COMMUNICATION
I will tell you now that empowered look in parents’
eyes is my greatest professional reward!
Scripting can begin to fade away with a first step to-
ward creating an original thought. The easiest way is by
giving your child choices in all situations. In that mo-
ment of choice, magic happens! Your child owns that
decision. He/She has to connect that choice to a real
thought picture in his/her mind. Remember, we think
in pictures, not words. These inner thought pictures be-
come our outward expression in the form of words.
An important message at this juncture is to give your
child time to think. We all need time to showcase our
best work; your child is no different.
Step 1:
Always give choices in all situations. And give your
child time to make a choice: “Do you want grapes or
apple slices?”
Step 2:
Know that a choice becomes a thought picture,
which transforms into the expression of original
words. Your child thinks about the two images and
anchors one more firmly in his/her mind as the stron-
ger, personal image.
Next, always know that we talk about what we do.
This is the essence of all conversations. Your child
owns that thought picture in his/her head, so it’s
time to interact with it. Move the story forward with
a suggestion of what can happen. Here’s another
magic moment. Lead in phrases are: ”How about…,”
“Maybe…,” “I wonder….” Again, your child needs to
choose one of your suggestions, and now, a little inter-
active movie appears on his/her mental landscape. Al-
ways remember your child thinks it, owns it, and says it!
Step 3:
Make a suggestion of what to do with the choice
that’s been made. Give time to your child to choose
a suggestion to move forward: “How about putting
some grapes in a bowl?”
Step 4:
Watch your child’s action story unfold. Be the narra-
tor who puts the story into words: “Wow, you picked
grapes and put some in your favorite bowl!”
Over time, by using these four steps/strategies, your
child may begin to make more personal choices and
interact more with the results of these choices. You will
also see your child’s personal narrative begin as a nat-
ural consequence of his/her internal thought organiza-
tion. You will now begin to interact with his/her story
with natural comments. The beauty of a real conversa-
tion is born!
Now, just continue the process of personal thought
by offering an open-ended phrase: “Let’s see…what
you can do next.”
Step 5:
Choices, and your child’s interactions with them, will
start happening on their own. Keep the story going
by sharing, “Let’s see…what you can do next.” This is
a great opening line for a meaningful conversation!
A significant process takes hold as your child moves
through multiple, sequenced actions. A full-length
movie happens in the mind, and stories get longer.
We all love that!
Step 6:
Always know you can be the narrator until your child
naturally assumes the role for himself/herself.
Hello real conversations, goodbye scripting! You
can systematically move your child toward person-
al thought and real, verbal sharing using these sim-
ple steps. You have a plan, and your child has his/her
own story to tell—no need to retell a stored movie
conversation from an outside source.
Enjoy the journey, and cherish the conversations.
This is the stuff life is made of!
Beth Ann Shanks, a speech/language patholo-
gist, has established a style of therapy that sees
the promise of success in every child. Today, Beth
Ann is the owner and CEO of Speech Academy LLC.
Her cutting-edge approaches and innovations
have been infused into her clinic. She helps to ed-
ucate parents on how to make simple changes in
their language as they engage their child with lan-
guage-processing challenges, including those with
autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As a result, family
conversations are developed and continue to flour-
ish. Her parent-coaching master class video series,
Uttering Joy, is here to light up the dreams of all of
the children and parents who come to its virtual
doorway. Beth Ann’s Uttering Joy allows visions of
success to become a reality.
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 65 |
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