On The Spectrum | Effective Learning Techniques for ASD Toddlers | Speech Blubs & Aims Global

does your child struggle to tell you what they  want have a hard time pronouncing certain sounds or words or perhaps there are words that your  child has learned but he or she is not using them functionally in this video we are going to  talk about the following when we should jump into action and what we can do to support our child's  language and communication skills we're going to speak about the Speech Blubs app activity maps  that you can go and Implement with your child at home video model

ing setting up the environment to  support your child's interaction and communication labeling modeling and referencing and then some  frequently asked questions make sure that you watch until the end of this video because  I'm going to share with you some practical strategies and ideas to increase and improve your  child's speech production and communication skills it might be that your child is just developing  a little slower than his or her peers but it's always good to ER on the side of cau

tion and  in this case it is worth considering what if my child perhaps falls on the autism spectrum my  name is Nanette and I'm one of the co-founders of Aimes Global I study to be a teacher quite a few  years ago now I've been in the field of special needs and particularly the field of autism for the  past 15 years or so and I'm also a mother to three young children myself that is the fact that I'm a  mother to three young children that is what really makes a difference for me and that is what

causes  me to want to share some practical strategies and ideas with you today we partnered with Speech  Blubs app an amazing tool that our students use to work on speech development previously we  showcased how well Speech Blubs combine with our course creating the perfect environment and  some elements we have explained in that course we wanted to share with you some more in-depth  information on how to get the most out of your Speech Blubs app that has been designed to  increase speech produ

ction in children from two to eight years of age at Aims Global as I have  already mentioned we feel very strongly about sharing practical skills with parents to help  their children in a way that is effective and makes a real positive difference in everyday life  for every single family we specialize in increase in communication socialization Independence and  life skills were the children that we work with some family members and even some professionals  perhaps might try and reassure us paren

ts and it comes from a good place but so often we hear  he's a boy or his aunt was just like that he's a boy he'll talk later don't worry about it now  but ultimately we just know when our child is delayed in speech production and communication  skills and the tricky thing is it's impossible to scientifically prove that moms just know  feeling to professionals or to some friends if you feel in any way that your child needs  some support with his or her language and or communication skills we wou

ld definitely encourage  you to make an appointment with a speech therapist or a speech pathologist in your area a speech  therapist would be able to do any evaluation and then give you a therapy or a support play design  for your child going forward you can also reach out to the speech therapist on the Speech Blubs  Facebook group as there is always something that you could do while waiting for an assessment with  a speech therapist in your area however there are also ways that you can support

your child at home  as a mother a dad an au pair a nanny and yes it's always a good idea to see a professional speech  and language pathologist by generalizing progress to your home environment is crucial and at the end  of this video we are going to share some tips with you on how to combine practical strategies with  professional tips from our speech and language friends Aims Global and the Speech Blubs app so as  parents when should we move from anxiety to action a typical child in their firs

t year can usually  say some words these might include mama dada or no they gesture to what they want and point at  required items when a child is two years old they say roughly around 50 words and they're  gays or their eye contact attract tracks people animals often animals and objects consistently  and remarkably for longer periods as they grow up at the age of three years a child's  vocabulary exponentially grows up to 1 000 words the increase continues in this  trajectory for the next coupl

e of years these are just the basic guidelines of calls for  typical language development but there is so much more that goes into communicating effectively  is your child's pronunciation accurate and clear does he or she comprehend what they are requesting  or commenting on even are they only communicating with certain people perhaps or in a certain way  perhaps not a lot of back and forth conversations going on as they grow older is it a speech and  language delay or a communication delay perh

aps okay I don't want to be increasing your anxiety  by focusing on these questions the point is that a speech and language pathologist will be  able to tell you what the exact nature of your child's possible delay might be but there is  also some good news we can work on all of these in the same way with fun activities there are  different things that we can do to increase the likelihood for our child to increase their speech  production before we start with these activities though it is import

ant to note that no matter  your child's developmental or chronological age these activities can easily be adapted to your  child's specific needs and interests I might add as mentioned I have three children myself and  I wanted to ensure that the advice that I give parents is truly research based but also tested  with my own children and that to me is really important we need to to know as parents that  these activities and these ideas are going to work with our children and in the home environ

ment  my kids are nine seven and four years old and I combined two essential Concepts to work on  increasing speech and communication skills in All My Children these two are activity maps and  the Speech Blubs app let's dive into what our activity maps and the Speech Blubs app first let  me give you a little bit of background on both of these elements activity maps are fun interactive  recipe-like activities created by our team at Ames Global one of our pillars at Ames from working  with autisti

c adults and other neurodivergent individuals is to focus on teaching Concepts  rather than teaching individual skills another pillar for us is to focus on teaching and  for our child learning within interest-based activities our children just like us learn best  when they are interested in the activity at hand strength-based approach is vital and always  remembering your child's sensory profile and their sensory needs the sensory regulation that  will ensure that he or she is not just mentally

but also emotionally and even physically ready  for the task that you are that you are about to do so combining this with a Speech Blubs app I was  first introduced to Speech Blubs where by one of our Aims Global clients who noticed a remarkable  Improvement in her four-year-old son when she combined our our therapy support with their Speech  Blubs time every day splabs is a speech learning app that offers a variety of fun engaging and  educational activities that will boost your child's speech

while providing interactive fun for  your entire family really siblings included Speech Blubs' core that the concept the core concept of  video modeling for children by children is based on Empirical research in successfully improving  speech production that is something that I I just want to highlight again it's not just video  modeling but it's video modeling for children by children so they actually use children in their  videos and in their activities to for the child watching and doing the

activity using the Speech  Blubs app they they've got something to relate to it's someone their own age or close to their  age working with him through this app so video modeling for children but also by children so what  better way to combine practical strategies from a holistic approach with a research-based concept of  video modeling from Speech Blubs let's stop here for a moment and talk about what video modeling  is and how it can work for autistic individuals video modeling is a relatively

recent phenomenon  in teaching career and miklik study in 1970 was the first to explore its use the website  research autism.net reports that the first reported evidence for the use of video modeling  as a treatment for a child with autism spectrum disorder was reported in 1982 by steinborn and  Nath they use the behavioral training program and a classroom-based model of a traffic environment  to teach a child on the autism spectrum pedestrian skills since then video modeling has been the  go-t

o method for teaching social skills to kids with autism and speech delay as well how video  modeling works when a child is observing other children in the video performing the desired  behavior in this case saying different words different sounds or even singing songs perhaps  that triggers the child's mirror neurons which start the imitation process it helps even more  if the parent is participating as well in the activity mirroring the child expert in the video  as well that is not just helpin

g our child to show them what to do but also giving them the  confidence boost to try it out and also making sure that that we help them feel more comfortable  engaging and interacting Within These activities let's briefly talk about what the core features  of Speech Blubs are the Speech Blubs app is based on a three-step approach the three steps being  model imitate and contextualize in the Speech Blubs app video modeling has child teachers and  that is something that I personally really like t

hese child teachers show how to pronounce words  and sounds app encourages children to imitate and at speech perhaps we also encourage  parents to participate in the practicing as with any activity it's better to have shorter  sessions more often more regularly than a really long session once in a while this helps our  children to to be engaged to really be focused for a short amount of time and then the activity  is over again instead of expecting them to sit down perhaps to to be focused to be

regulated for  a really long time which is a very difficult task for many of our children and any child for that  matter we want our children to have fun with a Speech Blubs app so they are fun and engaging  elements added to the learning like face filters bubble popping and even fun facts in between that  also ensures that if your child is interested in the fun fact spot that is something that can be  reinforcing for them throughout if your child is more into the bubble popping games or the fa

ce  filters which some of them really enjoy doing that is something that can be reinforcing and also keep  their interest and motivation going throughout the activities Speech Blubs encourages children to  find a word they had just learned through the app in their real life environment to transfer and  generalize the concept into into the real world which is really important and this is with  the help of a parent of course now before we engage our children in any kind of activity  it is really i

mportant that the environment is conducive to learning conducive to supporting  our child in whatever the activity is that they are about to do so let's talk a little bit  about a very important question how to create an autism-friendly environment let's set the scene  first what do we need to create an autism-friendly environment that is truly conducive for all  children and believe it or not even for adults the first one create a sensory Corner sensory  tent or a little sensory section even in

your house this will be our go-to before we start  an activity and afterwards add your child's favorite feature toys that are safe for him or  her to use independently some soft toys pillows a blanket anything else that you feel would be  calming during decompression time also if you are able to do this in any way get your child to  help you set up that little sensory section or sensory Corner in the room we want them to be part  of it we want them if you have a way of of getting your child to

choose which toys which activities  which sensory items they would like in this space encourage them to make those choices and to to let  you know what they would like you to add to the space so involve them as much as possible then the  second one create a visual schedule that will show when you will start the activity map or the game  what it will entail and then when it will be done also add the sensory fun time to the visual visual  schedule so you might have the visual schedule that looks t

hat says at the top sensory time or  if you want to call it chill space or tent or whatever you want to name it with your child  so you're going to have chill space and then the activity map the sections that you will  follow or the parts of the activity that you will do and then at the end going to the chill  spice again so add that on the visual schedule this will help your child to know exactly what  to expect and when to expect it it helps them to be more prepared then the third one have a 

few feature toys that your child really likes close by this can be a stressful squeeze toy  something to pull on a popper even for example and this is something that they can use throughout  even when you are busy with the activity in it's time for you to start your activity  map intensive parenting course we share many activities with parents and even ways to create  these easily by yourself remember to go and check that out on our website aimsglobal.info for this  video I'm going to share with

you two of my and my children's favorite activity maps to show you how  we combine combine these with a Speech Blubs app to make a boost vocal speech the first one is the  Bubble Snake and I'm going to give you the link so that you can go and have a look at this activity  map as well before you start with this game make sure that you ensure your child is interested in  bubbles pretend snakes and messiness look at your speech blobs app for all the things to do with  snakes animals in general sna

kes where they live what they eat stories about snakes and reptiles  perhaps sounds of different animals it's easier if you know where to guide your child on the  app beforehand so that is something that I would always suggest if you are about to do an activity  with your child on the Speech Blubs app especially if you're just starting out with it play around  with the app first do some activities first without your child so that you know how the app  works it can be really frustrating for our k

ids if they are sitting there waiting for something  to happen and you're you're not sure where to find certain things so go and do that first set it  up first and make sure you know where to find what the Speech Blubs app is really straightforward  so you shouldn't take long to figure it out some Pro tips to ensure you focus on increasing  vocal speeds because that is one of the goals for this activity Matt and ultimately if you're  going to be doing Speech Blubs then that is improving and incr

easing vocal speech let's  chat a little bit about pairing pear sounds words or phrases even were the activity as you are  doing the activity when you notice your child is enjoying a specific task perhaps such as squeezing  the dishwashing liquid out for the Bubble Snake you can pair this action of squeezing with a sound  such as for push if your child is struggling with sounds I wouldn't recommend those starting with  a sound for squeezing as it is quite difficult to produce especially if your

child has trouble  with tongue control also it's difficult to show our kids how to produce sound that do require  a lot of tongue control it's easier to to show them and to model The Sounds where they use  their lips and their mouth mainly to produce the sound or at least to for the formation  to get that right try to include sounds like [Music] pairing sounds words you can pair as well such as  blow for blowing the bubbles when you notice your child is starting to imitate the words try and  cha

nge it up a little bit bubbles so blow bubbles this way you can start working on chaining these  words together later to create some sentences or phrases if your child can produce some sentences  pairing different words together is an excellent way to increase his or her vocabulary  you can also include some fun sentences like bubbles on my back and you can start it  out in a fun little bit of a different way if if we speak we're not going to say bubbles  on my back but in a game or in an activi

ty like the Bubble Snake where it is relevant and it's  functional and it's fun play around with words play around with sounds play around with sentences  or phrases to increase the motivation and even to to make them aware of those little patterns within  the sentence or the phrase or even the words and that that can just add a fun element to it as well  bubbles on my back or pop a bubble pop pop pop during the preparation of the activity you can use  the Speech Blubs as your reference and rese

arch you can print the activity map of the Bubble Snake  and you can have a clear plan but to find the reference or 2 or 20 have a look at your app this  will ensure that you are already generalizing the activity to a different format and making it more  real and functional for your child with a bonus of working on communication throughout now let's talk  about what labeling modeling and referencing is is label items in a fun and an interest-based  way make sure you label items that your child f

inds interesting not what you think you  would find interesting necessarily but make sure that it is really something that your  child is interested in if he or she likes the bubbles you can count the bubbles label the  sizes count how long they take before they pop modeling is an excellent way to increase language  the more we model the target Behavior which in this case is vocalizing the more our children  will follow suit this does not mean we have to go around speaking non-stop that could ac

tually  be quite irritating but labeling again interesting sights sounds textures but more likely your child  will will be able to and confident enough to start doing the same we first increase language before  we redirect the appropriateness of what is said that is something really important and something  that I am going to still get to frequently asked questions but often parents ask us but my child  is now starting to to speak a little bit and later they are starting they start to vocalize m

ore and  more and it's going from sounds to words but now how do I ensure that it is functional and it's  not just random words or sounds or phrases even hold that for a moment and let's focus  on increasing speech production first helping our kids to become confident with  that comfortable with using those sounds and words and phrases and then later we can  shape them into where it is more appropriate what area what activity calls for certain  types of sounds or words but for now we are working

on increasing speech production  and improving pronunciation throughout referencing is another important concept to  become familiar with especially as the parent we do this naturally but we can always do a  little bit more of it think of it as referencing back to previous experiences that remind you  of the current scene for example if you if you completed the Bubble Snake make sure that you take  photos throughout the activity if you can but also photos of the end product and the fun that you

had  along the way wherever you can it is a bit of a messy activity but try to to just snap a photo  here and there it doesn't have to be that many every time you see a play Snake pretend  one one in a storybook or hear the sound that gives you the perfect opportunity to  reference back to the photos of the fun you had during this activity of the Bubble Snake the  more we reference past to present experiences the more likely your child will start vocalizing  their ideas and their thoughts on th

e topic this also creates opportunity for  them to think about that activity and to share the enjoyment and the  communication involved in that again remember to provide free access to your child's  sensory tent before during and after the activity these activities are not a race to try and  finish it as quickly as you can it's always the journey to get there which is the real  important thing and with increasing speech we have to live in the moment that's the easiest  way to increase communicat

ion to speak of what is right here to speak of what is happening right  now the sounds and the sights we can hear and see always remember to refer to the visual schedule  throughout this activity but also any activity that you're doing with your child this will keep  your child's motivation and attention on task here's another activity map that you can consider  in your own time and this is the stick spider web game we'll share this with you so that you can go  and download and try it out yourse

lf follow the suggestions discussed before as with a bubble snag  activity and most of all enjoy spending time with your child with a bonus of increasing speech and  vocalization of course you are more than welcome to send us an email if you want more activity maps  you can use the address hello at aimsglobal.info I also promised that I will add some final tips  from our speech and language pathologist and how to combine what we spoke of with professional  advice if your child sees a speech ther

apist it is important to ask for the current goals that  he or she is working on ask your therapist to provide you with a list of activities that you  can do at home to generalize the goals to the home environment if your child is not seeing a  speech therapist at the moment but going to a kindergarten or a play group even you can do the  same with the teachers send a communication book to therapy or to school and ask that General notes  should be made after each session perhaps how was your chi

ld during and after the session which  games were played did anything funny or anything fun happen just something quick to note down don't  expect too much though because especially if it's a school environment teachers don't always  have time to go to sit down and write lots of information but a thought here and there can make  the world of difference it's important now to read this these notes that you receive from school or  the therapy session and then communicate with your child about it du

ring even on your way home this  way you are working on not only generalizing goals but also increasing spontaneous communication  which is important let's move on to the section that might be the most interesting part to you  I'm going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that we often get from parents how  to know if my child has a speech delay or Autism if your child is inconsistent in their development  that might be something to take note of if their Milestones are not reac

hed at the right time you  might want to schedule an appointment with your pediatrician this is something you should try  and figure out with the help of a professional there are always things that for us as parents  we notice things we pick up on certain things make notes of these and take it along when you  go and see your child's pediatrician but it's always something to work through a process to  work through with the help of a professional the next question my two and a half year old child 

still babbles does that mean that he has autism babbling may not only be a form of communication  but it can also be a strategy that a child may use to help him or her stay regulated I or an  ear in this case on your child's babbling to determine if they are repeating certain sounds  repeating certain words perhaps even phrases while they are babbling also try to determine if  the Babbling happens more in certain scenarios or environments these are all things worth  mentioning to your child's s

peech therapist my child is being assessed for autism it's  been rough for me emotionally and mentally I'm so lost I don't know what to do and whom to  turn to I feel alone anxious tired and Afraid this is also a question that we often get from  parents especially when their child is going through the process of being diagnosed or just  after being diagnosed these are all feelings that that parents for we as parents deal with and we  have to to learn how to deal with these feelings because it is

something that we all go through  during that time there are support systems there there's different ways of of getting support out  there you can always if you feel that you don't have stab anyone to talk to you or you're not  sure where to go you can always schedule a call with us at Aimes Global for some practical  support strategies for you during this time in the next question my child only screams  for attention how can I help him to come moving what they are screaming for they will  cont

inue to engage in that behavior to gain access to that item that activity or that person  so let's say for example your child screams every time that they want their favorite snack or a  treat I should rather say if they get the treats every time they scream that is something that  they have learned if I scream I'll get the treat the most important thing here and I cannot stress  this enough is to include a functional way for your child to communicate his or her needs we  go into a lot of detail

on these methods in our intensive parenting course but the best advice  that I can give you to keep it a short answer would be to create a visual Choice board with  real photos of the items that your child likes add these on the walls in your home in your child's  room in the kitchen wherever it is that they want these items and guide your child to rather  Point them to show you what they are looking for if they learn how to use these communication  systems even if they're not necessarily using

or I should say using words verbally to  communicate these with you if if we can get another strategy in place to support  them in the meantime that could replace their need or feeling that they have to  scream in order to convey a message to you activities to help children on the Spectrum  develop their reading skills the most important aspect here is to find reading material that  involves your child's interests if your child shows an interest in a certain topic it makes a  daunting task like

reading just that much easier be realistic and patient encourage your child to  not only read words but also to look at pictures to gain some information involve different sensory  experiences to help your child solidify their reading skills building letters and words out  of Play-Doh or writing in the sand for example my 26 month old with speech regression has made no  progress in six months of speech therapy in what amount of time would you expect at least a word  or two is another question t

herapy and progress is different for each child as we know saying  that though if your child is making no progress it might be that your child is plateauing and a  bit of a change in routine or schedule in the form of therapy might be needed and this is something  that is worth considering try and find a holistic support system such as aims and combine this with  a Speech Blubs app to give your child that extra motivation to engage and participate in various  activities what are the signs of non

-verbal autism and by which age would it be determined that my  child is non-verbal this is a difficult question to answer as some of our non-speaking children  develop normally until around the age of two years they then might stop producing The Sounds or  words they were able to and become non-verbal or non-speaking when you suspect your child struggles  to produce sounds or words it's best to write all these concerns down and take it to a speech and  language therapist or your pediatrician ev

en remember that you can always get a second opinion  if you feel that your doctor is not taking your concerns seriously I have a child who is eight  years old with autism we watched him slowly lose his speech now he doesn't say anything at all how  can I help him talk again the first step would be to see a speech therapist who would be able to  draw up an individualized therapy plan for your child and while you wait for the assessment try  using the Speech Blubs app and see if your child is int

erested in it the Speech Blubs app they  do say that it is for two to eight year olds but have a go with your child see if it is something  they are interested in some of my kids are older than eight years old and they are definitely  interested in the speech about Speech Blubs at the games in between even the children producing  the words and the sounds so that is something to try out with your child definitely what are  the long-term goals for autism speech therapy well mainly to communicate t

heir needs effectively  in whichever mode of communication is most comfortable for your child this might mean that  some children will communicate through an IAC augmentative and alternative communication  device such as an iPad but they will be able to save their likes their dislikes wants and  needs and to be able to comment ideally this of course is a process as it is with speech but  learning how to communicate using whichever mode of communication will take some time ultimately  we do want

our children to get to the point where they can communicate their thoughts their ideas  through whichever mode of communication that they are using I loved sharing this information  with you today please let us know in the comment section below if you have any other questions  that we didn't cover we have a few ways for you to stay in touch and up to date with the latest  content that we release if you need any support relating to autism or related conditions make sure  that you go to the websit

e for more information www.aimsglobal.info be sure to download the  Speech Blubs app from your app store and you can also email the Speech Blubs speech therapist  at ask-a-therapist at speechblubs.com for any speech related questions go and join our Facebook  groups for parents right now and don't forget to follow us on social media Aimes Global autism  and Speech Blubs on Facebook and aimes.global and Speech Blubs on Instagram thanks for tuning  in make sure to like share and subscribe for more

content like this follow us on Instagram Facebook  and Pinterest at Speech Blubs visit our website speechblubs.com for more information on speech  development created by experts last but not least download the Speech Blubs app to explore how  you can improve your child's speech with us!