What is Autism? An Autistic-Practitioner Perspective
Updated: 21 hours ago
Autism or Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) describe individuals who differ from the general population in their communication styles, how they perceive and value social interaction, and how their personal interests manifest. Autistic people also experience reduced and/or heightened sensitivity to stimuli like light and sound. They also engage in repetitive behaviours such as stimming, which supports self-regulation.
Now that is a rather different definition and even label, for what is currently known in medicine as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Why Definitions Matter
How we define a thing, the words we use, directly affect how we approach it. Once a term is established to describe a person or phenomenon, we must continually ensure that it accurately describes what we are observing, rather than allowing the limits of language to misrepresent the person or phenomenon itself.
Autism is not something to be cured or fixed. It is not something you have, but an inseparable part of how you experience and interact with the world. Indeed autistic people may also present with intellectual disability, inattention and other learning challenges, motor control issues, and so on—but these are co-occurring conditions, not what defines autism.
When a core skill as communication is a barrier, it often affects a range of other behaviours. Communication deficits in autistic children are associated with broader developmental delay, emotional dysregulation, and behaviours of concern such as severe tantrums and self-injury. Limited communication can also be stigmatised within society, perceived as a lack of inner depth or intelligence, which in turn can reduce the opportunities autistic people are given.
Communication is the Right of Every Child
Many of the autistic children that present to my clinic do so for their behaviours of concern. These are often kids who had already undergone years of therapy. Some even vocalising memorised sentences, yet unable to effectively express themselves in everyday situations. That is to say, they had limited 'functional communication'.
Their caregivers would resign themselves to the idea that this was the nature of autism for their child, and that they couldn't expect much more.
As a behaviour analyst, I have supported numerous autistic kids and young people who were thought of as 'attention-seeking' or 'likes annoying people' in being able to say "help" instead of panicking, and over time, learn to specify and negotiate using language. For these children, behavioural concerns are reduced using functional communication training, and coaching caregivers from an autistic-practitioner perspective—providing accommodations and adapting their own behaviours to better support their child.
While some kids with intellectual disability may require more effort to develop and maintain communication, I have supported measurable improvements in the functional communication of autistic kids with little to no speech, within the first year of weekly sessions. An autism diagnosis does not, by itself, mean the individual may never develop effective communication skills to navigate life.
Enabling Equal Opportunity for Autistic People
Ensuring the rights and equal opportunities of autistic people begins in early childhood.
Every autistic child must be given the opportunity to learn to communicate in ways that are most effective and meaningful to their needs and motivations. While outcomes cannot be guaranteed, I believe too many autistic people are being left behind due to inadequate early intervention (ages 3-6 years).
Autistic children may not understand the structure of language initially, and that is precisely the difficulty with acquiring it at the same rate as others. Therefore, it is the responsibility of adult caregivers to provide frequent opportunities to develop and maintain functional communication that enables their everyday choices.
At Spectra, communication is prioritised in every session. Children are first taught to say "no" and "stop" to facilitate safety and autonomy. Next is choice-making. Some autistic kids may require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) such as picture communication cards. We prioritise the child's immediate communicative needs, with the goal of making communication progressively more efficient and fluent. This may mean using AAC while teaching pre-speech skills, or combining speech and AAC. As the child develops their language skills, written communication and more complex social skills such as conversations can be addressed.
One of the biggest barriers autistic people face is simply not being understood. We cannot truly support those we don't understand. Choose neuro-affirming autistic practitioners where possible, and above all, prioritise the functional communication of autistic children.
