RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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Thanks. We've been playing him a lot of YouTube videos lately (similar to your playlists) but I have no idea if any of it is sinking in. He does repeat some of the songs sometimes but I've never heard it used in context.

How long did this approach take with your son?

I recently copied a lot of his records onto a slideshow (which I've not added sound to yet), and he showed a dramatic improvement over a three year period--reflected by formal speech tests by speech pathologists. The improvement was uneven, though.

I saw big jumps in receptive speech and vocabulary during the six month period after I started using flashcards, though.

I think that you have a great opportunity to make big gains with such a young child--no pressure from the school to master a lot of academic material, which he might also find very challenging, not a real need to learn how to grip a pencil correctly, etc.

The pressure to teach my son so many different things combined with a lot of time wasted at school combined with lack of ready-made materials (me having to scour the Internet for supplies or make my own stuff) has slowed down his speech progress, I think.

I will also note that when my older son first really started talking a lot--the Prozac starting at just under age 4 made him chatter and try to use every word that he knew--he sounded kind of like a broken tape recorder. Rambling, scripted language out of context, etc. However, as time went on and his understanding and vocabulary improved, his speech became more and more normal.

I really like reading your posts blondeambition, quite inspiring and give me ideas.

Hi, thanks. At this point, (he is about 3 1/4 now) he can answer a few simple questions such as "what is it" and "what color is it." Once in a while he asks "what is it." If he wants something he just says the name of it. I can get him to cough out a sentence if I just hold the desired item out of reach, he will say "I want juice" or something like that. So like you did we are playing the videos over and over. We found stuff he likes and will watch. Later on, say, bedtime, he will sing some of the songs but I haven't heard him use any of the language in the songs outside of that context.

Another thing that worries us is that he won't give us things we ask for. Like "Can I have the ball?," he just won't respond to it. The only things he ever gives us are things he is done with like an empty juice box. He's not being selfish, he just doesn't get the concept. But our one-year-old does it all the time.

This sounds very much like my older son with classic autism. He learned to identify common objects, colors, numbers, and letters way before anything else. Regular preschool videos place a lot of emphasis on labeling colors, counting, and the alphabet, so this is natural.

Remember to also use flashcards or very simple picture books and picture dictionaries to elicit verbal responses from your son. The stuff I made on the slideshows on my speech channel is based on flashcards and simple picture books that I made for my son in order to work with him on his expressive speech (videos mainly work on receptive speech and comprehension). I would go through the cards several times with him while he was eating or otherwise occupied. Then I would drill him. I would ask the question and he would read the correct response off of the card. Eventually, he learned enough information between videos, flashcards, and other materials to put sentences together on his own, but it took quite a while.

I made a whole bunch of other materials for this purpose that I've not made into slideshows, and I also have a drawer full of commercially made flashcards from the local teacher supply store. (Amazon.com is a good source for flashcards, too.)

My older so is very much a visual learner--made very unique and interesting drawings before he could really write much of anything. He needs visual supports to learn much of anything and a lot of repetition. Maybe he even thinks in pictures, like Temple Grandin talks about in her book.

My older son can learn, but he doesn't learn in the "ordinary way," he learns slowly compared to his little brother, and he definitely benefits from a lot of repetition.

Now that he can speak better, he can learn a little better orally, but if you want him to learn a lot of academic knowledge, it needs to be accompanied by pictures and writing.

Hopefully, we can reach the point where writing alone will suffice, but we are not there yet. He just turned seven and he has just mastered writing in a paragraph.

We are still working with him on his reading, also. He likes to visually jump back and forth from the pictures in his books to the text (or just look at the pictures, if no one is around), resulting in him skipping words and missing key concepts. We are using a ruler under the words or making him place his finger under the words to try to get him read all of the words on the page. After he reads the book, he has to write a paragraph about it. (He has his own picture book library and reads his books however he wants when he is not being worked with.)

Also, thanks for the nice comment, Nostromo!

I recommend the following DVD story series for speech (see Amazon.com): Spot (from Disney, based on the great speech story books by Eric Hill), Kipper (for British children; turn on the close captioning), Maisy, and Blues Clues (turn on the close captioning).

For older kids who are a little more advanced, I would get the Scholastic Storybook Collection of 100 stories (turn on the read along function).

I have a ton of videos and DVDs. I love flashcards and specialized speech DVDs. However, I think that it is important for kids to hear/see the vocabulary words that they are learning in context, too. Plus, these videos/DVDs are entertaining.

One thing I've been trying to do is take him out for a walk every day and talk about what we see. For example if we go into a drug store I will ask him what color the things are. But (sorry to keep saying this!) the issue is that he is CONSTANTLY reciting numbers and when he's doing that he won't concentrate on anything else. It's all so frustrating, I really don't know what to do.

That is like my younger son (almost 4), who started on Prozac a couple of weeks ago and is now on 10 mg/day. (We tried it earlier but stopped it because it tastes bitter, and he would throw a fit when I tried to give it to him). It seems to be helping him fixate on his letters quite a bit less, and he seem less mentally ill and more relaxed and cheerful. (It is difficult to say that one's sweet little tyke seems mentally ill, but I believe in telling it like it is.) I still give him the herbal Relax-a-saurus on occasion, but combined with the Prozac, it makes him sleepy.

I have to tell him that he can even take his medicine (mixed with juice) or sit in his room. He tried to out-stubborn me a few times, but has pretty much started giving in and taking the meds.

There are various therapies for OCD, but, from what I've read, a serious case of OCD is very hard to effectively remedy without meds. The therapeutic level of Prozac for OCD is 20 mg/day, but we have not reached that point yet.

Redirection and trying to keep my younger son calm seem to help, but not enough. (It is also hard to have family life revolve around avoiding stress to my younger son.)

I share your pain over the situation.

I hate that you can just delete posts after someone posts under you. I need to stop posting when Im tired, I have a lot going on right now!

Last edited by liloleme on 08 Aug 2011, 8:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

Thanks, but this isn't really something we are considering at this stage. I doubt I could get Prozac for a toddler here anyway...

I totally understand. I was just giving a literal answer to what I thought would help with repeating numbers over and over.

The methods that I described to help with reading and speech, they also work without meds. My older son showed improvement in speech after I started speech videos and flashcards and before I started the meds. Then he showed a jump of improvement again after I started the meds.

Anyway, good luck! I know that you are working hard with your son and care about him a lot.

Well we are totally doing what you recommend, but just don't see much progress. Of course, we've only been doing it for a month or so!

I'm sure that some progress is being made, at least in receptive speech. Remember the repetition thing, to use pictures, and to start very simply--single words representing common objects come first, then action words, prepositions, etc. You can also "test" him by giving him multiple choice questions and having him point to pictures in books, to flashcards, or to drawings.

Also, the cool thing about flashcards is that they are used to improve both receptive (understanding) and expressive speech (talking aloud). Expressive speech improvement is easier to judge.

With my older son, I would set goals--I was going to work with him really hard using this or that methodology for a certain length of time and see if he improved. He always improved, but always much slower than I would have liked.

Sometimes, I am sure that I looked like an idiot to my husband or parents--reading books or flashcards to a child who was just sitting in the bathtub or at the table and not responding. But when he started talking, I realized that he had actually been listening even though he was not meeting my gaze or responding.

Thanks for your encouragement. We will keep plugging away!

For anyone who doesn't know, I have five (completely free) YouTube channels (Speech and Vocabulary Channel, Autistic Kids Channel, Reading and Grammar Channel, Math Channel, and Free Videos for Autistic Kids Channel). Each of the channels has hundreds of playlists. I decided that I wanted to download some of the playlists to make DVDs for my kids to watch on a regular TV. (No mouse for them to use to click on Zoodles free children's video games or PBS kids when I want them to watch a particular set of speech videos).

Anyway, I first downloaded Mozilla Firefox (a free Internet browser, like Internet Explorer).
Then I made the Mozilla Firefox toolbar visible. (See instructions below).
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/762760
Then I downloaded ByTubeD, a free Mozilla Firefox application that downloads YouTube videos in bulk. (Go to http://bytubed.blogspot.com/faq.html for the brand new version. You need the brand new version as the old version doesn't work anymore.)
Then I downloaded Wondershare Video Converter Platinum. (There are several videos on Youtube about this software and how to get a free copy).
Then I used Chetah DVD Maker (one of many DVD burning softwares) to burn my first DVD consisting of a YouTube playlist.

The Wondershare Video Converter puts downloaded YouTube videos into my chosen format, lets me compile them into one file, and edit them.

I can use blank DVD-RWs purchased at Fry's or Office Depot to make DVDs that play in my home DVD player.

Anyway, my kids respond very well to material presented in video format, and I look forward to making many very cheap DVDs customized to their particular needs and interests. Besides, making videos is fun! (By the way, my Speech Channel is www.youtube.com/user/vids4autkids3, if you want some free speech materials to burn your own DVDs for your own home use.)

Thanks, I was wondering how you did that!