Communication and Understanding
Communication is more than talking.
Your child may need support to understand what someone is asking, make a choice, ask for help, request a break, know what happens next or show what they need.
Sometimes the difficulty is not whether your child can communicate.
It is whether the information and communication options are clear and accessible enough.
What are you working on?
Following Instructions
Make directions shorter, clearer and easier to follow without relying on repeated verbal prompts.
Making Choices
Help your child understand available options and communicate a choice in a clear, manageable way.
Asking for Help
Give your child a reliable way to show or say when something is difficult and support is needed.
Asking for a Break
Teach a clear way to communicate “I need to pause” before a situation becomes too much.
Understanding What Happens Next
Use visual information to make sequences, transitions and expectations more predictable.
Expressing Needs
Support your child to communicate needs through words, pictures, signs, AAC, pointing or other meaningful forms of communication.
Body Safety, Space & Consent
Support safer body interactions while teaching personal space, consent, stop/no, help and appropriate alternatives.
Voice Choices & Voice Levels
Help your child choose a voice level that works for the place and situation.
Communication can look different
Your child does not have to use spoken words for communication to count.
Communication may include:
speech • gestures • signs • pictures • AAC • pointing • movement
Likewise, understanding may improve when information is:
shorter • visual • shown one step at a time • repeated consistently
The goal is not more talking. The goal is clearer understanding and more usable ways to communicate.
Not sure where to begin?
Choose one repeated moment.
Ask:
What is my child trying to understand or communicate here?
Then work on that one part first.
Make communication easier to access
Reduce unnecessary words.
Make important information visible.
Keep useful communication options available.
Notice what helps your child understand and respond.
Clearer information. More ways to communicate. Better understanding.