| Using "Experience Sharing" language | | Print | |
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By Juliet Weissberg, MA Every parent of a child with autism knows that relationship skills are usually the hardest for them to learn. But there’s a lot that parents can do in the home to promote development of social relationships. Sharing experiences by using “experience sharing” language is a good place to start. This means making statements and exclamations as much as possible, rather than asking questions or making demands (imperative language). Did you know that 80% of typical human communication is experience sharing, and only 20% is imperative? However, we often seem to end up asking our children a lot of questions, simply to get them to use language. We tend to forget about the “experience sharing” part of communication, which for children on the spectrum, who are still learning the foundations needed for reciprocal communication, is the most important part. By making comments and exclamations about our viewpoints and feelings we are helping our children develop understanding that other people have perspectives and feelings that may be different from their own. Difficulty with sharing experiences with others is considered to be a core deficit of autism within the RDI® (Relationship Development Intervention) program. RDI® is a long-term, home-based remediation program that strives to improve the quality of life for individuals with ASD by addressing the related core deficit areas developmentally. Juliet Weissberg, MA is a Certified RDI® Program Consultant who, besides guiding parents through the program, assists teaching staff in our school in developing strategies to help students improve their experience sharing and other social communication skills. For more information about RDI® at the Center for Spectrum Service, please call (845)-336-2616 ext 169.
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