processing problem?

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my 6yo son, Aspergers, has issues differentiating certain sounds. Right now it is the "th" and "f"soundhe confuses. For instance, he will say, "Fumb" and "Thingers", he says, "Dolthin" "EletTHant". He insists he hears the sounds as he says them in those words. Could this be part of a processing problem? He has other processing issues, VMI issues, he cannot assemble the simplest puzzle, he will say letters and write different ones (not confusion he knows this stuff since 2), he confuses sounds, like "i" and "e" soft sounds when spelling words, a LOT of sound confusion when SPELLING words from memory. Thing is, he can read BEAUTIFULLY!

If I write a new word that he never saw and ask him to sound it out, he may add letters that dont exist, or omit letters. For instance, From, he might say FOM. and I ask him what letters are in the word he will say, F-O-M. He dosent see the other letter. I have to point it out to him. And he looks perplexed when I point the letter out that he didnt see. And once he SEES the letter he can read the word fine.
Also, I feel like he memorizes words rather then phonetically sounds out words. For new words he will go thru a list of words he knows that look the same, example would be "Compress" he would say "computers" , "campers" ,etc...instead of sounding out the word. He has lists of similar words that are on instant recall, like a computer...lol.

I looked up Dyslexia, but I think its more of a central processing issue.

No problems with math at all. in fact he excells at math, currently 1.5 grade levels ahead, he gets math easily, no prob! He also reads well above grade level. his weakness is in spelling and sound descrimination.

Anyone elses kid struggle with similar issues? What can be done to help him?

Processing issues are common with AS, but I'm afraid I don't have any specifics on how to help you with yours. Have you talked to the school or your doctor about getting a more detailed assessment?

My son went through something similar in kindergarten. I worried that he might have dyslexia as well and was seriously concerned about his future ability to read. He's doing fine now and is actually reading 1-2 levels above his actual grade but he still has some issues in writing (writing letter backwards, for example) and has some other processing issues. He sometimes gets his word order mixed up. For example, he'll say, "Can go I to my friend's house?". He also has adds "L" in the wrong place with words that "L" at the end of the word. "Publix" is "Plublix", for example. Again, though, that has decreased as he's gotten older.

Unfortunately, we didn't even suspect Aspergers until he was in third grade so we just kind of muddled through, hoping for the best. I would definitely talk to the school, his pediatrician, or his therapist (if he has one) to see about getting an assessment done or, at the very least, to help you find some local resources that have experience with processing issues.

I was going to say it could be an audio processing issue or a hearing issue, but then I remembered that you also mentioned his database where he will pull words from his memory that start with the same letter/sound. When you introduce new words, are you doing it in written form, or verbally, or both? If there is a written component to this, it may be he is a gestalt learner.

I would still get him tested for hearing/audio issues because that may be part of it. But it seems to me that his learning style is gestalt (whole words) vs. phonetic (by sound.) If he has trouble with phonemes, that means that right now he is having to memorize each word individually instead of by remembering the rules of how (most) words are taught. If your child's school sends home lists of "sight words," that is how they teach the exceptions. If he is lagging in phonetics they will have to bolster that with a strong back up for gestalt learning so he does not get behind on vocabulary. I would give the school a heads up, if they have not already started this.

Thanks all, here are a few answers to some of your questions:

I know its not hearing related, he was born with a cleft lip and palate, and has had hearing tests every 6 months since about 3 weeks old. He got discharged from the hearing dept last year as he has passed every single test. Hearing is perfect.

He also gets speech for artic, again cleft related. We know he now has the ability to make every sound. At one point it WAS an anatomical issue, but that was with plosives, like D,B,T,etc...and he also has weak oral motor so he dosent shape his lips correctly for some sounds, all of this is cleft related. I did bring the TH and F sound issue up to the speech teacher, she told me to ask him to say it again correctly.

My son is homeschooled, so I dont have a teachers input, except mine! It WOULD impact his work, but we make corrections as they occur. He ia above grade level in every subject and doing very well, except SPELLING! he is above grade level in spelling but struggles with some of it. Last year he did much better, but it was easier, like CVC words, or 2 letter words, or learning about magic e words. Now that the words are bigger, vowel blends,consinent blends, etc...I am seeing more of what appears to be some sort of processing issue. As I said, he can READ beautifully, maybe gets stuck on a new word, but has his biggest issue with spelling and recall of words that he wants to write.

So if it got harder this year, maybe as he gets older and the material gets harder, it will effect his work? I am certain if he was in school and not getting the 1:1it would be an issue. I am right there to correct him and help him figure it out. So, he dosent get too frustrated or fall behind because of a processing error.

What type of an eval would he need to pick up a processing disorder? He already has, on his OT reports, defecits in Visual Motor Integration, and on his psychological last year he had decoding issues. NOW, his decoding was slow, MUCH slower then a lot of kids his age. (on that thest they had codes and they had to copy them and it was timed,etc). There was a huge discrepancy on decoding from his performance and verbal scores.

From what I understand, /f/ for /th/ is a pretty common substitution error at age 6. (Not sure whether /th/ for /f/ is common or not.) Our school speech therapist doesn't work on /th/ before age 8, even though a private speech therapist found that our DS6 was ready to work on it (he could produce /th/ properly when prompted, and could differentiate when she made /f/ or /th/.)

I would suggest an eval by a private SLP -- it might be more thorough than what you get from the school district.

I'm not sure how to tell if this is a processing issue, but I was told there is some testing that an audiologist who specializes in auditory processing disorders can do starting at age 6. I do know that you need a really good SLP or preferrably a CAPD-trained audiologist to pick up on it. The standard hearing tests that your son has been getting will not detect processing disorders.

He is in the system...he gets speech OT and group at the school. Problem is, ALL his test scores in the academic areas are above average, some in the above superior range. SO, if I bring to them some processing issues, they want to see how it effects his learning, and it clearly inst effecting it at all. Probably becasue we homeschool, and catch errors fast, work with him so he doesnt fall behind, etc...not sure if he was in a class of 28 and was reading words wrong or not able to write a sentence on his own casue he is saying letters to a word but writing totally different letters then he is saying (he does this too), I am sure eventually he would fall behind.

Yesterday we were talking about Fairy Tales, and he was telling me about a "Thairy Tale" and he insisted I was wrong it is indeed "ThairyTale", Sometimes I wonder if he is indeed hearing it different, or he is just being oppositional. But it is ALWAYS with the F and TH sounds. So, if it were just opposition, coulfnt he do it with any sound?

His is a perplexing mind for sure!

My son is 9 and has Asperger's, he had a lot of problems with F and TH and he is just now learning to read. They think he probably had dysgraphia as he has pain when writing as well as issues with reading. I thought he had dyslexia but now we see that he is sounding out the words and we have found that French is easier for him to say. He learned French and English at the same time as my husband is French. We now live in France and he is in a specialized school with kids who have LD's and many of them have Asperger's, HFA or ADHD. My oldest daughter who is 21 now had a lot of difficulty with reading and writing as did my late son who was 24 in August when he died. They both had the same odd way of spelling as if they did not understand phonics. However my oldest son loved to read and my daughter can only read if she takes a Ritalin (it was a little experiment our Psychiatrist tried with her when she was 20, she read her first book Lord Of The Flies). I was always very good with reading and I love to write (I write stories/novels) but would read numbers backward and horrible with math. My 9 year old old and my oldest son (my angel) are/were math wizards. My oldest was doing calculus in 4th grade (he was 13 because he missed some school), his teacher was so impressed with him....it is a bit sad to think about that as he did so well that year, he liked his teacher and he actually enjoyed school that year, was on the honor roll. It was the year after we left his abusive Father and then things went down hill that summer when he met an older boy who used drugs given to him by his parents.
Anyway, I would request that your son be tested for LD's to find out what the best mode of teaching would be for him. Im amazed at how much my son has learned since they moved him to the new school. Its great to hear him reading. Also you may try hooked on phonics....I got it through the charter school that my son was in and he was reading a bit, nothing like he is now but that may help your son.