5 year old DS speech problem or no

[rainingitspouring2]

We have really noticed recently my DS holds onto the ends of his words and elongates them. For example he will say 'are you pumping up the ty-reeeees (tyres)' or 'are we are going to see le-oooo' (Leo) or 'thats really funny mum-myyyyy' and the final sound will go up. He also doesn't pronounce his R's yet either.

I've noticed in contrast to his friends he sounds quite different and it's pronounced enough for other people (adults) to sometimes say it back in a bit of a mocking way. DH and I have asked him to repeat the same sentence back to us when he does it without exaggerating and going up at the end and he can do it. But not in the moment or if he is excited only if he concentrates on it.

AIBU to think this is something to look into? Any SALTS or anyone with experience of similar able to advise?

My daughter (just turned 6) does this sometimes, and has noticeably done this since the age of around 3. When she was younger people used to laugh sometimes so I know what you mean! (They didn’t mean it unkindly). She was recently diagnosed with ASD, but there were other difficulties in her social communication that led to this diagnosis (so not that alone). She is doing great though!

@dillydally321 Glad she is doing well. Would you mind sharing what other communication issues she had? Just be interested to compare or see if their are any similarities

If in doubt, I'd ask for a SALT referral. Waiting times are 12 months where I am.

@adver thanks just wanted to gauge if it was normal or something they can grow out of. It seems a minor thing to refer to SALT and his teacher hasn't mentioned anything but perhaps I will raise it

Do you have any other concerns about social communication, or about anything else? My DD did this (also diagnosed with ASD) but it tended to be in the context of repeating back something that someone else had already said - she'd repeat it in an exaggerated way if that makes sense.

It sounds like it's quite pronounced if other people are doing it back to him. When that happens, if it's in a mocking way, does he have any idea that it's a mocking way or is he oblivious? How was his language development when he was smaller?

@RavenLaw he has friends and is fine with eye contact, very loving and emotionally aware etc. He hard a large vocab quite early on at 2 he could say most dinosaur names. It's only since starting school really that I've noticed the tone of his voice and the way he talks with elongating the ends of his sentences is a bit different. He also splays his fingers out especially if eating with his hands or there is something on his fingers. That and the speech would be my only two concerns. He mostly seems oblivious at the moment when people mock it but I'm concerned kids are going to start picking on him too if he doesn't grow out of it and it'll knock his self esteem. He's such a happy boy.

Does anyone know if what I'm describing with his speech has a name?

Do you speak in the accent local to where you live? One of my DD’s went through a phase doing something similar to your description and I was told she was trying to mimic local accents (I have a Home Counties accent) and by 6 it had stopped (we had moved)

Sounds like possible stereotyped behaviour with both speech and finger posturing.

the speech behaviour you describe isn’t typical of stammering - elongating sounds tends to occur at word initial position, rather than word final

No we don't have strong local accents but interesting to hear that your DC grew out of it

When you say possible stereotyped behaviour. Do you mean ASD? Can he have these two qualities and not be ASD I wonder. It's never been suggested

Hi

my daughter does something very similar to this and she is soon to be diagnosed with ASD. Speech therapist said it’s a kind of echolalia.

examples:

can we go to the shop op op?
is my teddy pretty y y?
are we going in the car ar ar?

She also will often sound words out now as she is learning to read.

eg:

I see the cat, c c c at

It doesn’t mean it’s ASD, no. It’s not a hard marker - it just sounds a bit like echolalia which is what I meant by stereotyped speech

impossible to know without meeting him, and the same goes for the finger posturing,

My son is a gestalt language processor and does this . We were told it was part of how he processes language but it can also be a stim simply because he likes the way it sounds. He was diagnosed with asd a few weeks back

Knowing all the dinosaur names at 2 was the thing that stood out for me as a possible ASD red flag. DS wasn't diagnosed till 10 so I wouldn't assume that nursery/school are expert enough to always recognise the signs, they can be quite subtle and often put down to age/being an only child etc.

I agree that don’t assume school will have picked up anything. My daughter was only diagnosed because a speech therapist had spotted her language was a bit rigid at age 2. She was then put on a referral to the local ASD unit, with her appointment finally coming round earlier this year. She is in year one and doing really well at school, does not really have much support apart from a bit of encouragement in social situations with other children. She was actually signed off speech a couple of years back, if it hadn’t been for one speech therapist I’m not sure we would have got a diagnosis so early. She doesn’t elongate words outside the home much, as far as I can see. It’s mostly when she’s at home but not much. I’ve never known what it’s called, and the speech therapists never picked it up

Wow ok. I didn't realise this was an ASD indicator but it seems to be resounding in the comments. It's such a minefield as he's so interpersonal and popular and doesn't have any social issues with friends or family as far as I can tell. Perhaps a SALT consultation might provide some more insight either way and give some guidance. Would you go down the GP route or contact the school?

@rainingitspouring2 I would chat to the school first to see what they say. Maybe try the class teacher or the SENco as a first step to see if they’ve noticed anything

Thanks will do