When do you elicit a language sample? Certainly when you first see a child you would want to take a language sample. However, if the child is not comfortable on the initial assessment, there is nothing written in stone that says that it has to be completed the first time around. That in itself should tell you something. I feel that ...

In last week's blog post, ''The iPad Becomes a wePad for Autism,'' I encouraged you to develop a relationship between the iPad, the child and another person, rather than letting the child with autism treat it as a ''thing.'' Let's call that with the iPad. That's when we can turn it into a wePad and make those applications come alive ...

According to Wikipedia, ''Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.'' I never told George Lucas this, nor did he ask, but it was because of ...

Joint Attention is two people sharing the same point of attention. It is being in the same moment at the same time. It is a basic skill for learning - EVERYTHING. Think of joint attention as the wall that supports Humpty Dumpty. The wall holds Humpty up, until of course, someone pushes him off. My first lesson in Joint Attention I learned ...

  Learning to wave ''Hi'' and ''Bye'' is # 2 of my TOP 5 GOOD MANNERS FOR YOUNG TODDLERS WITH ASD This is essential because it is an early, basic and reciprocal means of communication. It is a greeting and a salutation. It takes place between two or more people. It represents a beginning and an end. Typically developing infants and ...

HOW TO START MAKING LANGUAGE DANCE WITH ADEQUATE EYE CONTACT The lack of eye contact is a hallmark of people with ASD. Watch this short video of Jade stacking blocks at 20 months. You can observe in this five-minute video that Jade lacks eye contact as well as any interaction with adults. She appears intelligent but lacks the pragmatics of ...

PRAGMATICS MAKE LANGUAGE DANCE In last week's Autism Spectrum Blog with the Cloud of Cotton Candy, I addressed Social Manners, Perseveration, and Anxiety as three main areas of language dysfunction that I see in adults with ASD. If these three areas are problematic in adulthood, we should be addressing them not only at that time, but also as a ...

April showers and Autism Awareness Month are drying up. That does not mean that autism goes away or that we are not still aware of it. What is does mean is that for the next 11 months we work even harder to make people aware of autism and all of its implications until April rolls around again. Two weeks ago in my blog, ''Hooray for Hollywood,'' ...