Do you have tips for encouraging him to look closely and learning to use pictures more meaningfully?

Naomi

This discussion was created from comments split from: I'm Chris, I specialise in working with children with autism, asperger's and learning disabilities.

Naomi

Hi Chris, my son is 15 years old. He is non verbal and uses very basic marathon signs to communicate. He has some visual impairment, although his eyesight can be very good when he wants something! We have tried on and off with photos and symbols but the problem is that he points at all the photos and doesn't discriminate between them. Do you have any tips for encouraging him to look closely and learning to use pictures more meaningfully? Many thanks, Naomi

LondonSpeechTherapy

Hi Naomi, So sorry for my late reply (unfortunately thats a common theme if you look back...). When we consider the 'choice making' hierarchy we always start at the objects themselves - is he able to make a chocie from a pair of actual objects? Is the optician involved?

Naomi

Thats fine, thankyou for replying. Yes, he is able to make a choice from the actual objects, although now you mention it, this i something I should work on, not so much from the vision point of view but because of cognitive issues. His visual impairment is not major and in any case I always make sure I show him the pictures on his right field which is the stronger field, so I dont think that is the biggest hurdle. Any other thoughts?

LondonSpeechTherapy

Fab...next take a photo of the objects he can physically choose from and offer them two at a time to begin with and let me know

Naomi

I will do it with the object and the picture of the object at first. I don't think he cognitively grasps the concept of a picture of an object, so hopefully this will help him. Thanks for your help, and will let you know how I get on.