Pragmatic language difficulties Blossom Hill, Mizzmizz, CT?

[maddiemosthorrid]

I finally feel like we are getting somewhere with ds4.

Had language assessment with SALT who feels that this is where his problems lie.

His problems are quite mild and at the moment a full dx would not be correct but as he starts school his difficulties may become more apparent in which case a language disorder dx or Asperger dx may be correct for him. He has lots of autistic traits but at the moment the paed,SALT and myself feel he is just too social to meet an AS dx.

BH, I know this is similar to some of the problems your dd has. What did you find helped at this age{four}? The SALT is going to nursery for sessions after xmas with him and his peer group.

Our main problems are aniexty,conversational speech, anything abstract and sometimes even the very obvious. He can be very difficult, impossible to reason with, lacking common sense but is also very sweet.

Any advice welcome, I do have another son with autsim but they are very different, ds3 is very passive, remote and does not chat much. Ds4, very verbal, knows it all, won't be told and is pretty explosive.{grin]

bumping myself up.

Hi Maddie

I'm off to bed now (throbbing headache) but I'll come back tomorrow and answer more fully.

You may know that my (just) five year old has lang. difficulties of this nature. I have been doing a lot at home with her,but the time has gone for more group interaction under the guidance of skilled staff-hence me pushing for a Lang. Unit placement.

Keep an eye out for Blossomhill-she is very up on all this.
She also often refers to this website.

www.spdsupport.org.uk

I'll get back to you.

That sounds almost like the differences between my ds1 and ds2 - although I'm not suggesting that your ds4 would have the same dx. Ds1 is very passive and tended to withdraw into himself a lot of the time. Ds2 can be very sociable when he wants to be and charms a lot of people with the way he chatters away to them. When things go 'wrong' he tends to explode into rages and can be a danger to himself and those around him (as poor ds1 would confirm).

Ds2's language is actually very deceptive. Many people now comment on how he seems to be so much older than he is but as his understanding is so limited he can't really hold a conversation. He just trots out phrases that he knows and slots them in where he thinks they might fit. He is good at this and so can often get away with it but once you scratch the surface you can see the problems.

He is younger than your ds4 so the SALT is mainly working on boosting his level of understanding. The pre-school staff are also using visual timetables to help with this.

Hi Maddiemo

Well the main thing that has helped and continues helping dd is her language unit placement. They work on everything that needs to be worked on with heavy emphasis on her communication and social skills.
Without this specific help dd would never have made the amazing progress that she has!

I also make sure that she gots lots of exposure to meeting other children, interacting etc

Sounds as if he is going to be seen in a group which is great. Most social skills stuff has to be taught in situ or it's worthless.

What has helped us??

-Picture calendar,allowing her to ferer to the past future and present. They can be quite fancy,but what works for us is a regular one in which we draw pictures. She will sit with it for ages,looking and reminiscing.

-Using countdown techniques-went on holiday recently so did a picture of our holiday destination,put it up on the wall and wrote a new number (denoting days to go) by the side every day.

-Routine which makes her feel safe and secure.

-Loads and loads and loads of reading to her-undivided attention at night with me or dh.

-Vetting other children carefully. Won't have aggressive dominant children in my house freaking her out.

-Teaching her specific techniques. She knows to say 'I don't know' or 'I can't remember' when asked a question instead of looking blank and/or walking away.

Lots of physical activity-walking,swimming,dancing,horseriding.
She is so free when involved in an activity which does not involve much speech although I chose horseriding as I wanted to improve her attention and ability to follow instruction.

Lots of imaginative play (strong link between this and lang.development). Fancy toys, and tv kept to a minimum. I force her to make things up/imagine different scenarios.

Close cordial relationship with the teachers. I encourage them to be honest about her areas of need with me so that we can tackle them at home.

Hope this helps.

Fantastic list Mizmiz, should put it on our non-existent SN links/webguide!

Thanks very much to you all for the advice.

No chance of language unit placemnet as all our LEA units are now SLD/Severe.

It sounds as if there is no chance of statement unless he fails mainstream first.

He is at Nursery at the moment who have done evry well with him, even if they are a bit perplexed at times. Luckily the school he is going to have spent quite a lot of money on staff training by SALT. and also have the unit staff(which ds3 attends on call).

I do worry that he lacks individual attention at home although we do a lot of reading and his ability to sit through a book has improved. He finds it very hard to follow even a basic story though, if a word or picture catches his attention he will really focus on it and can't really move on or take story in. The SALT coomented on how much he sees deatil but is totally unable to grasp bigger picture. How do you teach that?

He does do a small group swimming lesson{as well as swimming with us} which he really enjoys but he is unable to follow any instructions. The instructor said last week that he seems in a world of his own and she always has to physically show him what to do, however he likes her and enjoys being with the other children so I am pleased with that.
I think maybe we should try a one on one lesson of something though as it be a boost to him.

Ct,it does sound similar, at nursery ds4 always says "See you tomorrow" to me as that is what he says when I go to work at night. He just can't manage "See you at lunchtime".

His imaginative play has really progressed, although very Thomas based. He talks to his trains, which is way ahead of ds3(7).

Thanks very much for advice everyone, you are stars