Start with what brought you here
You may be looking for one answer, one idea, or simply a different way of understanding something that has been difficult.
You don't need to explore everything at once. Start with the question that feels most important today.
Why am I finding it so difficult to connect with my child?
How is my child communicating with me, even without words?
How can I communicate better with my child?
How can I join my child's play?
Why doesn't my child seem to understand or pay attention to visual schedules?
Why is my child having meltdowns?
More questions to explore
Your questions help this collection grow. As parents share what they would like to understand, we will continue to structure our conversations, articles, webinars and other resources.
Have a question you would like us to explore?
Explore the Parent Perspective
If you would like to look more broadly at how understanding your child can guide what comes next, explore the Parent Perspective step by step.
1What do I already know about my child?
Parents already hold a great deal of knowledge about their child's preferences, communication, routines, sensitivities, strengths and difficult moments.
This knowledge provides an important starting point for understanding the individual child.
2How can I observe differently?
Move from "What is my child doing?" toward:
"What might this be telling me about how my child experiences, understands and responds to the world?" And: "What is my child showing me that they can already do?"
3What does child-centered mean here?
Being child-centered is more than choosing activities a child enjoys or being responsive to their needs. Here, it means allowing what we learn from the individual child (their interests, sensory experiences, communication, attention, strengths and emerging abilities) to influence where and how we begin.
4What does relationship-centered look like?
The relationship is not simply the setting in which teaching happens. It is part of what makes engagement and learning possible.
Before asking the child to follow our direction, we learn how to join them.
We consider what we might change in our own communication, expectations or approach. We become more understandable and predictable, adapt our communication, share their interests and create experiences in which being with another person becomes meaningful.
5Understanding my child's sensory experiences
What attracts my child? What overwhelms them? What helps them feel comfortable and available for interaction and learning?
How might their sensory experiences influence the way they respond to people, activities and everyday environments?
6Recognizing communication before words
What is my child already communicating through actions, movement, behaviour, pictures, sounds, gestures or attention?
How can I become more responsive to these attempts at communication and help my child discover that their communication is understood?
7Joining my child's interests and play
How can I enter what already has meaning for my child before expecting them to enter an activity I have chosen?
What happens when I follow their interest, share an enjoyable experience or simply become a familiar and welcome part of what they are doing?
8What matters most to our family right now?
What would make a meaningful difference in your child's and family's everyday life?
Communication? Play? Participation in routines? Greater independence? Being able to share an activity together?
Your priorities matter. They help us understand where you hope to go. Understanding your child helps us consider how you might get there.
9Where might we begin?
We do not choose the starting point from the framework alone.
The child helps us find it.
Explore AAPT: Autism Skill Assessment and Programming Tools →
Continue the Conversation
Understanding your child is an ongoing process. As you observe, reflect and try different ways of connecting and communicating, new questions may emerge.
Our monthly conversations provide opportunities for parents and professionals to share observations, explore questions and consider how what we learn from the individual child can guide what comes next.
Bring your questions. Bring your observations.