Hands have fingers, thumbs, nails, joints, skin, bones, muscles, and tendons. They are flexible and can be molded, folded, and wrapped. Use yours. I learned early in my career that one of the most meaningful things one person can do to assure sincerity, acceptance, and understanding is through the power of touch. Not a slap. Not a high-five. A ...

Autism Awareness Month began on Sunday, April 1. My son Doug's birthday is April 1. The fifth annual World Autism Awareness Day was April 2. World Autism Awareness Day ''aims to increase people's awareness about people, especially children, with autism. The day often features educational events for teachers, health care workers and parents, as ...

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 ...

Dear Kathie: ''Chad is 5 years old and ‘very' autistic and non-verbal. He covers his ears with his hands when there is a loud noise, such as a fire alarm, or even when he anticipates a loud noise, like a balloon that he thinks may pop. How can I help him, his classroom teacher, and his parents? - Payton, speech-language pathologist My ...

Dear Kathie: ''My question concerns Julie, who is a middle school student with ASD. She is bright, verbal, possibly Asperger's, and is included in the regular classroom for most academics. The problem is that she refuses to do any written classroom assignments when the other students are doing theirs. She says ''No,'' lays her head on her ...

All behavior has a function and purpose. There are five main functions of undesirable behavior, and four of them go hand-in-hand with autism. It is important for the speech-language pathologist and the entire team to recognize how any particular behavior is reinforced and enabled. Avoidance Do children and adults with autism ...

Dear Kathie: ''Larry speaks so loudly. I can hear him coming from way down the hall in school. No one wants to sit by him in the lunchroom and his teacher is pulling her hair out. I've talked to Larry's mother and it's the same at home, in the library and at McDonald's. Any suggestions? And is this really in the realm of speech therapy for a ...

In ''What to Include in a Language Sample, Pt. I,'' I expressed how important I feel a language sample is to complete an assessment for a verbal child or adult on the autism spectrum. I told you what to look for during a language sample and gave you an example of how I utilize a puzzle to elicit conversation with young children. When taking ...

Dear Kathie: ''Do you always take a language sample as part of an assessment with a verbal child or adult with ASD? If so, what do you look for and how do you elicit the conversation?'' - Adrian, speech-language pathologist My Response: Thank you for asking about the assessment aspect for a child/adult with ASD. I feel there are three ...

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 ...