Why is it important to teach the nonverbal child Approach-Request skills? Nonverbal children especially those diagnosed with autism, would often resort to pulling an adult’s hand to get the object that the child needs.

Or the child would at times resort to tantrums if his wants are not given.

Or the child would grab from wherever and whoever is holding the thing that he wants to hold.

But how would an adult know since the child did not express his wants? How would one teach approach-request to a nonverbal child?

By taking his hand and holding it to touch the adult’s hand or arm. This way, the child will learn how to reach out to others. This way the adult knows that the child is trying to reach out to her. Accompanying this would be the adult saying her name. It goes like this: Take the child’s hand and tap to adult’s hand saying the adult’s name.

Alongside this skill, it is important to establish eye contact with the child. A child with autism will have very limited eye contact. A fleeting gaze would be a small triumph so this should always be kept in mind.

When the child has “mastered” this skill of initiating a social interaction, next to be taught is to include the gesture of an open palm, which means  “give me” , which the adult would have to verbalize along with the gesture. At all times.

More often during therapy, the children are shown toys that they prefer to play with (or maybe the child’s favorite treats) which is perfect for teaching these approach-request skills.

Remember: first the approach technique with calling the adult’s name, then the palm up for give with the words “:give me” by the adult.

Then we wait for the child to finally say “Give me” This would take days or weeks or even months. Take heart, it can be done.

For more info on the different approaches to treatments and interventions, click here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 8:48 am and is filed under Autism, behavior modification, Being a (Special Ed) Teacher, Language Development, special education, Teaching Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.