ABSTRACT
This chapter describes communication patterns and interventions with the residents and the staff at Bittersweet Farms. It reviews procedures underway to assess and enhance verbal and nonverbal interactions, and raises questions about such future efforts and their systematic study. At Bittersweet Farms, communication among residents and staff is a critical aspect of daily life and work. Deviant communication considered an essential and pervasive feature of autism, since Kanner’s first description and later follow-up of this disorder. Research studies of communication in autism have historically been carried out primarily with children. Assessing the speech and language skills of each resident begins with observation of the resident in the work setting and with collection of language samples during activities with familiar people. Language cuing devices and language enrichment plans are developed for each resident in the various settings throughout the day. Peter’s understanding of verbal language is limited to single directions within familiar contexts learning tasks through demonstration and with visual examples.
