Word finding difficulties?

[LivinInHope]

Hi, does anyone have any experience of this ds 5 has been diagnosed yesterday and is going into year 1 in september. what kind of support or assessments should i be asking for EP involvement? ds 8 has this month recieved his asd diagnosis so having a difficult month, and dreading having to go through the whole process with ds 5.

Word finding or word recall problems can until the age of 7 - 8 years of age be a developmental delay issue which may be grown out of. However after this age then it could be a symptom of a poor auditory memory and part of an auditory processing disorder.
Even as an adult who has APD i still have word recall problems and have to find alternative words to express what i need to say, both when talking and when typing.

DD1 (5.7) has quite complex SN (she goes to Special School), but part of her S&L issues are to do with word finding (IMO...SALTS never seem to be bothered by it).

DD1 is very lucky, in that despite her LD, she is remarkably able to find work-arounds for herself. So when she can't find 'slide' she will say 'it pink and go weeeeee', or if she can't remember 'Frube' she will say 'long yoghurt' for example.

I always find it helpful with DD1 to break down the object into components, to help us both get clues. So I always ask 'what colour is it?' (Colour is verrry important to DD1), then start narrowing down, so 'is it big or little?', etc.

DD1 has some really interesting work-arounds:

'Bowl-eat' = food
'Dippy with handle' = Chicken satay sticks (that took some time to decipher)

In fact, there are so many, that it's just normal for us to play detective

Here's a resource that targets word learning in the way bdaonion has described. We would often make homemade versions of this type of thing

Name it
What is it? (category)
Who uses it
What does it do/what can you do with it
Where can you find it
What does it look like?
Can you draw a picture
What sound does it start with?
How many syllables?
Tell me something else you know about it
etc
Repeat it
Put it in a sentence

It's really crucial to word learning that
a) she can repeat it accurately (has an accurate phonological representation of the word)
b) she can use it e.g. she is able to put it in a sentence
c) she does use it

So you need to create meaningful opportunities for her to retrieve and use the word.. at her age, the easiest way may be through games etc.

You also want to ensure that you don't just focus on objects (though this is easy to do) but include verbs, adjectives etc.

Thank you all for your great advice, Dolfrog the Salt mentioned CAPD at the appointment which makes sense now. can i get a private assessment for him from anywhere? also how do i approach school in september i have struggled in getting support for older child 8 with ASD. would a private EP assessment help as older DS will be getting one in september

LivinInHope

APD has only recently been recognised in the UK, and assessment and diagnosis is done after the age of maturation 7 - 8 years old, when children tend to stop growing out of natural developmental problems and the remain issues can be considered a disability. However if there is a family history of APD, the genetic link, or a history of Otitis Media with Effusion (Glue Ear) then an earlier assessment may be considered.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is the main APD assessment centre, mainly NHS about 12 weeks waiting list or sometimes privately. GOSH is currently pioneering the recommended multi - discipline APD assessment procedures, so that you get a combined report from an Audiologist, psychologist, and speech and language pathologist, to diagnose APD and explain the affect of speech and language issues and the problems of living with APD. You can then take this report to your DS's school and provide copies to the local support services who can also contact the specialists at GOSH.

Our youngest son got one of the first of these multi-discipline assessments just before he went to secondary school last year, and this has helped him make significant progress this last academic year.

Although thye have known about APD in the USA for about 30 years or more , it was only oficially recognised in the UK in 2004 when the Medical Research Council (MRC) published its first APD pamphlet. The MRC have been researching and developing a new battery of APD diagnostic tests based on sound frequencies, and GOSH have been participating in this process. And GOSH has been developing the multi - discipline assessment criteria and the training of the respective professionals regarding APD related issues.

Those who have APD have a poor auditory memory which can cause word recall problems. Our auditory and sequencing abilities are controlled in the same area of the brain and those who have APD can also have very poor sequencing skills, which when we are stressed can mean when speak the words can come out in the wrong order, or when writing or typing we can put the letters in the wrong order.

If the SALT suspects your DS has APD related issues then the school should begin the research APD and you can provide them with as much research based information as you think they can absorb. APD is very new to most teachers and even GPs, and the long slow drip of good quality information tends to sink in more lol.
WE have some useful information of the APDUK web site, and we have tried to cover almost every APD related eventuality so you will have to select the issues which applies to your DS.
Each section (left hand menu yellow text) of the APDUK web site has different types of information, and each section has multiple web pages (top menu white text) The whole web site demonstrates a range of APD coping strategies, or how we may prefer text to be presented. thwo useful web pages
APDUK Newsletters which have contributions from boht professionals and those who live with APD, and
Ideas For APD IEPs

And as I am supposed to be a worst case scenario regarding APD, my own web site is even closer as to how i prefer information to be presented.
Living with an Invisible Disability (and you may even workout from the logo the derivation of my internet name)