Autism Children

Learning to sign is equivalent to learning a new/2nd language. Myths regarding either impeding a child's ability to learn a primary language is not just unfounded but also discredited. In fact it can only benefit regardless of whether the child is autistic or not.

I have a 4 yo autistic child and she was taught to sign while she was in early on , at around 17 mos. The signs came easier than the words but did not stop her from attempting the verbal words. It lead to less frustrations and her being more open to learn. Now I'm happy to say she is very verbal.

Do you really have a dianosis of Autism for a baby? Having thought that my own son was autistic, and in turn, really it was a speech delay / Apraxia with some gross motor/sensory issues but not autism, please be careful labeling your child.

I think anytime you want to teach and engage your child, the result will be better than not. No one can tell you how the results will turn out with your specific child because that depends on your ability to teach and the child's ability to learn.

I did not use sign language with my son I wrote about above. Even early on before I knew that his gross motor skills were behind, I knew this would add an additional struggle for him. However, I know that sign language has worked well with many babies and I am considering using it with my 1 year old daughter.

Please seek professional therapy for your baby in addition to what you choose to do at home. After hundreds of hours of speech and OT, my son is seven, above grade level in school, speaks well, sensory issues are under control, and his gross motor skills are vastly improved.

Good luck.

Autism is a developmental disability and babies do not have enough developmental milestones to miss so that they can carry the diagnosis. Once diagnosed, children who are having trouble.with speech may find sign a good communication tool. My nonverbal autistic 3.5 year old had limited success with sign.

If your child has autism, follow the plan from your Developmental Pediatrician, and if your autistic child has not seen a developmentalist, make an appoint
ment on Monday.
M.

This looks like research on your part not about your own child as they are adults. Many are confusing that you have an autistic baby when you do not, but you sell books on signing.

I have a child who is severely speech delayed, although not autistic. The first thing his speech therapist taught him was sign language. Wow! What a difference, he started signing and saying the word at the same time. That was a great catalyst for beginning language with him. I would highly recommend it.

My son does not have autism but does have a speech delay. I think it really depends on the child. At 2, my son had 20 words and the therapists talked about sign language but I really felt that we should be doing words and not "wasting" our time with sign language. Studies show that it does not impede learning language but since it did speed it up, I was not interested. It was a good move. At almost 2 1/2 months, my son has a huge vocab and starting to put 3 words together. On the other hand, there is a boy at his babysitters who is two and has no words at all. I think he may have something nuerological going on that prevents him from being able to form words. He has several disabilies including physical ones. For him, sign language is working well. So I think it depends on the child and also how severe his speech issue is. If he can not speak at all, it may help.

We used sign language as a gateway to get our son to start saying words more "more," "juice," "snack," and "eat" and eventually, "more juice," "more snack," "more eat," and "I want". Each child is different but it did help us as a one of our very first stepping stones to developing functional communication. Also, working with a private speech therapist and following the Hanen More than Words program (we didn't have a consultant, just followed the book) were really, really important in helping our son learn to communicate.

I hope this helps.