For more than 30 years, I’ve been researching autism. It all started, when my son, at the age of 2 and a half, was diagnosed (no, not with autism but) with (using the terminology of the time) severe mental retardation and schizophrenia. To say that I disagreed with this ‘verdict’ is not saying much. After that day, I turned my life around (or, started my “second life”) by learning about autism and working with autistic children, adolescents and adults. So, my interest in the

The placebo effect can be defined as the power of the mind and the unconscious to heal in response to something (whether sugar pills or just a suggestion) that the person believes will improve his or her condition. Scientific studies on placebo focus on the effectiveness of new drugs or treatments, whereas they have confirmed the reality of a mysterious phenomenon – the possibility of thought influencing not only psychological but also physical states of people. The effect

Autistic people have unique ways of communicating and interacting that are rooted in their unique ways of thinking and experiencing the world. While there is much variation between autistic individuals, the following guidelines are a few good things to consider when communicating with autistic people. - Distance : Many autistic people are hypertactile and may be afraid that people who get too close might touch them, or they may simply feel uncomfortable with the nearness of

Some individuals with ASD (especially those with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome) possess well-developed spoken language, with good vocabulary and perfect grammar. However, they still have difficulties with pragmatics (using language for communication) and non-verbal communication. Let us consider some other common problems experienced by ‘fluent speakers’: Receptive language Autistic people may have problems with comprehension because of processing problems. Th

The Intense World Syndrome and other ‘sensory theories’ Although already in the very first descriptions of autistic children, researchers...

To speak (another language) or not to speak (with an autistic child)? Typically developing children in multilingual families tend to pick up languages of their parents quite easily. In contrast to parents of typical multilingual families, parents of a child with ASD often express concerns that a bilingual environment would cause language delay and confusion for their child. This is particularly common for parents of non-verbal and minimally verbal children. Some professionals

In autism, there is laughing/giggling and ‘laughing/giggling’. There can be numerous reasons to laugh, which are difficult to understand by ‘outsiders’: Of course, autistic individuals laugh when they are happy , or if they find something funny. However, they often laugh to release fear, tension and anxiety . What is very difficult for their parents to comprehend (and accept) is that they might laugh or giggle non-stop when someone is crying. This may be one of their defensiv

Not much is known about the language trajectories of non-verbal and minimally verbal children yet. However, the number of research studies are growing. Quite a few research studies have attempted to identify reliable predictors of good language outcomes. For example: Predictors of language development in non-verbal and minimally verbal children Saul and Norbury (2020) followed the expressive language progress of 27 minimally verbal children, aged three to five, for a year. At

Why can’t my child speak? It was estimated that about one third (Bryson 1996) to one half (Lord & Paul 1997) of autistic people never develop any functional speech: they are functionally mute. More recent research estimates of the proportion of children with ASD who have been classified as minimally verbal vary from 25% to 35%. What is it like not being able to talk? People who have never experienced this will go through life never knowing how soul crushing the condition of w