Archive for May 2013

Monthly Archive

Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder- Part 4

The fourth and final post in our 4-part series on communication in children with autism spectrum disorder focuses on children who possess high verbal abilities, but may struggle with conversations and reciprocal social interaction.

In many ways, the ability to carry on a conversation is the culmination of the foundation skills of language and social communication development that have been described in previous posts.  We have conversations to tell our stories, enlighten or persuade others to our point of view, and to negotiate or resolve conflicts.  The ability to carry on conversations is an integral skill to function in our social world. Read full post »

Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder- Part 3

Our 4-part series on communication development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) continues with a focus on verbal communicators

Expected Verbal Skills in Typical Development

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), typically developing children begin to say and imitate their first words around 1 year of age. At 1½ years, they begin to say more words and start to say “no” to protest and begin to point to request. At 2 years of age, children start to combine words into phrases and increasingly attempt to imitate adults’ conversation. By 3 years, children can label most familiar objects, and can use pronouns like “I,” and “you.” They can answer basic social questions about themselves, such as their name, age and gender, and can participate in basic conversations. At 4 years of age, children start to tell stories, relate events to themselves and start to talk about their likes and interests. At 5 years of age and beyond, children can tell stories using complete sentences and can use a variety of verb tenses, like past, present and future. Read full post »

5 Tips For Accessing Mental Health Services for Children with Autism

Green Ribbon Logo

Since May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, we thought we’d address an issue that we get many questions about here at Seattle Children’s Autism Center: accessing mental health services for our kids on the spectrum. The questions we hear most often are:

  • What mental health services exist for children and adolescents with autism?

  • Where are mental health services offered?

  • How do I access these services?

In a previous blog, we reviewed treatments used with individuals with autism. Mental health interventions include cognitive-behavioral therapy and behavior therapy. These are typically provided in individual therapy where specific goals are identified for addressing problems such as anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior, aggression, and self-injury.  Read full post »

Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder- Part 2

LaughingOur second installment of a 4-part series focusing on communication in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) focuses on the emerging verbal stage of development.

Children on the autism spectrum who are in the “Emerging Verbal” stage of language acquisition are just beginning to acquire single words and some 2-3 word phrases and are using them to communicate with the people around them. Their vocabulary is still quite limited, but they are beginning to use words functionally, i.e., for specific social purposes. They have acquired what is called “intentional communication” and are beginning to communicate for a variety of functions including requests, comments, asking questions, greetings or a number of other communicative functions. (Part 1 of the series: Pre-Intentional/Pre-Verbal)

Read full post »

Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder- Part 1

PreverbalGuest author: Jo Ristow, MS, CF-SLP is a speech language pathologist at the University of Washington Autism Center. Jo is also a visiting SLP at Seattle Children’s Autism Center.

Part 1

In honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month, some of the speech-language pathologists (SLPs) at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center and the University of Washington Autism Center are presenting a 4-part series on communication skills in autism. We will begin the series with a focus on children who are in the pre-intentional/pre-verbal stage of development. Read full post »

Autism and Sleep Problems

sleepAutism and Sleep Problems: An Interview with Yemi Kifle, MD

Yemiserach Kifle, MD, is associate medical director of Seattle Children’s Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center and clinical associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, School of Medicine. She is also associate director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Leadership Training Center. Her work focuses on diagnosis, management and follow-up of patients with sleep apnea. Her research interest is in looking at cognitive function of children with sleep apnea before and after treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Her other area of interest is the prevalence of sleep disturbance in children with autism. Read full post »