Communication

Communication is a tough word, especially if you are on the autism spectrum. Depending on the struggle, a person may have trouble with verbal communication, stating what they want in words or they may have trouble explaining what they mean to someone.

Communication is also tricky for parents of kids/teens on the spectrum. I have found that I have to make endless explanations to people about my children, from defending them to explaining something to someone who just doesn’t get it.

I have also had challenges just communicating with my children individually. This can be anything from understanding actually what they truly need from me, to understanding their feelings, to just talking about simple things in general.

I also have to constantly communicate with teachers or other indiviuduals in their lives.

With teachers, it’s complicated. In high school, there are 4 different teachers each semester as well as for our son, sometimes 4 different educational assistants. It’s a lot to keep track of and to make sure that everyone is informed and that we are all working together as a collaborative team to make sure that our son achieves his educational goals. This is much easier said then done, especially when dealing with multiple personalities.

Sometimes educators do not know your child so how do you handle this? It’s tricky for me for sure. I try to stick to the facts but I also want to make sure that they understand his needs and where he is heading in the future.

Our daughter is in first year university, so communicating as a parent is pretty much obsolete. The only thing that I can do in this instance, is to make sure that she gets connected with the right people and encourage her to communicate and advocate for herself. This is a lot harder to stand back and watch, I must admit.

Whatever may be your communication style or barrier, I think that it is important to be as open and honest as possible without offending anyone.

What is your style of communication?