Developing conversation skills
Virtually all people with autism have difficulty with the pragmatics of
communication—the interpretation and use of language in social
situations. Even those individuals who have a good vocabulary and
appear to have a command of the language may have a restricted understanding
of social and conversational interactions.
For some students it may be necessary to provide structured teaching
to develop the oral language needed for social and communicative play.
This can be done by providing structured play opportunities that incorporate
the student’s interests. Modelling, physical prompts, visual cues,
and reinforcement can be used to facilitate attention, imitation,
communication, and interaction. To facilitate social communication,
structure interactions around the student’s activity preferences and
routine. Encourage informal and formal communicative social
exchanges during the day.
Simple drawings are an effective strategy for teaching conversation
skills. These drawings illustrate what people say and do and emphasize
what they may be thinking. A set of symbolic drawings can be used to
represent basic conversational concepts, such as listening, interrupting,
loud and quiet words, talk and thoughts. Colours may be incorporated
to represent the emotional context. Pictures with scripts can also be used
to develop conversation skills and communication appropriate to
specific social contexts and situations.
People with autism have difficulty understanding subtle social
messages and rules, and also have problems interpreting the non-verbal
communication of others. It may be helpful to provide the student with
a concrete rule when one does exist, and to present it in a visual format,
by writing it down or incorporating it into a social story or comic strip
conversation.
Students also need opportunities for social interactions and
community-based experiences in order to practise the skills.