increase in social interactions and the development of cognitive structures that are important for speech and language.
Sing language can be easily learned by parents or caregivers and it does not require any prior knowledge. There are many sources which a parent/caregiver can rely on to study sign language. Sign language dictionaries, signing books and even websites now offer easy methods to study and use these signs. It is also found that autistic children are able to learn signing effectively. Some reasons for this are that signs can be physically guided, signs can be frozen in time in order for the child to understand it, sign language is more iconic than speech, individual signs can be easily grasped and it is believed that signing is processed in the right hemisphere of the brain. According to research it is believed there may be a differential disturbance in the left hemisphere brain functions in autistic children. This might be another reason why signing is easier for them to learn.
Introducing sign language to pre-school aged children suffering with autism will provide them an opportunity to grasp this mode of communication as well as develop their speech from an early age, offering more hope and blessings for them and their families.
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