Speech Disfluency in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Re: Parent involvement?

From: Kathy Scaler Scott
Date: 15 Oct 2007
Time: 14:23:31 -0500
Remote Name: 24.249.94.37

Comments

Like Vivian, I have found that parents often feel that stuttering or disfluent speech is contributing either equally or moreso to the child's difficulties with social interaction as are other behaviors such as monologuing. I think it is really important that as therapists we consider the long-term effects of difficulties with effective communication on social interaction. I always say it's like a vicious cycle: the child has highly disfluent speech and therefore has a hard time getting their message across, from very young they are then not involved in social interactions with peers. The less they are involved, the less they learn the social rules. Consequently, their lack of knowledge of social rules keeps them out of peer interaction, and the gap just keeps growing wider. They continue to have fewer opportunities to develop the much needed social skills. So it's important to consider a parent's opinion about the effects of disfluency/stuttering upon other areas and how much of a priority it may be.


Last changed: 10/22/07