Presuming Competence By Toby DeRoche

PRESUMING COMPETENCE

By Toby DeRoche

Like lots of autistic kids, my little guy is really good at hiding how much he knows. The thing is, my wife and I know he is fully capable of doing pretty much anything. By presuming the fact that he is a fully competent, we always approach him as child who will eventually be able to do anything.

Just because a child may not be able to speak that does not mean he or she is not listening to and understanding every word coming out of your mouth. You know your child better than anyone, but the your perspective may be holding you and your child back.

Let me give you a simple example. My 5 year old loves number and letter puzzles. Since we are presuming competence, we are working under the idea that he is always capable of more. So building on his love for letters, we are pushing him to learn sight words, and we are working on early reading skills. We always assume he is going to be able to pick up any skill, it will just get done on his own time.