As I haven’t written a blog in a long time, it occurred to me that as I passed my 30th anniversary(!) of working with autistic people, this is as good a time as any.
30 years sounds like a very long time (granted the first three were while I was an undergrad), and though it does not feel that long to me in many respects, I realize that the autism world has gone through numerous, ever-changing phases since I first entered it. Here are a few notable ones:
Part 1:
When I was first trained in 1995, we all said “autistic children.” However, some time later, we were told that this term was not appropriate. These were children first, separately from their diagnosis of autism and we should refer to them as “children with autism.”
However, as many of you know, this language has since been deemed disrespectful to autistic individuals’ identity and part of the disease-model. Many autistic self-advocates prefer the term “autistic” to describe themselves. Nowadays, I use the term “autistic individuals” for the most part, but I defer to the preferences of the individual with whom I am speaking (if I do not know, I defer to what is now considered the majority opinion in my community).
For an excellent research study on language preferences in the autism community, see Dr Connor Keating’s work (Keating, et. al, 2022).
Part 2:
“All behavior is communication” is another concept that gained momentum, and later shifted, about autistic and neurodivergent (which was not a term familiar to me in 1995!) individuals. It was a notable realization that individuals’ behaviors may be an attempt to convey ideas to other people.
However there is more recent thinking that this can be too broad of a statement (see: https://www.assistiveware.com/blog/autistic-behavior-always-communication?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMQyw9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHs3NbRQ_NV5oSE_FLprRue61zL3EC19PZzBx_WFvMTHbbVSjXmJKv6QD5hUj_aem_hHkblpGFJxoIMzI6ZjB9FQ).
It seems much more appropriate to say that “all behavior has meaning” which is a tenet of both developmental-relational and more traditional behavioral (i.e., “ what is the function of this behavior?”) approaches. The meaning underlying a behavior may include communication, an indication of sensory or emotional overwhelm, boredom, a “motor loop,” (and difficulties motor planning), among others.
It is critical that we continue to strive to understand behaviors from a holistic, interdisciplinary perspective, including internal (sensory, physiological), developmental, environmental, and interpersonal factors.
Click here for Parts 3 and 4.
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