Overview

More Than Words is a family-focused program that gives parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related social communication difficulties, practical tools to help their children communicate.

More Than Words derives its theoretical basis from the same social interactionist perspective as It Takes Two to Talk, Hanen’s program for parents of pre-school children with language delays. Like this program, More Than Words emphasizes the child’s everyday activities as the context for learning to communicate. In addition, More Than Words incorporates current best practice guidelines, highlighting the importance of affect, predictability, structure and the use of visual supports to enhance learning in children with ASD.

The Program is organized around four major goals:

• Improved two-way interaction
• More mature and conventional ways of communicating
• Better skills in communicating for social purposes
• An improved understanding of language