DS is too reliant on his gestures

[adrianna22]

DS, 4, has ASD and a severe speech and language delay.

Im a bit worried about his speech as he is getting too reliant on using his gestures, but not using the words he already know.

So, ok he has about 10 words but says 4 words consistently. He does over use some of his words I.e. He says the word ball for anything he sees round.

He has these I think they are called representational gestures that he uses ALL the time to imitate something or tell me something. For example, just now he came up to me and did an action of someone blow drying their hair to tell me that he wants to use the blow dryer ( he likes the blow dryer).

So he uses his own gestures ALL the time, but doesn't use his other 6 words consistently-- though to be fair he doesn't pronounce these other words at all.

Is this common with ASD children and how can I prompt DS to use his words rather than using gestures.

Thanks

Forgot to add.

He also uses these vocalisation- type words consistently too. Like 'ouch', 'uh-oh', 'yuk', etc.

Anyone?

I don't have ASD experience but my DD has GDD and is a similar age to your DS. She is non verbal but can do about 10 makaton signs. She will - given the chance - just sign the same sign for whatever she wants.

So we 'make her' sign what it is she wants until she gets given it. Basically I play dumb, suggest she is asking for X even though I know it is Y etc, so she has to sign the correct thing to get what she wants.

I don't know if this is the right approach and someone with more experience I am sure will be along, but it works for us and could be applied to your situation in terms of he has the say the word before getting whatever it is.

what zzzzz said.

I agree with zzzzz and would add that you could teach him some MAKATON, signing supports communication it doesnt prevent it. It is a wonderful way of giving children more vocab and it reduces frustration.

You say the words to him. So if he makes a gesture that you know means he wants to use the blow dryer, then say blow dryer? Do you want to use the blow dryer? Yes you can use the blow dryer.

Or simplified, if that is too many words for him.

Or get pictures so you can use PECS.

My eldest would grab my hand and throw it in the general direction of what he wanted. I would deliberately misunderstand and pass him the wrong thing (eg a plate when he wanted a beaker) until he got so cross that he would yell out DINK or something.

If I had my time over again, I would not do that. I would have gone straight to the PECS or taught him makaton. We were so hell bent on the idea of him talking that we refused to accept other forms of communication.

It worked. At about 7 he began to talk (at about toddler level). He's 15 now and he talks very well. But looking back, it wasn't the best way to do things and I wish we'd taken other advice.

Thank- you everyone for the suggestions.

I'm going on a Makaton course soon so that should be helpful for DS.

But how come some kids rely on gestures rather than to speak? Is it more related to ASD?

Speech is really hard for some children and some with Asd do seem to have particular difficulties.

I know a little one who can say lots of words but really struggles to know when she needs to use them, I know another one who speaks in massive long sentences but due to a phonological speach disorder it is virtually impossible to grasp what she is saying unless you know the context.

Gestures are a form of communication, like speech, sign or PECS (which is amazing). Go with it and encourage all attempts at communication not just speech

Tbh from what I have read and certainly from my experience with my daughter , many children with autism use very few gestures

I have found with my DS that trying to coax him to speak made him more anxious and he would clam up and refuse to make eye contact. So we stopped putting pressure on him and let him use his PECS - he's been using them for just over a year now and he still only had the same three words - will until a couple of weeks ago when he started to try more sounds and now has 20 words he is using but more importantly seems to want to speak.

Your DS has a speech delay because of his autism - you can't change that and just have to work with the skills he has - I'm not saying stop encouraging him but you have to think like him. We really stopped pushing DS to speak when we accepted that he might always be non-verbal and came to terms with this.

Thanks everyone.

Yes I have to accept DS for who he is. It is hard, but I'll just keep working on his communication. He is adding words, which is a good thing but at a very slow rate and you can't understand him. But at least his trying.

Thanks again everyone.