From the introduction: "Because communication is integral to people’s ability to participate in their communities, the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities identifies it as a right. For autistic children and adults with significant communication needs who use less familiar forms of communication, such as sign language, gestures, and voice output communication aids, exercising that right to communicate may be challenging, if not impossible, be it at home, at school, in the workplace, or elsewhere.

Today, the trend is to use a strengths-based approach to improve autistic individuals’ ability to communicate and look holistically at the context, including communication partners and the communicative environment."