Do you think you should teach a non-communicative disabled child sign language?

I understand that. Right now with us, sign language doesn't work either, we tried & still try at times, we also still work on speech as well. Right now it be nice to hear him talk, but we have our own system going on. I pretty much know what he needs when he comes up to me. It's almost like I can read his little mind. LOL! With that said... I do work with speech daily & today he said "I luv yeeeeee ma." So progress is coming. He might not speak again for another month, but like you, I wont give up hope. :D

We all have to do what we think is best for our children. We have to accept what we have and find ways to make a fix we can live with. I haven't given up hope my child will speak. If someone sets me down and says, "sorry, that just isn't a reasonable expectation." I will say Okay and have him signed up in a sign language class before the hour is up. I want what is best for him and focusing on one thing at a time is what I would like for him to do, especially when it comes to specific subjects. I believe if the only way your autistic child can communicate is with sign language, teach him or her and enjoy the conversations. I say every verbal child should learn sign language. As for my situation, I will wait and see as with everything else.

I know a family with six sons and number 4 is autistic. He was an adult before he really had a real opportunity to begin to express himself and get out and do things. He is completely non-verbal and most likely always will be. He created his own sign language to let his mother know what he wanted and eventually they found someone to come to the house and work with him to teach him actual sign language so he could expand his vocabulary so to speak. Dealing with children is challenging and what works with one won't necessarily work with another. One thing about this adult child who had never spoken and didn't have certain resources available to his family when he was growing up, when he had the opportunity to attend a special camp in another state he shocked everyone. He rode a horse, played the piano and showed interest in things no one ever knew he was aware of. Just like "normal" kids, sometimes it is a matter of finding a way to reach the child and discovering what learning method works best for that child.

The little girl is four, the same age as my classic autistic child. She couldn't speak before they taught her sign language and she won't speak now either. She said a word or two before but not complete sentences or juice. She still doesn't. I wouldn't let my son learn sign language because he was starting to talk too and I didn't want him to rely on sign language, which is what happened to her. My son doesn't grunt. He will point, he leads me to what he wants, or sometimes he will say what he wants. He can actually say cookie now. I take a lot of time to speak to him and try to get him to repeat. I don't have to worry about him being stubborn and relying on another "tool" to communicate. I think it is great to teach kids sign language, I'm not sure I would jump on that bandwagon saying it's good to teach autistic children sign language. Like you said though, it's really up to the individual parent. Signing can be a way for them to communicate. So can pointing. My son hasn't had a meltdown yet because we didn't understand him pointing. I have seen my friend come close to having a meltdown because she was so frustrated trying to get her child to talk. I'm a firm believer in less stress. I saw what she was going through and decided it wasn't for me. I am glad you have had success with your child signing.

If I had a four year old who was sick or in pain or had had something happen to her I would want her to be able to sign and quickly tell me what was wrong. I have a limited vocabulary in sign language and it would be the same as having a child that could speak French or Spanish or any other language. All that is necessary for a child to learn to talk is to hear talking and imitate what they hear. If this little girl said a word or two we know she is capable of speaking other words eventually when she is ready.

We work with our son every day of every second on his speech. He does not talk. He does try, but he can't. It's not that he doesn't want to, it's because he can't. We see him struggle every day. He works hard to copy what we are saying, but only ends up humming. Sometimes he can say small words, but very hard to understand. Our son is also in therapy & it's going on 2 years now. I also know families with Autistic children as well who can't talk & have been in therapy for years & years & that child/adult still can't talk. So sign language, if it can be taught, is wonderful & every Autistic child who is non-verbal should, sooner or later during their child years be taught to sign. They should have that chance to learn how to communicate with the world as we do. Just because they refuse to speak doesn't mean they are being stubborn or the parents are not working hard enough, its because that child can't talk. So I think its wrong to take that right away from them. Sign language should be taught. Its a form of communication. If my son could sign, I'd be so happy. So many parents have children who can't speak & who can't learn sign language... imagine that? Can you imagine not having any kind of communication with your child?

Both of our children are in therapy. Mine babbles mostly incomprehensive, but constantly. He is talking though and you can understand a word here and there. Her daughter doesn't make much noise at all. I agree with you that she is relying on sign language. One of these days she's going to come out with full sentences and surprise the heck out of all of us.

I think a child should have communication as well. I think that since my is making noises and he pops out with audible words once and awhile, I believe he will talk. If I am wrong then I am the one that has to face the consequences and suffer his hurt that I didn't teach him signing sooner. I want him to progress and I'm not sure trading one form of communication for another is a progression FOR MY CHILD. Maybe other parents know their child won't speak. I believe mine will and can. He isn't at the mental level to tell me a story yet so I'm not giving up hope. Even the speech therapist feels he will talk. He wants to and he tries and at the mental age he is at, I couldn't ask for more.

OMG Canellita, I love love love your thinking! My daughter and I were both Selective Mute. It is an anxiety disorder. It is not autism and it is not that we did not want to speak....couldn't at times. Other times we could. The more pressure to speak...the harder it was. It's very hard to explain. I really think if I knew sign language that it would not have stopped me from overcoming this. Nor would it have my daughter. She is 25 now and has slowly come out of it. I'm 53 and some people can't believe that I was ever that way. I have friends that knew me back in the day that can vouch for it. I communicated a lot in writing. My daughter used a tape recorder...videos and writing. Ironically the schools did not accept those methods. Their main goal was to get her to talk verbally and the more they pushed the worse they made it. I had to really fight to get them to just let her be. Bear in mind that she had all A's and B's in all of her classes throughout.

Actually, that's what we are thinking. That she is speaking but just not to us. She is head strong and I KNOW where she gets that. LOL It's funny you say that about the hand thing. My daughter is right handed and our son is left but I think everyone has been trying to teach him right handed. That's why it took him so long to pick up a crayon and color.

Do me (and him) a favor and tell everyone that when he is coloring to LET him do it. If he wants a green giraffe and a purple turtle let it be. It's called artistic license and it is his time for self expression. Kids know the sky is blue and teh grass is green but they live in worlds created by their very active imaginations and they only have so long to indulge before the real world and grown up life takes over.

I agree that sign language is a wonderful tool. If you are trying to teach a child to speak verbally, you are creating another reason why the child won't be verbal. I have watched this child, I know she should be able to talk if she WANTED to, but she just doesn't feel it's necessary when she is using sign language as a crutch. I think it's wonderful if she could do both and learn both at the same time. The parent is having a heck of a time trying to get her to speak now. The child doesn't need to go to a special school for the deaf, she was actually going to be mainstreamed because she isn't that bad as far as autism goes. She can hear fine. It's trying to get her to talk that is the problem.

Let me ask you, which of you most understands your child the most of the time? Is her child communicating coherently using the signs all of the time or only when she wants something? Your son obviously has a lot to say and is a big talker but as you pointed out, you only understand a fraction of what he says.

Well she might not be deaf, but studies do show that some Autistic kids may be able to hear, but they don't know how to respond to certain sounds or repeat the same sounds they hear & they do show some signs as a deaf child would. You said that you know she can speak, but how do you know that? Just curious.

If you are trying to get a child to talk and she won't talk because she can sign is that good? It's not making her any more social. She still plays to herself. It helps her to communicate but so does pointing, and taking your hand to what she wants. It's all a question of do you want to spend even more time with her being non-verbal because she has a "crutch".

pointing is something my son does, or he takes our hand & leads us to what he wants, but if I could get him to sign, I would rather him sign because pointing really isn't a form of communication. but this is a really touchy topic to some because every Autistic child is different & learns differently.

Would you rather have a child communicate via sign language or not at all? How is this all that different from a child who decides they want to wear what you consider to be crazy clothing or express some other form of self identity? I think you are making too much of this, particularly as it is someone else's child.

I hate to hear that five is the magic number for talking. My son says words but not audible sentences. Sometimes he repeats what he hears but he doesn't say things on his own. I am worried about his speech. He babbles a lot and he is in speech therapy at school but it isn't doing much for him.