47. Five Proven Strategies to Boost Speech Development in Autism

If you’ve ever been told to “withhold until they ask” when working with children with autism, this episode will challenge that approach. Twenty years ago, I did it too—and I saw how it backfired. Today, I’m sharing what I’ve learned, researched, and field-tested: 5 proven strategies that actually stimulate speech development in autism. You’ll learn why withholding speech opportunities triggers survival mode, and instead how to leverage: ✅ Movement for entrainment and oxygenation ✅ Literacy to capitalize on visual strengths ✅ Multimodal cueing to make speech salient ✅ Music to support engagement and back-and-forth ✅ Task-oriented movement to boost dopamine, attention, and executive function 🎯 This week’s SIS Membership call to action for SLPs: If you work with children with autism, you need ready-to-go activities that integrate movement, literacy, and complex targets into speech therapy. Inside the SIS Membership, you’ll get empirically-based, movement-rich weekly themes, literacy-driven materials, and parent/teletherapy slides that make evidence-based practice doable. 👉 Join today at www.kellyvess.com/sis