My daughter Thais is autistic. A few months ago on my freelance writing blog, I wrote about how Thais taught me a few lessons that I was able to apply to my freelance writing.

Recently, I began thinking about how dealing with my daughter’s condition has influenced my technical writing. It has, in a few significant ways.

Keeping things simple

One area in which Thais has needed, and still needs, help is language. While she has a large vocabulary, she can’t use it as well as she would if she wasn’t autistic. While her comprehension and ability to express herself are steadily improving, my wife and I still need modify what we say to make things a bit easier to understand.

It’s technical writing 101, but something that I think that’s sometimes forgotten: simpler is usually better. Keep the language that you use simple (with reason, of course) and your content as short and to the point as possible. This will not only keep the attention of readers and help them complete a task faster, but it will also help people whose native tongue isn’t the one you’re writing in to better understand the material.

Break things down

My daughter, like many autistic kids, has trouble following directions with multiple steps. Again, this is an area in which Thais is steadily improving but she still needs more work.

If you have a complex task, it’s often better to break it up into several discreet sets of procedures. Then, use some sort of segue to bridge each set of procedures. It sounds simple, but it isn’t.

Think visually

You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression a picture is worth a thousand words. With an autistic child, visual schedules (which show each task they need to perform, in the order that they need to perform the tasks) are essential for 1) getting the kids into a routine, and 2) mixing things up in that routine.

Again, this is technical writing 101 but something else that is sometimes forgotten is how effective visuals can be in documentation. Not just diagrams and screen captures (which, I think, are often overused), but also process flow diagrams and even screencasts. A well done and properly used visual can work better than a page full of text.

Everyone can learn and adapt

Thais sometimes finds new situations and, sometimes, new concepts difficult to grasp. She has been known to struggle a little more when learning something that other kids seem to pick up quickly. But with work and guidance and encouragement, my daughter has picked up a lot, and improved in so many ways, over the last nine months. Everything from improved handwriting and math skills, to better composition (I’d hope so, with two writers for parents!), to some basic spoken and written Chinese.

It goes to show that people can adapt — to a new application, to a new user interface, to a new way of doing things. As technical communicators, it’s our job to help users through what may be a maze of newness. We need to explain and guide, but also allow our readers to try things out and work some things out on their own. How? Using what I described above, plus the other techniques in our arsenal. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re writing not for ourselves, but for folks who may or may not know as much (or more) about the subject than we do. We’re the guides.

Conclusion

While I can’t honestly say that I use everything that my daughter has taught me about technical writing, I do try. I might not always succeed at creating phenomenal documentation, but I can say that what I’ve learned from Thais and how I’ve tried to apply it has made me a better technical communicator.

Related posts:

1. Learning a lesson in crafting clear instructions
2. Finding good technical writing in interesting places
3. How important is the writing part of technical writing?