facilitating communication in non-verbal autism As parents of autistic children, we are often tasked with bridging the gap of communication between them and the outside world. But, who bridges the gap for us between our children and ourselves? Many children with autism begin their early lives as nonverbal and some never become verbal. For me, trying everything was important. We began therapy as soon as possible, which for him was when he was 18 months old. I had been told he is losing skills, but autism was not something I suspected. I actually thought my child was deaf. I had his hearing tested 3 times because I could not wrap my mind around why he was not trying to communicate. There were times I honestly believed he could not hear at all because he would not respond to me when I spoke to him. After the 3rd hearing test, it was painfully clear his hearing was better than mine. I began searching for answers, which of course lead me to the diagnosis of Autism. To be…
