Speech problems

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I know that speech delay is often a part of AS. Does any one else have a child that seems to talk with their tongue in the way a lot of the time - almost slightly lispy? Sometimes I wonder if his tongue is too big for his mouth.

Just like autism is a spectrum, so are speech patterns. Has your child been evaluated by a speech pathologist?

I had to have a great deal of speech therapy as a child (kindergarden through third or fourth grade).

Mine did revolve around my tongue; a tongue 'thrust' to be specific. It was a real pain to correct, and I still mess up my sounds if I am very tired or angry (speaking too quickly).

I remember the therapy because the other children were very cruel to me until I spoke 'properly'.

I second the recommendation of a therapist; if the school does not have one, and you cannot afford one, find one through a charity hospital. It isn't just speaking, it also affects tooth and mouth formation and therefore eating ability (IME).


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He had speech therapy before we went to school. He is almost 8 now. I have recently got the school to put another referral through, and he has been accepted, but just waiting for all that to start up. Would a speech pathologist be any different to this? (Sorry, am not up with exact terminology.)

My daughter is 17 now and her speech is fine but YES! she talked exactly as you stated above and I use to think that her tongue also was to big!

With speech therapy, this gradually went away and now she has a beautiful voice. On occasion she will still have trouble pronouncing certain words but not very often.

Annie -- that was exactly what I thought. My son (now 22) went through much speech therapy - in school and private - with some good outcome. He did fine in speech class, but didn't usually carry it over to everyday life and other classes.

He also has "mild non-progressive DX'd cerebral palsy" (it affects him somewhat, but will never get worse - or better). I think that his speech is affected by the CP, but haven't asked a professional. The CP is most noticeable in fine motor skills (he doesn't do cursive writing.) His printing is OK, but would be considered 'sloppy' by others. He has no trouble walking, but I don't think he could run for any length of time. (Again the CP.)

At 22, he can be understood by everyone and from teenage years has had a good sense of humor and connects easily with adults. Around his parents, he seems withdrawn and somewhat incommunicative. Most questions to him are answered with one word answers. But at other times, he'll carry on a more normal conversation.

Other adults (non-parents) say he is outgoing and funny and contributes meaningfully to conversations.

He was slow at most of his milestones as a baby including walking and talking. (I don't have his baby book and don't recall the times.)

He was 5 weeks premature. Any co-morbidity with premature birth and ASD? Mother had gestational diabetes.

This Forum, to which I am very new, has really been helpful to me as a parent and I have been thinking back to my son's progress over the years. I think he has progressived quite a bit. His ADD (no "H") has gotten better. He has hyper-focused on different subjects, but those chosen subjects have 'matured' over the years from Disney to Ninja Turtles to Video Games to Rock Music to the Internet. He is a good writer and a great reader -- on his subject matters.

My son had a tongue thrust. The dentist was the one who pointed it out to me and he told me that the speech eval at school should have picked up on that (but they did not). It resolved on its own though.

I had one child who was speech delayed, but started talking on his own when he was between 2 1/2 and 3 and caught up pretty quick (he didn't get a dx until he was 11). But when he entered school he had to have speech therapy for articulation.

My younger son spoke on time but you couldn't understand a word the poor guy said by the time he was 4. Speech therapy again for articulation.

I do think it's commen on the spectrum.

Lainie

This sounds like a job for an ST. I've seen this in Autie kids many times. My wife accused me of imagining this, but here we have a thread about it. Some speak with their tongues out. If they say "this" or "that," instead of the tongue being slighting behind the upper teeth, their tongues are sticking clearly out of their mouths. Even with the "sp" words, they sound like Elmer Fudd. Or, if they say "four" or "five" it sounds like "thor" and "thive."

But, according to my wife, it's all in my imagination. Even though the kids are right in front of me talking. I don't think you're imagining it. Like other's suggested an ST evaluation would be good.

What is an ST - speech therapist?

yes, ST is speech therapist, sometimes you'll see SLP which I think is speech language pathologist.

but, back to topic, both my boys (AS) get speech, my 7 year old has been since he was 18 months (not speaking at all then) but now it is for mostly speaking hypernasal, which basically means his S sounds (and maybe some others) come out his nose instead of his mouth. My 4 year old also get speech for hypernasality, but he also has a slight tounge thrust problem. Both boys have poor oral motor muscle tone, the 4 year old is a heavy drooler and likes to chew on everythying!

annie, I'm not 100% sure myself, I'm new to this (my son is only 2 1/2) and we just FINALLY had our first speech therapy session last week. If I understand it right, I think some Speech Pathologists provide speech therapy, and some just do diagnostics...then I think Speech Therapists provide speech therapy but do not make diagnoses. Don't quote me on that, but I think that's how it works. If I'm wrong hopefully someone here can correct me

As to your first question, my son does seem to talk with his tongue a lot.

Thanks everyone - I will see what comes of the speech assessment. Maybe the "tongue in the way" thing is related to the "clumsy" motor skills side of AS?

Hey, just as a follow-up to this, I managed to get speech therapy for my son - yay!! !! He got turned down by GSE (school service), but then I went back to the hospital and they gave me an appointment within a week, and he is going to have weekly half hourly sessions for awhile. I'm stoked!

good for you!! and your son