Helping Children with Autism Communicate Their Needs

We are excited to share insights from a recent research article, A Clinical Tutorial on Methods to Capture and Contrive Establishing Operations to Teach Mands (Frampton, Davis, Meleshkevich, & Axe, 2024), which provides evidence-based strategies to support children with autism in effectively communicating their needs and wants. The study highlights three key approaches that can be used at home, in school, and during therapy:

1. Incidental Teaching – Encouraging natural opportunities for your child to request items or activities they want. For example, placing a favorite toy in sight but out of reach can create motivation to ask for it.
2. Interrupted Chains – Briefly stopping a routine or activity to prompt a request. For instance, if your child is making a sandwich but does not have the peanut butter, they can learn to ask for it before completing the task.
3. Encouraging Requests by Taking Short Breaks from Favorite Items – Sometimes, briefly putting away a favorite toy or snack can create a natural opportunity for your child to ask for it. This approach is always done in a gentle and supportive way to help them practice communication in a positive and encouraging environment.

These strategies help enhance communication skills while reducing frustration and challenging behaviors. If you would like more guidance on how to apply these techniques at home, please reach out to your child’s BCBA.

For further reading, you can refer to the full study:
Frampton, S. E., Davis, C. R., Meleshkevich, O., & Axe, J. B. (2024). A Clinical Tutorial on Methods to Capture and Contrive Establishing Operations to Teach Mands. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17(1270–1282). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-00985-3