Language issues in your child?

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My 8 year old sister is being tested for language at school. EVER since Kindergarden she comes home whining about haveing to do school work! going on 3YEARS NOW SHEESH! Also mom/family etc. think she will NOT pass the FCAT (Florida state school test) in 3rd grade. (She's in second now). So IF your child has a "language" issue what was it and can you describe your childs issue with language issues? thanks.

My youngest had a lot of difficulties with language, but it doesn't sound a lot like what your sister is experiencing. He didn't speak until he was 5 or so, at least not that anybody could understand. It seemed like he was speaking his own language. He understood us, but what came out of his mouth was unintelligible. He still has unusual language aquisition patterns and forgets words he uses in spoken context when he tries to read them. His academic performance is well above the usual so these things don't cause trouble for him at school, but it's interesting to see how his brain works.

A psychologist would probably be able to test your sister and see what's going on with her.

They are doing an evaluation for her at school hopefully it goes well.

My son, even though an aspie, nearly qualified for language as he has difficulty verbalizing and uses familiar phrases or "scripting"....but they are appropriate. For instance if he wants milk its never just "milk" its always "cold white milk". He also makes up words and uses funny words for, kind of put downs....like he used to call people a "mint" when he got mad at them. Now he calls everyone a "grenade". He does get speech because he has a sort of lisp. My daughter who is Autistic gets speech and language as she was not saying any words (aside from her babble words) until she was three. She is now 5 and her language has greatly improved but she still tends to use lots of "scripting" which means she uses phrases that she has heard on TV or from someone else as filler when she doesnt know what to say. Right now her favorite ones are "I want a cupcake maker" and "whats your favorite vegetable?" and "whats your name?" (sometimes we can hear that one 20 times a day) she also says "I go at France and say Bonjour" LOL...Shes so cute.
Anyway...does your sister use language appropriately? does she make up words or use scripting or echo words?...like when you say something she will say the same thing back to you. Or does she have her own language (made up words)?

She speaks fast so you have to constantly tell her to slow down. Also another issue (not sure if it's normal or not) say a book is says "Look at the night sky" She just magically substitutes words (So that would become Look at the dark sky (If she say didn't know the word Night she substitutes A TOTALLY different word) IMO It's weird! just because you don't know night you choose to use some other word. Hopefully the language evaluation goes well.

My daughter does that too. She has an autism diagnosis, not an Aspergers diagnosis. She does the mini-phrase scripting with phrases taken from commercials (but always used appropriately, never random). She also uses random (to me) words as insults. I can tell they are insults by context and tone of voice. But they are randomly chosen words. (Or sound random to me). This has gotten her in trouble with other kids. They become furious because they know they've been insulted but the word doesn't make sense and they try to make it make sense and get themselves madder and madder in the process. It gets ugly.

This sounds just like my son! He started memorizing scripts from books and cartoons when he was about 2 yrs old. He would say "Sesame Street was brought to you today by......." He had memorized most of his storybooks and would recite prayers that he heard at church. He had lot of echolalia. He was pronouncing 4 and 5 syllable words with perfect articulation at 2 yrs old. However, he did not really converse back and forth with us. If I said "Do you want to go outside" he would say "Do you want to go outside?'' He did not answer yes questions until he was 3 yrs. old. He talks to himself alot, and makes up lots of words. One that really makes me laugh is "convulgation" ---I have no idea where that came from! He says things totally out of context. Out of the blue he will just say a word for no reason. In spite of this, he is able to hold small conversations with us and others. He is able to speak in perfect 5 and 6 word sentences that make perfect sense, but he speaks all of this mumbo jumbo stuff, and still loves repeating things over and over. I was so happy that he finally started asking me questions, but now he has started asking questions that he knows the answers to, and he will ask them over and over.

When he first started school, they worked really hard with him on saying "HI" to other people. Well he took that to the extreme. He would greet everyone we met 5 or 6 times until I had to tell him to stop. Now he asks the same thing as your daughter Lilolme "What's your name?" He will ask everyone in the store. Most people love it, because my son is really adorable, but some people give us strange looks. I just let him do it though, because it really seems to brighten some people's days, but the one's that give us looks, I feel like they have other issues anyway! LOL! He will ask them 5 or 6 times though, and I have to ask him to stop.

He is almost 5 yrs old now, and his speech has improved tremendously, but he just loves words, and I think he loves to "stim on words" ----His speech therapist said it is a very hard thing to break.

Well, I guess that sums it up. I have been very happy with his progress in language. He really only used to say things that he heard or that we told him to say. Now he is saying things spontaneously.......

My husband has another daughter who does not live with us. She might possibly have AS but we havent seen her since she was 2 and a half, we get to see her in July she is going to be ten. She is in the gifted program in school and they even want to move her up a grade because she is bored and she scored in the top 10 percent in her state on STAR testing. However, she is also painfully shy and speaks really fast. She also did not speak until she was nearly 3...then it just sort of exploded out of her without any therapy.....but, like your sister she is hard to understand sometimes.
I think its cool that your sister makes up words that she either doesnt know or maybe does not think belongs there....its almost like she is trying to make the story sound better. I used to do the same thing and my teachers would get mad at me...I just thought it sounded better . I think that shows she has a good imagination.