Autistic children find socialising very difficult. This can be attributed to their lack of proper speech. Most people may mistake autistic kids to be arrogant, but as a matter of fact they do not understand such social formalities. They do have feelings for other persons but they lack the proper language and speech to convey them.
Using sign language would not only help communicating with autistic children easier, but there is every chance that their social skills will also be enhanced.
Is Sign Language Helpful In Communicating With Autistic Children?: The importance of sign language as a means of communication in autistic children needs to be understood.
- Sign language may be used as a last resort for children who lack verbal skills despite various types of speech therapies. Sign language and verbal skills actually go hand-in hand and both of them can be groomed simultaneously.
- Sign language provides a means of socialising. Once a child gets to express his/her feelings, meaningful relationships with people in and outside the family can be formed.
- Usually autistic children would get frustrated very easily because they may not get what they desire due to their lack of communication. But sign language can help them acquire what they desire thus decreasing the levels of frustration.
Drawbacks of Sign Language: For every therapy, there exist pros and cons. Even sign language comes with it’s share of drawbacks.
- Many therapists argue that using sign language might suppress a child’s verbal skills. As sign language is easier when compared to developing verbal skills a child would just resort to using just signs and there is every chance the child’s verbal communication stops developing.
- Also, not necessarily everyone would be able to understand sign language. The child may still find it problematic communicating as the person being spoken to is confused.
Parents know the difficulties in communicating with autistic children. Helping the children learn sign language would come as a welcome change and their communication problems can be alleviated to an extent.
