Our children may be hyper-sensitive (seeking to avoid the sense) or hypo-sensitive (seeking out more of the sense) to any of the senses listed below:

De-personalising: explain that the requirement is made by some other, higher authority than you – for instance that “the pool manager is shutting the pool at 3pm” or that a certain law dictates certain rules. Finally! An easy to read book that meets parents and educators 'in the trenches' with information and strategies that help our kids learn critical thinking, social problem solving and executive functioning skills. This book is proof of how making small shifts in our language can have far reaching results."

Optimising the environment

The strategy centers around taking imperative sentences and turning them into declarative ones instead.** speaking about them in positive terms to other people e.g. “Millie has an amazing imagination, she always thinks of really good games to play” or “Luke really makes me laugh, he’s such good fun to be with.” At first, you might not think that making a comment or a statement instead of a question would make all that big of a difference. But declarative language is powerful!

Yeah, I too, have seen or noticed a sea change may be a slow one. But I started Tilt almost seven years ago now. And the landscape is so different from when I first started doing this podcast and started doing this work. And that is really exciting for me to see. And there does just seem to be a lot more openness and curiosity about how can we better support neurodivergent kids and really meet them where they’re at even just the approaches to doing that. And so it’s more compassionate is more about CO regulation, it is with more understanding of the nervous system and you mentioned fight flight or freeze response. And so it’s exciting. One of the things you talk about this being really supportive for kids who have social learning challenges, how would you define social learning challenges? It can be helpful to understand why more traditional parenting approaches – such as rewards/praise/sanctions – don’t tend to be effective in PDA households.Barry Prizant and David Finch Talk About Their New Podcast, Uniquely Human (Tilt Parenting episode) Demands make kid feel inadequate. But declarative language empowers them to feel competent, understand the world better, develop self-awareness, and self-advocate.”** As I've kind of mentioned already, it can take a bit of practice to get comfortable rephrasing questions and demands into declarative language. Sometimes it helps to see other examples like these: Yeah, well, any group of learners that are neurodivergent, I would say, like if we could use that, I’ve heard that it’s, although this wasn’t my intention, I’ve heard a lot from the PDA community that it’s very supportive and effective there. I think it’s really supportive with individuals who have diagnoses of ADHD, autism, twice exceptional nonverbal learning disability, oh, and executive function difficulties, like I think it also can come into play there. And now also neurotypical learners also respond really well to this style of communicating. And I think the thing about it is, one of the most important things is it puts it on us, the teacher, the caregiver, the therapist, to just own our own communication, and really think about how to share information with this learner in a way that they can receive it. So that’s why it can really be powerful for all learners, because we’re adjusting our communication to present it in a way that’s inviting, that’s positive, that’s guiding, that’s supportive. And that provides them the information that they really need in that moment. Like that. It’s good for everybody. But I also have heard that too, a lot of I’ve heard it’s just been really helpful as a general parenting book, even for parents and caregivers who are not in the same world that

As I've dived into learning everything I can about gestalt language processingover the years, I noticed that declarative language kept coming up as well. It's perfect for modeling scripts or gestalts and helping with those pronoun reversals. So it just further reinforced how beneficial it is to use this type of language with hyperlexic kids. They are gestalt processors after all. How to introduce declarative language communication and how it can support a child’s learning and development It's also important to remember that declarative language isn't about demanding your child to do things. So try rephrasing any directions that you give your child into an observation instead. Wondering what is declarative language and whether you should be using it with your autistic or hyperlexic child? Below you'll learn what it is, its benefits, and how to use it. We'll also look at different declarative language examples.Each time we speak, we have the opportunity to choose our words. Speaking in a thoughtful way means that we are choosing words that will invite and empower individuals with social learning differences to feel connected, feel competent, and feel understood while learning and being guided outside their comfort zone, at a pace that is manageable to them. When we pause to think about what we say and how we say it, our learners in turn stop to think about what they say or do in response. In this training, participants will be shown a speaking style called declarative language that can be naturally used within social interactions to encourage connection and learning across areas of perspective taking, flexible thinking, problem solving, and experience sharing.