If you receive a diagnosis of autism for your child, it may well be the most difficult thing you encounter on your journey through the world of parenting a child with autism. This is the second blog post in our autism series, and it is intended to help you learn about what you might expect as you approach the diagnosis. 

This is the first in a series of blog posts intended to help parents learn about autism and discover meaningful things they can do to help their children.

Many communication disorders can be prevented if we, as adults, become more knowledgeable about how to teach good communication and then take the time to apply that knowledge by providing appropriate attention and stimulation to our children.

Every profession has its own specialized vocabulary and sometimes we, as professionals, tend to assume that everyone else knows exactly what we’re talking about. This, of course, isn’t true, so let’s take a look at some basic vocabulary that is related to speech and language therapy.

Possibly the most wondrous and complicated accomplishment of humans is the development of speech and language. And because the processes involved in the development of speech and language are so complex, they sometimes don’t develop normally and naturally.

The role family members, especially parents, play in speech and language development is critical and can’t be emphasized enough.

Oh, how I wish I had the proverbial dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say, “...it’s ‘just’ speech…” Although it is possible to live without speech or language, without these communication tools, our quality of life would be greatly impaired. Most parents recognize this, but, at the same time, we often want to minimize any concerns or worries about our child’s development.