Theory of Mind (ToM) has been applied not only to humans and animals but also to Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. The extent to wh

‘Autistic individuals always say what they think / or what they want to say’ There is a common misconception that autistic individuals...

After examining sensory perception in autism in the first book , the newly released second instalment focuses on communication and language in autism. Communication is a two-way process, and it takes two people to mess up a conversation. Not all the problems are caused by autistic children. Non-autistic people have a lot to learn about the ways autistic individuals use verbal and non-verbal language to communicate. Autistic children do not lack the desire to talk to others bu

There are other types of echolalia that are difficult to explain, for example, involuntary echolalia , when the person blurts out words...

If it’s not for communication, what’s the point? As I didn’t know much at the time, I made a mistake thinking that as soon as my son started speaking, everything would be fine. However, though Alyosha did start talking at the age of seven, ‘talking’ is not the word to describe his verbal utterances. My boy echoed words and phrases that he had heard in the past, often irrelevant to the situation, or just ‘talked’ to himself. There seemed to be words which he especially liked,

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

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