Autistic Communication
"Respect your child. Do not do to your Autistic child what you would not do to a typically developing child. Your Autistic child is not in need of fixing. They are in need of acceptance and understanding. Your child only gets one childhood. Remember that. Therapies that value compliance and normalcy or sameness amongst peers are not respectful of your child's dignity, individuality, and autonomy. They are setting the stage for how others are allowed to treat your child. If you value compliance over autonomy, your child will likely learn to be compliant and more vulnerable....
...Lastly, understand what acceptance really means. It does not mean no supports or accommodations. It does not mean no help or therapies. Acceptance means you accept your child's Autistic neurology as valid. It means understanding the way your child experiences the world is uniquely Autistic. Acceptance means embracing the amazing Autistic person that your child is."
-Change the World, Not Your Child, by Lei Wiley-Mydske in Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What People on the Autism Spectrum Wish Their Parents
As a non-autistic SLP, Rachel's approach to supporting neurodiverse communication has evolved a great deal since her early years in practice. Graduate training in the early 2010s offered many social skills "programs" and very little in the way of honoring autistic communication styles or recognizing autistic strengths. Thankfully, these neuronormative therapeutic approaches never really 'sat right,' leading Rachel to seek out other voices to inform her work. Through the research of clinicians such as Barry Prizant and Marge Blanc and the words of autistic individuals - especially regarding their childhood experiences in a variety of therapies - Rachel has embraced a neurodiversity-affirming approach. Additionally, she has learned a great deal from her autistic clients and their parents over the years, and now provides support for autistic communicators in a way that validates their experiences, honors their uniquely-held interests, and seeks to build connection and joy as the foundation of all future communication.
Rachel is a Meaningful Speech-trained clinician with experience using the Natural Language Acquisition framework to understand and support emerging autistic communication. She has assisted many, many autistic children in developing flexible, meaningful, self-generated sentences by embracing a gestalt-based framework and honoring this unique pathway to language development. Additionally, she has developed an AAC pageset based on a gestalt language approach, and her nonspeaking autistic clients have experienced increased expressive language when given an AAC system that reflects the way their brains are organized, rather than expecting them to conform to a neurotypical, analytic approach to symbolic communication. If you are wondering if Rachel's approach to speech therapy will work well for your autistic child, please schedule a free, twenty-minute consultation.
