severe language delay [sad]

[adrianna1]

Hi everyone

I'm a bit sad..... well very sad .

My DS who is four, is only saying 10 words and uses a lot of made-up jargon when talking or explaining something to me, using lots of gestures.

He has been diagnosed with ASD....which I'm kind of in denial about...but that's another thread topic.

I just understand why my DS who has a really good understanding, is saying only 10 words?!!!!! I just don't get it...it does not make sense!!!

My DS's communication i.e. gestures, communicating is developing, his motor skills, fine motor skills are developing, his understanding is increasing developing...but why, in terms of his speaking , is developing at a very very slow sloooooooooooow rate.

It does seem that he cannot use certain parts of his mouth to make words...but when mentioning this to my Speech therapist or the doctor they are not willing to investigate and putting everything down to his ASD ( Which I'm not sure if that s the case...). So I have given up.

He does not even say mum, he does say something similar to mum but only says this when I am out of sight and he is looking for me... I don't know if he will ever catch up with his talking, I am sick with worry ????

How can a child who understand so much, and only say little? I mean his understanding compared to an average four year old is delayed...but he has such good understanding nevertheless.

For the past two years, I have decided to take a career change and wondering if I should become a speech therapist. Not because of my son, but I've been so obsessed about communication..speech and I would love to work with a variety of people who have communication issues..i.e. adults, kids..etc. I have even asked to volunteer at one of the ICAN schools, but I hope they won't say no or I'm being up to something as I want my DS to attend one of their school.

But, I'm just worried..so worried.

Decoding speech and speaking are very different skills, which is why there often is such a disparity between receptive and expressive language. Speaking also uses an awful lot of skills, which is why so many things can go wrong, in that respect. Some people are selectively mute, some struggle with pronounciation or may stammer. Both rarely have an effect on understanding and it's usually fairly easy to track down what's going wrong. The problem when there is virtually no spoken language, as in the case of your DS and mine, is that it becomes hard to distinguish where the problem lies, if it is just in one area. The impetus to communicate in words may not be there, the ability for the brain to formulate the words and sentences needed may be impaired and, as you've observed, the ability to coordinate all the muscles required to formulate words may be impaired.

Compared with all of that, so long as you can hear clearly, decoding everything that is said to you is simple in comparison, as there are fewer steps.

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a listening disability, or having problems processing waht the ears hear.
APD can not be assessed or diagnosed until after the age of maturation 6-8 years of age, when children stop growing out of developmental issues.
You could have a look at the APDUK web site
www.apduk.org.uk/

@dolfrog I meant Autism not APD.

@ourvye- so my DS may not speak?? The issue is that because of my son's autism diagnosis, they are not willing to investigate it further and you can't have speech issues and an autism diagnosis.

It's impossible to make a prognosis (specially over the internet)

My nephew was non-verbal until he was 4 but now fluent at 13 (and while he obviously has ASD is very high functioning). DS2's spoken language is still barely emerging at 8. Unlike when he was 4, he has a consistent impetus to try to communicate by whatever means he can, though, so uses PECS at school and a mixture of fairly primitive signing, showing me and attempting to vocalise what he wants at home - plus the odd slap of frustration which has to be redirected, depending on the purpose it's serving at the time. We've seen the biggest improvement in his non-verbal communication and joint attention, recently. (he's currently making words for me with wooden letters - and deliberately getting some wrong so we can go nuh-uh)

Hey Adrianna, it is possible to have ASD and speech problems, my DS has ASD and verbal dyspraxia diagnoses. His speech is finally improving, he is now really responding to the nuffield programme and all the therapy he is having.

How much therapy is your DS getting?

Sorry to hear you are sad, i can relate to the worrying....

@Ahhcantthink...

The autism clinic said a child cannot be diagnosed with ASD (Even though I do not think he has ASD) and a speech impairment.

He gets therapy once every week for a month and then starts therapy again in 6 months.

hi adrianna,
sorry to read you are so frustrated with the info you're receiving. your situation is very much like my DD....although they won't further assess for ASD without her speech being further on.
we are now seeing private SALT as our NHS just didn't have the capacity that we need, and we are beginning to see improvements. Regardless of ASD or not, it's always been the speech disorder that we've pushed for answers and support for, but gotten stuck in a cycle of psychologist reviews, etc. So I feel your frustration!
I'll drop you a pm too if that's ok x