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The Pointing Program:
Since identifying objects through pointing is an important precursor to verbal speech, we like to do a “pointing” program with our children. It is really easy, and perhaps the most difficult part will be engaging your child long enough to keep him pointing! (This is where the autism complicates the apraxia diagnosis…) You will need to start with a simple picture book that does not have too many pictures on the pages. Too many pictures will be over stimulating visually and may distract your child from the task at hand.  Inexpensive preschool books are fine to start with. Touch and feel books are great too because they combine textures with pictures, and therefore offer a more complete sensory experience.

Once you decide on a starting book, stick with it for awhile so that your child will become familiar with it and have greater success. Pointing is not easy for children with autism. It is a joint attention skill, and since their social communication skills are so impaired, they usually do not care a lot about joint attention activities. If your child has a favorite character or item of interest, try to find a book about it and that may help with their attention span.

Continue in this manner though the entire book. If there is more than one picture on a page, be sure that you only ask him to point to one particular picture, and keep it the same each time you do the activity.( The pictures will be different on each page of course, but you will ask for the same pictures each time you do the book until he has mastered it.)