Another important point about speech ... both blind and sighted autistic children can only make sense of a world around them when it’s ordered for them. An ordered world is needed to make sense and attach spoken communication a child may possess to the underlying reality of actions and objects, including people. You may be aware that many autistic people have spoken language but it’s not “attached” - it floats meaningless. It can only be made meaningful and useful as real communication when it’s attached through actual experience to daily tasks common between the child and carers/teachers. There was an article on communication in those on the autism spectrum that’s very good. Not sure if it’s still available, but it used to be on the Scottish Sensory Centre. It’s called “Autism and Visual Impairment - Making Sense by Fiona Boyce and Fiona Hammond from Proceedings of Autism and Visual Impairment Conference. While the article is written in terms of visually impaired children , the issues of the referencing of language and the notion of the referenced Self are equally applicable to sighted autistic people.
07 Sep 2019, 8:22 pm
