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

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He's probably quiet a lot there, too. These were just the incidents that were noticed and brought up.

Also, sometimes kids do act different in different social settings.

We placed my older son with selective mutism in a daycare center half of a day for six months when he was 3.5 years old. He didn't talk at all in daycare for over three months--appeared completely mute. Then he all of a sudden started randomly repeating phases from the flashcards that he used at home for speech exercises.

Some of the flashcards that I made for him were pretty goofy. One had a cartoon of a prisoner on each side of the flashcard. The front side said, "Why is the man sad?" and the back said, "Because he is in jail." Of course, my son spent all of one day asking and answering this question, probably making the daycare workers think that we had an imprisoned criminal in the family!

That is funny! The other day my son was in his car seat and started repeating out of the blue, "never, never, never, I can't do it!" He must have gotten it from a TV show, but I have no idea which one.

Well he usually doesn't say much of anything to anyone!

When prompted our little dude came and looked at us and quietly said 'Bye' when we were leaving him with his therapist for an hour or two. Miracle. But its all so sporadic and far between this new language skill, its like trying to reel in a fish on a thin line, and the fish keeps getting away. He got taught to do Hi 5s a while ago. I always try and get him to do them, he still does, but now its a gentle touch with a closed hand while he dreamily looks in the distance. Still I'll take that

The fact that he said it is nice. With my older son, it was really inconsistent at first, and everything had to be reinforced, or he'd forget it.

He is still pretty darned forgetful, and I have to drill information into his head. However, he talks pretty well--answers questions, initiates conversations, makes comments, etc.

I'm so happy for you!

Thanks Claudia! I remember we discussed this ages back, and I was hoping that as his PECS improved it would bring out some language, and I really think that has been the thing that has helped. I think there is no problem with his vocalisation, but its understanding the purpose of communication/how its useful and PECS is a self-reinforcing practical demonstration of that to him. We now need to step up the PECS; we need to make loads of new ones, and we need to start taking the folder with us. It will be a PEC management headache but we'll get on top of it
How is Stefano?

Whoa, that is big news!

I understand what you mean, when I get stuff like this from my son it is also very sporadic.

He answered "What do you want?" again yesterday. This time it was cookies.

I have actually been doing what blondeambition recommended - modeling questions and answers and repeating them over and over. For example, while walking down the street, I might keep saying "What do you want? I want cookies. What do you want? I want a drink, etc" over and over. Passers-by probably call me the weird foreigner who talks to himself...

Great! I would also recommend making some flashcards that you can take with you or use with your son on a daily basis while he is eating a snack, bathing, or playing with a small toy. This worked great for me. The time spend making the flashcards was easily recaptured with faster learning speed.

So many of the kids are visual learners, and some end up reading better than talking. My older son learned to read and speak at the same time, which is not unheard of for a child with classic autism being taught with flashcards and picture books.

The flashcards I made for my older son would have something like, "What do you want?" on one side, and "I want a cookie," on the other side. A simple drawing of a chocolate chip cookie would be on both sides under the words.

The drawings do not need to be great--the object just needs to be recognizable. I always used magic markers for my drawings because I think that colorful drawings are more appealing. Also, including a few silly drawings will keep the child interested longer. (Or you can cut out interesting pictures from magazines or books and glue stick them to index cards).

I read to my kids outside while they swing in their swings every morning, so the neighbors probably think that I'm strange. (This morning, it was just my younger son, since the older one started school today.) Wreck-Gar, you've got to seize those teachable moments, even if people think that you are a wierd foreigner for asking your kid questions all of the time and answering them yourself.

Some great ideas there I will start doing those.

Regarding the flashcards, we have some stuff like that but my son does not look at them at all when I try to use them. Did you have the same experience?

My older son paid better attention if the flashcards were funny, interesting, or colorful. Also, I read slowly and loudly and pretend that whatever I'm reading is the most amusing thing that I've ever seen.

Also, sometimes my older son halfway pays attention without meeting my gaze. My younger son has issues with this, too. With my older son, I remember one occasion where I read the same picture book on emotions over and over again, and he never seemed to be paying attention. However, he all of a sudden said some stuff that revealed that he was listening after all. This happened many, many times, and I had to assumed that if he was in close proximity to me and not complaining about what I was doing--even if he was drawing or putting together a puzzle, etc., he was listening. I always stopped whenever he fussed, though.

With my younger son, I read the picture books many, many times to him on the swing, and he did not seem to be paying attention. However, a couple of times, when I tried not to read to him, he complained that I he wanted me to read to him.

And of course you should ask your son questions when you walk. This is a great idea. I would be sure to point at particular objects and ask questions, though, and ask some of the same questions over and over again each time you walk.

FInally, his obsessions and fixations could be interfering with his ability to concentrate, as you already suspect, so timing is very important. He will probably learn best when he is relatively calm and well-rested.

One more thing, as a parent, you've got to use your strengths--I'm a good writer, good reader, good researcher, have an artistic eye, have a lot of patience, and have a good dose of intuition (can read body language of my kids pretty well, predict what they will like, etc.) Some people are gifted with an unusual amount of energy and comedic ability--natural performers--and they do better with a different teaching style.

You were right about PECS. Stefano is using them to ask for things he can't point at because they're not in the room in which he his.
I'm on vacations with Stefano in Reggio Calabria, my husband's city. He's having a good time. I'm teaching him to repeat sounds , I think you all understand this... I'll get on the top of it...

BIG NEWS! I just walked into the bedroom and my son was reading numbers (the actual words, not numerals) off a chart on the wall! No numerals on the chart. And he was tracing the letters with his fingers. We only showed him this a handful of times. Go-go hyperlexia!

GREAT!

By the way, I did did a slideshow of my older son's speech and other testing records together and put in on my speech channel on YouTube, but the documents came out blurry when uploaded. I am working on a solution to the situation.

http://youtu.be/_1S_aekamJ0

Between the time that my older son with classic autism was 3 years 4 months old and 6.5 years old, he was repeatedly tested--speech, academics, special ed eligibility, cognitive, autism tests, skills, hearing, etc. The first time that I uploaded this slideshow, it was really blurry, then I changed it to high definition. It is still blurry, but better. You will need to put it in full screen mode to see anything.

I may have to rescan everything and put it on my website to fix the blurriness, but I don't have time to do that right now.

Anyway, I hope that it is informative regarding the types of testing that can be done on a child and the type of improvement that can result with intense work on a child with speech, cognitive, and behavioral issues. (These results are not typical, but the amount of intervention was not typical, either.)