Communication and interaction strands
Tailored appraoches for communication and interaction strands
| Aspect | Presenting Barriers & Challenges |
|---|---|
| Speech, Communication & Language | Early Communication: Looking, joint attention, taking turns and listening. |
| Attention and Listening: Processing and understanding spoken language in real-time, actively concentrating on auditory and visual stimuli in the environment. | |
| Understanding of Spoken Language (Receptive Language): Comprehension of sentence structures, pronouns, negatives, plurals, tenses. | |
| Expressive Language: The ability to express thoughts, needs, feelings, and ideas, use correct word order, grammar, plurals, tenses, etc. | |
| Phonology: Speech sound production skills. | |
| Non-Fluency/Stammering: Repeating words/sounds, stumbling, hesitating. | |
| Quiet or Reluctant Speakers: Including selective or situational mutism. | |
| Autism - Social Understanding & Communication | Supporting Access to Lessons Requiring Imaginative Thinking: Engagement in activities that require imagination, flexible thinking, or creative problem-solving. |
| Communicating Own Needs: Expressing needs, preferences, or discomfort. | |
| Social Interactions: Initiating, joining, or sustaining social interactions, participation in group work and peer relationships. | |
| Understanding the Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions of Others: Interpreting or predicting the thoughts, feelings, or motivations of others. | |
| Friendships & Relationships: Forming and maintaining friendships and relationships. | |
| Autism - Flexibility, Information Processing & Understanding | Attention and Listening: Hyperfocus/monotropic attention (links to attention & listening in SCLN). |
| Engagement in Activities or Lessons: Especially if the content is not of personal interest or is perceived as irrelevant, leading to reduced participation. | |
| Executive Functioning Planning: Including organizing, starting, and completing tasks, working memory and flexible thinking. | |
| Changes & Transitions: Coping with changes in routine, environment, or expectations, leading to anxiety or distress during transitions between activities or settings. | |
| Emotional Understanding, Regulation and Self-Advocacy: Recognizing, understanding, and managing their own emotions, communicating emotional needs or advocating for themselves effectively. | |
| Demand Avoidance: Resistance or avoidance to everyday demands and requests impacting participation and cooperation. | |
| Autism - Sensory Processing & Integration | Supporting Learners to Meet Their Sensory Needs: Heightened or reduced sensitivity to sensory input (e.g., sounds, lights, textures), which can affect comfort, focus, and participation. |