Chris Whittaker

Dr. Chris Whittaker, Research Fellow (retired) Durham University- United Kingdom, and Carol Potter, Senior Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University - United Kingdom, developed a Minimal Speech Approach (MSA) for non-verbal children with autism. Their book 'Enabling Communication in Children with Autism' gives detailed practical guidance, for parents and professionals, on implementing a MSA. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Chris presented a new theoretical perspective on a MSA in an article published In the journal Medical Hypotheses January (2012) 48,1, 15-22. There he proposed a novel, falsifiable, Speech Aversion Hypothesis - that some aloof, non-verbal, children with severe autism will show aversive reactions to complex speech (>2-3 words), but not to a silent adult, or one imitating their vocalizations, in proximal encounters. Possible auditory processing anomalies are examined and guidelines are established for future research.