Serving the underserved: Communication activities conducted at home with children of the autism spectrum

Abstract

The increase in prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) demands that new strategies for delivering speech-language therapy services to them are tested and improved. Including families and familiar situations may be a way to provide more intensive stimulation. The aim of this study was to identify strategies to stimulate communication development of children with ASD that can be suggested to parents and followed-up systematically. Participants were 67 children with diagnosis within the autism spectrum that attended weekly speech-language therapy at a specialized service of a large university in São Paulo (Brazil). The study was conducted in four phases: planning of activities; four face-to-face meetings with the parents to suggest and discuss activities that should be conducted at home daily; during six weeks the parents continued to conduct the proposed activities at home, with systematic weekly follow-up by the child's therapist finally, individual the parents reported their impressions about the proposal and the outcomes regarding their child's development during individual interviews. Activities involved the main areas of disorders in ASD. They suggested that the parents used familiar situations as opportunities for games and plays involving language, cognitive and social demands. Parents reported difficulties in implementing the proposed routine of playing with their child for at least a few minutes every day. They mentioned “lack of time” and “being tired” as the main reasons for it. Nevertheless they all reported that they were more able to understand their child's needs and demands and that their child responded well to the suggestions.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.