Communicating with Children who are Nonverbal

As I mentioned before there was a boy in my internship experience who was nonverbal.  Some of the ways the aide communicated with him was verbally telling them what to do, using some sign language, and then they recently were able to get an ipad so he would be able to express what he wanted.  When he wanted something he would grunt and then point to what it was.  He was able to say a few words such as yes, no, his name, and then bye.  The aide also relied on some of this body language to understand what he was feeling or what he wanted.  Seeing the different ways they were able to communicate with one another made me wonder how parents were able to communicate with their child who was nonverbal. 

I found two sites where parents mention how they were able to talk with their child who was nonverbal.  In both of these cases the children were also autistic.  http://www.comeunity.com/disability/autism/autismnonverbal.html

http://www.howtodothings.com/health-fitness/how-to-communicate-with-a-non-verbal-child

Much of what I have seen with the aide and the child in the classroom, parents do just about the same thing at least in these two examples.   I really like the idea of teaching your child who is nonverbal how to use sign language.   This would require the parents and siblings to learn sign language as well.   I feel this could eliminate some of the frustration the child feels when they are not able to express themselves verbally.