Indispensable People
Making the Gospel Accessible to people of ALL abilities so that they may know Christ, grow in Him, and serve Him with the gifts He has given them.
Indispensable People
Predictable Words, Powerful Connection
We explore autistic scripting as real communication and a tool for self‑regulation, and share simple ways churches can respond with care. We focus on reading context, expanding scripts, and shaping environments so people with autism are heard and welcomed.
• defining autistic scripting and how it differs from casual quoting
• why context and intent matter for understanding meaning
• immediate vs delayed scripting and how to read each
• scripting as communication and self‑regulation in busy settings
• practical support: expand scripts, teach alternatives, use social stories
• shaping environments to reduce stress and honor dignity
• when scripting signals distress and how to respond
• building relationships that make the gospel accessible
If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable-People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People
Hey, hey, my name is Tracy Coral and welcome to Indispensable People. I'm a pastor, a teacher, a missionary, a mom, a wife, and I believe that every person should have access to the gospel so that they can know Christ, grow in him, and serve him with the gifts that he has given. Over 65 million Americans have a disability. That's 15 to 20% of every community. And over 85% of those individuals do not attend church. 90% of pastors believe that they are a disability-friendly church, but only 20% of parents and families agree. Let's dive deep into hard topics, big questions, perceptions, stereotypes, and so much more. Hey, hey, and welcome to this episode of Indispensable People. We are getting into the new year, and although it's a new year, we're not talking necessarily new things. We're gonna continue the conversation about ministering and reaching people with disabilities with the gospel, making the gospel accessible to all people. And today's topic, we're talking about autistic scripting. And you might have heard, you know, all different kinds of ways parroting, parroting and scripting are a little bit different from each other, but mainly scripting, someone who is autistic is someone you're gonna find who would be a typical person that kind of fits this explanation. Will you find it in other disabilities? Absolutely, possibly, but it is mostly found in individuals with autism. However, you should always note it's not gonna be found in every person that has autism. Because as we've said before, if you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. And that does not answer or give you direction for every other person. So, so what is autistic scripting? It is repeating words or phrases from like media, movies, books, conversations. They can even come from self-regulation strategies that have been taught or communication support systems. And what it is, it's utilizing those phrases from media and conversations and things like that to manage anxiety or social systems or situations and using that predictable language. So an individual with autism may not be able to have a natural flow of conversation. And so they use that what they've heard in a movie or a television show or on the radio, things like that that might apply directly to the situation that's going on, and utilize that to either communicate something that they need, maybe even describe a feeling, or as a way to interact. So here's the here's the parroting. So it's a form of echolala. I am so sorry, echolalia, a natural developmental stage and language acquisition, okay, which is used to communicate needs or feelings when spontaneous language is difficult. But it can also be a coping mechanism. And we have to understand the context and the intent behind scripting is really key. And if we do that, it can really become a powerful tool that helps us connect with that individual. And that individual may have a very difficult time connecting because they don't have the natural flow of conversation and ideas that, and they have to rely on that predictable text. And so when we are able to make direct connections with them when we take in the context and the topic that they are trying to get across to us in their scripting, then we can make deep, meaningful connections with them. So what does scripting look like? How does that come into play? Well, I've already mentioned quoting movies, TV shows, or YouTube videos. And now listen, that isn't just your regular, like you're a movie buff, so you're throwing something in in a conversation that brought up an idea. I often have interactions with my friends where they'll say something and it was a song line, and I'll I'll say, Oh, you there's a song about that. And then I'll start to say the words from the song. That is not what we're talking about. We're talking about using the quotes from movies and TV shows or YouTube videos or whatever, radio, those kinds of things as a form of communication. Okay. And understanding context clues that connect with this can really again help build that connection. Know that they are trying to conversate with you, have interaction in a way that is comfortable for them, again, using that predictable language. So for instance, singing a song from summer camp when excited, or using, you know, help help. We have to help, you know, from a movie when needing assistance. So, like understanding where you are, what's going on, what is the current situation. You don't even have to know necessarily the movie or the television show or whatever that it's from to be able to connect. Like look around the space, check the situation, think about the words that they just spoke and see how they can you can connect that. You should also know that some of this scripting can be done, it doesn't necessarily happen right on time. So it might be a little bit delayed or it might be immediate, which then, you know, if it's delayed, makes things a little bit more difficult because the context is not as easy to find. But if you had been spending time with that person throughout the day, then you can take that into context and really see where that might have been pulled from and how it can help you to understand whatever is going on within that context. So when people are scripting, again, they're trying to communicate. They may also be trying to self-regulate. So dealing with an anxious situation or an anger issue or, you know, whatever might be going on, they're using that the text, the predictability of the text that they are familiar with to deal with the situation that's going on. So what was overwhelming, they use predictable to help to regulate. Again, also, this can help with processing. So they're thinking, like obviously, if they're making a connection to what's going on in the context that they're in, the environment that they're in, and they're connecting it to a movie, a television show, radio, a song, whatever, they are processing that information and they're making connections and they're building understanding. And if you really think deeply about how the brain is working through that, it's actually a pretty amazing way to process information. Okay. And it, if we're very careful, we need to make sure that we don't mock it, right? That we're not making fun of it and that we're utilizing it for the communication that it could be or the self-regulation that it could be. And that could help build those social connections. So, how can you support scripting? This is you have to determine what the use is, right? Is it for communication? Is it for help? Is it for excitement? Is it for regulation? All that kind of stuff. So making the connections and and being able to utilize it with that individual, that's a that's supporting it. And it's helping them process information, it's helping them process, process, and utilize language, even if it's predictable, even if it's not completely on context, it is their way to take in information and to process it. And us helping to make those connections just deepens that ability to communicate. So how else can you support it? You can expand the script, right? You don't have to leave it where they left it. You can go even further. You can provide, you can build on familiar phrases and teach new words that help to express the things that they're that they're trying to express. And you can even take it to the next level and teach new scripts, providing alternative, context-specific phrases for common situations, basically setting them up to build that predictable text and then use it in a context. So they hear something over and over, and then they become comfortable with it, and then they start to use it. And using the scripting can be a stress response, right? We said it can be used for self-regulating. So a scripting is a response to stress. We want to identify and change the stressful situation. So us understanding the context of the scripting and how we can then change the environment or help that individual, that's a support of their scripting. If you're familiar with social stories, social stories are typically stories that are set up to help people understand a social situation. And so you can build that scripting within those social stories that again build that, build that language context, then bring in that comfort, comfort with that language, and then they begin to start using that within the social context. So how do you know if you need to further support? Like if you need to build, you need to work through what's going on. So if the scripting hinders learning or social interaction, okay, this is gonna be this is tricky in the sense that people are going to want that person to make direct eye contact. They're gonna make want them to, some people are gonna make want them to say just what they need, right? They don't want to go on this hunt of figuring out what they're saying and how it connects to the context and all that kind of stuff. So I'm not talking about nixing scripting, not allowing them to utilize it, but I think we help support it and we help grow it. As and especially if I'm speaking to church volunteers right here, you have to know that we don't carry the responsibility of the growth of that scripting. Can we support it? Can we understand it? Can we foster it? Absolutely. But they only spend so much time with us in a church context, and so we're not always going to be able to foster all that scripting could be and how it could morph into clearer communication and help with their social interactions. For I would say a ministry context, the important part would be to make sure that we're not disconnecting from the individual because they are not having the natural flow of context that requires us to go further in understanding, right? We want to make sure that we're connecting, building a purposeful relationship with the individuals that we're encountering. And so the other thing that we and especially this is gonna hit the church, we really want to make sure that we are being thoughtful of is when the scripting becomes a sign of distress, when it signals intense anxiety and overwhelm. We want to make sure that we're helping to meet needs and we're helping to identify the emotions that are being felt and finding ways to help that person through that in that moment. We want to make sure that we recognize scripting as a meaningful way of communication. And it's a it is a coping strategy that helps with self-regulation. And if we utilize it right in the context that we're in, it doesn't matter if you're in a church, out of a church, if you met someone at an ice cream store or anything like that, whatever it is, right? Um, that we can build connection and not just trying to stop it or mock it. And that makes an accessible gospel. I can't claim to have all the answers. I can't claim to know all the things, but here's what we are gonna do. We're gonna keep this conversation going. We're gonna make the accessible gospel available to individuals with disabilities in our churches and in our communities so that every person has the opportunity to know Christ, to grow in him, and to serve him with the gifts that he has given. If you want to dive deeper on your own, you can check out the Indispensable People blog or my books on Amazon called The Indispensable Kid or Gospel Accessibility and the Indispensable People.
