Speech Problems - Where will he end up?

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I know this site is mainly for Aspies, who don't have speech problems - but has anyone out there got an older child with ASD who had delayed speech and speech problems when they were young? How is your child's speech now? My son has just turned 3 and has only just been diagnosed with ASD. He has been in speech therapy for a year. When he started he wasn't speaking AT ALL and he has improved a lot over this last year - and now can say lots of words. Lots of what he says is reciting lines from TV or books. It is very hard to get him to answer questions. he will sometimes answer factual questions e.g. "what is that?" ans. "a ball" but never "what's wrong?" or even "what would you like to eat?"

I guess I just want to know what his speech and comprehension might be like as he gets older. I guess the answer is it depends on the individual and where he is on the spectrum. I think he's pretty bright - but I'm biased!!

My son sounds sort of similar. He had a severe receptive and expressive language disorder. It's important to find the best therapist you can and work on a home program. When he's 5 he'll be old enough for a therapy called Fast Forword, from Scientific Learning. Make sure the therapist actually sits with your child during the therapy.

FF retrains the brain to understand language. It worked really well for our son.

My son hardly spoke at age three. He was in the bottom 3% compared to other kids his age in expressive language. He is six years old and talks all the time now. His language is extremely good and his vocabulary is advanced compared to others his age. He truly understands the advanced language he speaks.
So, we were concerned that he would never speak. Now we say, "Will he ever stop speaking" LOL. He just wasn't interested in communicating as much as he was in building things and figuring things out. He had other interests.

Oh - this is not mainly a site for people who have kids with speech problems. This is a site for individuals who are on the spectrum as well as parents and professionals who either have kids or work with kids on the spectrum. Some individuals were quite delayed in speech and still are, some others were advanced. Your questions and comments are always appreciated!

It doesn't appear to be what you're talking about but I had a speech difficulties as a child. I had a speech therapist to correct the way I spoke. It was mostly sounds, like "s" and "f" and "th". Apparently I could not pronounce any of them. I'm fine now though I can fall back into mispronouncing/stuttering a bit when very stressed, but I close my eyes, calm down and can generally carry on, and my vocabulary has always been advanced for my age.

My son had similar language delays. His articulation (the way he pronounces letters) was always within the "normal" range, but his receptive and expressive language was delayed. He only had 3 words at age 2 and two of those were made-up words. He did a year of language therapy and he made a lot of progress. As long as your child makes and retains progress, then you can expect that pattern will continue.

My son did not answer who, what, where, when, how, and why questions until the second grade. He could not tell me about his day until the third grade. He's 11 now and it's kind of funny because he can tell me about things that happened to him when he was a toddler. The memory is there, but it took that long for the language to catch up.

My child speaks well, but his worst subject in school is language arts. He works at grade-level with assistance.

I had very severe stuttering and issues with saying certain consonants (L, R, S, and Z mainly) when I was in elementary school and took very extensive speech therapy to correct it. I still stutter, but not nearly as badly as I used to.

This has been a lifelong problem for me and yes, very bright, just in different ways I think. He may have some special talents or gifts that you may be able to allow him to express himself in. On the flip side I think there are some cognitive challenges. I didn't have access to any resources or help whatsoever so my situation is very different and I can't offer anything in a way of expectations, personally. I just hope he can get all the help and resources he needs to excel within his own capabilities to their fullest. And I would do what I could to protect him from any kind of abuses as much as possible also. He should do fine with the right support and go on to achieve great successes. That much I do know. And you are lucky to have such a wonderful, special child.

I had a speech delay until I was four. What happened was that I could think everything clearly and even read the words out loud, but other than that, I wouldn't say anything. I was mainly just extremely afraid of messing up and embarrassing myself so I just resisted saying the words (yes, I was quite the perfectionist when I was little lol). Not long after that, I started going to speech classes at my pre-school and I immediately started speaking paragraphs with ease. Hope this helps!

biggest mistake people make with autism is the assumption growth mirrors NTs. It isn't uncommon to go from non-speaking to honor roll student in less then a decade. Keep in mind however this isn't always the case. I am just saying I wouldn't say this is much of an indicator one way or the other

I have worked as a Speech Therapy asistant and now I am at Uni doing my degree in Speech and Language. I have worked with a lot of children who are on the autistic spectrum, and a lot who are under 5 years. Many of the children who did not speak/comprehend at age 2 and 3 have acquired language later on in the early years and have continued to progress as they have started school.

It is difficult (as said previously) to say how he will do (as ALL children develop language differently along with all the other skills) , but if there is language and understanding now then that can only be positive and with effective intervention, reinforcing language (and it's uses!) will aid his communication skills. Children on the spectrum can be quite 'scripted' with their language, but even though it is not 'functional' particularly to us, it is to them, and is a means of using language.

Sorry to be vague, but there is no REAL answer as to where he will be in a few years but if he continues to progress then this is very positive.

My son didn't say a word until he was 3. He understood less than he spoke. He is now 8, and he has a lot of language, but it is hard for him to put a sentence together. moreso when he has a lot to say, like telling me a story. Sometimes he is very clear and he has no syntax issues, but other times he may start a sentence 4 or 5 times before he can get it out. I can see the calculation going on in his head when he is trying to put something into words, so it is still hard for him. The longer the story, the more issues with syntax and wording difficulty he has. He is improving constantly however, it's just a long process.

He is in speech, and will probably need a lot more, but he is coming along and I know that he will be fine. Language is hard, and you will realize just how hard it is while you watch your child figure it out, but he is starting to talk and that is great. My son also quoted a lot, but that helps with rythem and sentence structure and articulation and that's OK. They learn in their own way, but they do learn.

Keep your child in speech as much and as long as you can. If your child is like mine, it's hard to learn and he needs direct instruction and practice, but he will learn.

From the research I've done, about 88% of autistic children speech-delayed at four will have speech by nine; the rest tend to either learn speech in their teens or make use of sign/text/symbol communication.

I began trying to use speech or language a little bit finally in my early twenties as it began to become more necessary in order to navigate my life to some degree, and ultimately I was called things like twit along the way, but to this day it is more or less ineffective for everyday problems and challenges. Relationships have been a real problem because of the ways in which I don't know how to use language effectively, especially around interpersonal issues, needs and whatnot.

...or, okay, they learn language later than their teens. It does happen!

^I wasn't trying to correct you Callista. Your statistics are likely very accurate. I've never been an average around anything and might be on the deeper end of the spectrum around speech and language issues. I was only trying to communicate about my own personal experience of it which I still have trouble wrapping my brain around.

I went through a couple years of speech therapy during K-2; stuttering, could not pronounce R or S sounds and had trouble with TH and Z as well. Now in my 30s, I get compliments on my voice although I am equally asked to repeat because I am mumbling or speaking "too softly" (is so loud in my own head!). It took the speech therapy, choir, and drama experience to form what vocal quality I do have; it surprises me what many do not seem to realize is that I utilize pitch patterns while speaking in order to form a sense of movement and cadence. (Yes, I think in musical terms more often than not.) I've never considered it a language delay, however, as I was reading relatively advanced material (Greek and Roman mythologies, astronomy textbooks) at the same age (5-6) - I just couldn't make the sounds in a manner that others understood. I'm still self conscious about my speaking voice, and have always gotten stage fright as a performer, but I have gotten to the point where I can record the radio adverts for my store so long as I have a chance to get myself prepared for the process.


M.