Your role is to not “cure” the child of autism but to improve communication which bolsters the autistic child’s growth and development and therefore helps to set and strengthen a foundation that encourages independent living.   

As a parent, we experience much joy when our autistic child gains the ability to answer static questions, but what does it look like for our child to communicate in a much deeper sense, and how do we help them improve?

Declarative communication can be verbal or non verbal. It is the opposite of imperative communication, which demands answers to questions.

With declarative communication a response is neither expected nor required. It’s okay if your child doesn’t respond to your declarative statement. For example: if you stated “These oranges are sweet.”, we would not expect a reciprocal statement.

So many objectives can be targeted during snow shoveling, both parent and child objectives.