Rebecca Meyer
This woman has a 4-year-old daughter.
Her daughter has level 2 autism and some minor developmental delays. She is also technically considered to be non-verbal.
“Her communication abilities are very limited, and her receptive communication is, too. So, I have always struggled to understand what she wants/needs, but also to communicate to her,” she said.
All this considered, her daughter does use some language and words. Her daughter utilizes a technique known as “scripting.”
“She learns and repeats sentences and phrases that she hears from me, TV, or her teachers. I never know what she’s going to pick up, but she has specific uses for almost everything she says. Like, if she wants me to help her with an object, she will hand it to me and say, ‘Here you go, now.’ Or if she wants to watch a show, she will say, ‘Shake it off?’ because she was obsessed with that song for a while, and she would watch it on the TV all the time,” she explained.
As of late, her daughter has consistently been watching a TV show in which the main character, a little girl, constantly says the phrase, “‘Feed me, feed me,'” and will point to her own mouth. Now, her daughter has picked up this phrase and action.
When her daughter is enthusiastic about having ice cream or juice, she will occasionally say, “‘Gimme, gimme.'”
“I was honestly really happy when she started saying it because it was a way for her to tell me she was hungry. There is no point in telling her it’s rude because she doesn’t understand. I am always extra polite when I talk to her because I want her to pick up manners, but she doesn’t understand the concept of rude,” she shared.
Unfortunately, her mother-in-law hasn’t provided any emotional support and doesn’t understand or try to educate herself about autism. Her mother-in-law often talks about the idea of “discipline,” and she suggests that she not allow her daughter to do certain things. Her mother-in-law also attempts to get her daughter to verbally ask for things. When her mother-in-law does this, her daughter stares at her and just walks off.
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