The person’s family and support network will be able to provide information, especially about their preferred communication methods. 

Good communication is vital and will involve recognising behaviour triggers, using visual prompts and speaking in short clear sentences. It is important to establish the person with autism’s ability to interact with other people, how and why they communicate and their level of understanding.

Communication may be:

Individuals on the autistic spectrum can find it difficult to filter out the less important information.

If there is too much information, it can lead to ‘overload’ where no further information can be processed. Follow these simple tips if they find it hard to process what you are saying:

1. -Say less and say it slowly. 
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3. -Use specific key words, repeating and stressing them.
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5. -Pause between words and phrases to give the person time to process what you have said and to give them a chance to think of a response.
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7. -Do not use too many questions.
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9. -Use less non-verbal communication when a person is showing signs of anxiety. Limit your eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and body language.
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11. -Use visual supports like pictures.
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13. -Be aware of the environment that you are in.  Is it too noisy or crowded?

A person with autism may struggle with open ended questions.

If you are supporting someone who struggles with open ended questions try to:

• -Keep it short.
• -Ask only the most necessary questions.
• -Offer clear options or choices.
• -Ask specific questions like “How was your breakfast?” or use a closed question like “Did you like your breakfast?”.

Some people with autism have very good language skills but might struggle to understand some sayings or tone of voice, often taking things literally.

Other challenges include:

In everyday life people with autism experience difficulties, this can be due to sensory differences being over or under stimulated, communication difficulties, routine changes or their environment not being as they need it to be.

These can all lead to feelings of frustration and anger which can sometimes be shown as distressed behaviour or behaviour that challenges. 

This might look like self injurious behaviour, no communication, physically or verbally aggressive behaviours, meltdowns, extreme anxiety, heightened repetitive or obsessive behaviours or a combination of all of these. 

Knowing what causes distressed behaviour can help you to develop ways of dealing with it. You’ll find practical information and tips on the National Autistic Society Website

The power of no!

However we say it or express it “No” is a powerful word.

We learn it as toddlers when we first experiment with the power and control we can have over our families. We start out with tears and tantrums to get what we wanted and then one day discover “No!”, and things were never the same. Quickly our language and ability to reason developed and we moved on to negotiating and questioning everything with excessive use of “Why”, but that’s another story all together.

But our love affair with “No!” carried on. Click on the cards below to see just how confusing it can be to hear this word. We us it for so many different situations! Just take these cups of tea…

Here are some strategies to try…

• -Using a different word or symbol to explain what you mean.
• -Delay the activity to a later time that day or week.
• -Look at different ways of explaining danger and safety. Try to only use one phrase to -express danger. It is less likely to get confused or ignored when you need to use it.
• -If you are saying ‘no’ because they are behaving inappropriately, you may want to change your reaction to their behaviour.  
• -Use a short sentence with a clear instruction that does not include the word no.  Instead of “No more TV”, try “Please turn the TV off”.
• -Do not shout or give too much attention, a calm reaction may help to decrease this behaviour in time.
• -Set clear boundaries and explain why and where it is acceptable and not acceptable to behave in certain ways.
• -Use the persons preferred method of communication, utilising any scaffolds that may have been provided such as cards or sign language prompts.

If someone you support shows distressed behaviours or behaviour that challenges it is really important that you and the team around the person try and understand what their behaviour is trying to communicate. 

1. -Use a diary or other record to note their behaviour and identify if it is a way of telling you something.
2. -Think back and see when the person first started to communicate that they were unhappy or needed something. Try to learn from it so next time you can respond before they need to express themselves using more challenging communication methods.

Most of our communication is “Non verbal”.  

Non verbal communication is often instinctive and easily learned.