Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbara, autism mom, and board certified behavior analyst.
It's been almost two decades since my firstborn son Lucas started showing
signs of autism at the age of 21 months and that's when my husband Charles, who's
an emergency medicine physician, first mentioned the possibility of autism. I
was horrified at the thought of an autism diagnosis and I was in denial
about Lucas's delays telling my husband that I never, ever wanted to hear the
word autism again. Lucas was eventually diagnosed with autism and I went on to
become a BCBA, and a decade ago, wrote my best-selling
book, The Verbal Behavior Approach. I also earned a PhD and created two online
courses for professionals and gung-ho parents which has already reached
several hundred participants from over 40 countries. Since telling my husband I
never wanted to hear the word autism again almost two decades ago, it is
somewhat ironic that I now see, say, type, and read the word autism hundreds, if not
thousands of times each day. Because I'm so entrenched in the autism field, as
both a parent and professional, the one autism term that I come across almost
every day is nonverbal and every time I hear it I kind of cringe. So many parents
and professionals do use that word to describe their children or clients who
are not yet speaking and they say nonverbal and I know the term shouldn't
really bother me but it does. As I described in my book, everyone is verbal
including newborn babies who cry to be fed or because they are in need of a
diaper change. Yes, verbal behavior includes crying,
holding out arms to be picked up, pointing to show someone something, or to
get something they want, using sign language, using a device to communicate. So when
parents or professionals describe children as nonverbal, it's just not
accurate. All children and adults are verbal, even those who do not yet speak,
and most children with autism who don't speak and do not have good augmentative
communication systems in place, such as sign language, to help them
communicate do exhibit major problem behaviors that complicate programming.
You see, according to Dr. Mark Sundberg, over 95% of all problem behaviors are
caused by a child not being able to make requests or get their needs and wants met.
Since we are all verbal, most ABA and VB practitioners, including me, prefer
to use the term non-vocal or minimally vocal to describe children who are not
yet speaking or only using a few words. Even more important than the term we use
though, is that we need to learn better ways to teach children with autism to be
more verbal and to be more vocal. I guess why I cringe a little when I hear the
term nonverbal, is because I feel that some people tend to write off these kids
and don't provide enough intensive intervention to enable each child to be
a lot more verbal, and possibly a lot more vocal too. Teaching verbal behavior
is the first step to helping children with autism reach their fullest
potential. To learn how to improve language and decrease problem behaviors,
click the link right below this video for a free ebook that I used to sell, as
well as a free video workshop filled with useful strategies and videos of
former clients of mine who have made tons of gains. Thanks for watching, and
I'll see you next week.