A proud moment - a budding gifted & talented autie!

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I just heard from my 8yo daughter's S&L assessor, she was assessed at school and she has such a good vocabulary that she is in the age 14-18 range!! OMG I can't believe it. What a clever little autie she is. She loves maths and is great at that but has always struggled with handwriting and literacy isn't her favourite subject so I was amazed. Apparently she got really excited when they told her because she thinks she is Eleanor Miller (Chipette) who is 14.

I got a lump in my throat when the assessor told me, I'm just so proud.

Despite all that they didn't pinpoint what her language issue is, as she frequently doesn't understand really simple things, that aren't about literalness or other usual autistic problems and not about the timing of when it was said either (like when you say something just happened and they say it didn't because it was about 2 minutes ago not right that minute). So anyway, I will keep notes of things she doesn't understand so I can tell them, as for the moment because she did so well in concrete language they are not going to aid her, she will just get the support of social language at school as she's in the ASc unit there.

That is awesome.

If despite the assessment, you think there are holes in her vocabulary, there probably are. My son's vocabulary is very splintered. He knows some very academic words related to special interests, or just $3 words we use at home, but not basic words one would learn from peers. I tried to get the school to help me figure out what words we should work on, but they only know how to suggest dolch words, all of which he knows.

In my sons case, I know he is lacking in emotion words and that kind of thing. Other than that, it is hard to pinpoint, so I just ask him if he knows a word when I say it, if I have doubts. He is honest and will tell me if he doesn't. Luckily he finds it to be great fun to be quizzed in this manner, or I would not be able to get away with it.

Edited to add:

I don't think it is at all unusual for auties to develop uneven vocabulary, and I think it is an excellent thing that she scored so well. I don't want it to sound at all like I am stepping on that. I bet any words she doesn't know that she "should," are because the words are part of concepts that are alien to an autie brain, or are just uninteresting. So, given her aptitude with vocabulary, those words will just fall in place when the concepts are relevant and interesting to her.

That's pretty insightful what you said about concepts actually. Because I do think it's not the words she has issues with it's the concept of something she doesn't understand but because she can't explain what she doesn't understand, I am left flummoxed as to why she doesn't get it and I can't help her by explaining as she just says "you're not making sense" and gets angry. So I need to remember to note them down when they happen (they happen a bit less than they used to) to see if there is a general area of problem for her that repeats.

Might also be an auditory processing disorder--she may (on and off) hear words, but they get scrambled before they get to her brain and so "don't make sense." If you repeat what you just said, does she get it then?

I don't know if it could be that, but it's not about needing the words repeated, as even when I have explained something again she still hasn't got it. The S&L assessor said she has really excellent concentration as well, so it's not that she's not focusing enough on what you said. It's something very subtle and hard to identify, so I will have to pay close attention if I am to understand what it is.

First, congrats! Both of you should feel very proud!

Second, do you think she could have Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder? Start reading on page 14 of this: http://www.pediatricneurology.com/aspergers.pdf

Congrats!

I understand what you mean about the confusion: my son tested into the gifted program and the assessor was blown away by his intelligence but, meanwhile, he can't figure out how to dress himself or do other activities of daily living without assistance. That divide in mental functioning is so fascinating and bizarre.