Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is the type of communication carried out without using any words. It is not always deliberate kind of communication. Unlike verbal communication, the intended message may not reach the receiver in this mode of communication. Here the participants subconsciously use gestures, signs, and pictures to convey something. Nonverbal communication plays an important role, perhaps as important a role as verbal communication plays, in providing an excellent account of oneself. Body language, a more common general term that is commonly used interchangeably for nonverbal communication, plays a vital part in sending strong signals about oneself.
People affected with some brain-related diseases such as autistic spectrum disorders can lack verbal communication skills. Most of them do not have nonverbal communication skill also. They communicate with the society in such a way that it appears that they do not understand the functioning of the society. Such people generally do not respond to the talking by others. Also, they find it hard to start a conversation. Among non-autistic children, some children prefer to communicate through gestures and signs even though they have proper ability and skill for speaking. For such children, training using nonverbal communication helps to improve their understanding of the world.
The most crucial period for the communication ability of a person is said to be first three years if life. During this period whatever is registered in the mind stay there forever, at least at the subconscious level. For children affected with autism and related disorders, their brain is affected in such a way that their verbal communication skills are almost non-existent. Some children affected by autism spectrum disorders show extremely good skills at drawing and using computers. But they will be very poor in talking and speech-comprehension aspects. Their social interaction will also tend to be very poor.
Children are supposed to make their first attempts for verbal communication when they are six months old. Later, when they are one and a half years old, they are supposed to learn at least six words. From then onwards their progress in vocabulary is pretty rapid. This is where children affected by the diseases like autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Because of environmental or genetical problems, the brain of such children is underdeveloped. That is believed to be the reason for their backwardness in or lack of verbal communication. A majority of autism-affected children do not use non-verbal communication tools like gestures and eye contact. But some of the autistic children think pictorially. They can draw the pictures of the household objects they are familiar with. Some teachers specializing in the education of autistic children advocate the use of drawing pictures to create a better awareness in autistic children about their surroundings and environment.
