Speech Therapy
Head of Department: Louise Ulliana
Louise has over 25 years experience as a special education teacher, school principal, consultant and speech pathologist in early intervention, schools, supported accommodation and employment services.
The communication difficulties of children with ASD vary and may depend on the intellectual and social development of the child. Though some children with ASD have little or no problem with the pronunciation of words, most have difficulty effectively using language. Even those children who have no articulation problems show difficulties in the pragmatic use of language such as knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it as well as how to interact socially with people. Many who speak often say things that have no content or information. Others repeat verbatim what they have heard (echolalia) or repeat irrelevant scripts they have memorised. Some may speak in a high-pitched voice or use robotic sounding speech.
Two pre-skills for language development are joint attention and social initiation. Joint attention involves an eye gaze and referential gestures such as pointing, showing and giving. Children with autism lack social initiation such as questioning, make fewer utterances and fail to use language as a means of social initiation.
Giant Steps offers a comprehensive speech therapy program that combines the best elements of a number of approaches to create a desire within the child for connection and communication with others. The therapy works on the core deficits of autism focusing on social foundation skills, comprehension (the world and the students role in it – the people world and the physical world) and anticipating situations. Elements of TEACCH (Training and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children), PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) and SERVAM (Sensory styles, Environmental modification, Routines, Visual techniques, Autism friendly language, Motivating activities) are evident but not used exclusively and the approach is tailored to the child’s natural strengths.
Briefly, TEACCH focuses on the design of the physical, social and communicating environment. The environment is structured to accommodate the difficulties a child with autism may have. The children work in a highly structured environment that may include clearly delineated activity areas, picture-based schedules and work systems, and instructional clarity. It is believed that structure for children with ASD provides a strong base and framework for learning. Though TEACCH does not specifically focus on social and communication skills as fully as other approaches it can be used along with therapies to make them more effective. PECS is a type of augmentative and alternative communication technique where children with little or no verbal ability learn to communicate using picture cards. Children use these pictures to “vocalise” a desire, observation, or feeling. Since some people with autism tend to learn visually, this type of communication technique has been shown to be effective at improving independent communication skills. SERVAM, as the name suggests, offers an holistic approach to the many issues of autism and learning.
