MOONDOG

[jenk1]

sorry to shout at you!!!!
didnt want to hijack annies thread.
dd had an asessment today from 2 specialist slts.
The CDD development team asessed her in Nov last year and said she shows minimal reciprocity,lack of imaginative play skills and language delay indicative of an ASD.

The slt,s said they dont see any social and interaction problems and that they think her language is age appropriate.
they do say that she does often repeat what an adult says and she has shown semantic confusion, eg calling a book a cat.

we told them we think its strange that she mimicks accents, (at the moment she,s speaking scottish cos of noddy video) and that she repeatedly says the same thing over and over in the mornings.
one thing that struck me was that they seemed amazed that she knows all her colours and shapes and she can count to 10 (she,s just 3 2 weeks ago)
but they said she wasnt severe enough to warrant a place at the slt nursery, but its left us confused, to us her language is uneven, can you tell me anything about why children mimick and continually repeat same phrases over and over, oh and when we take her anywhere she,s not familiar she becomes mute.
sorry for the long message

bump.

(Hi Jenk )

eeek, she sounds like my dd!

she's 2.4 and repeats things over and over and goes completely mute when she's nervous (it took 2 months before she spoke to the playschool staff and she still barely does)

Oh and Jenk - DD1 does that repition thing! I have to say the word back to her or else she just says it over and over. Of course repeating the word to show I have heard and understood etc just frees her up to go onto the next word.

She'll ask for toast a million times and if I just say 'yes ok' she'll keep on until I say 'toast, yes tpast, I'm going to make you toast' for example.

bump

Jenk, can't really offer proper advice over such a limited medium I'm afraid.

Mimicking and repeating (esp. without understanding properly) is known as echolalia and very common in children with comm. disorders, as is an elelment of selective mutism.

At this stage i would really cut down the tv and spend a lot of time with her working on imaginary play (eg feedin and dressing dolls)

Have you looked at ICAN and AFASIC websites? Both very useful.

Sorry can't be of more help.

thats ok moondog, youve answered my main question, that repetetive and mimicking is ver common in children with comm disorders which is what i thought but the ed psych and slt keep dismissing it and saying they dont have any concerns with her communication.
makes me feel secure that im not going mad!!!

moondog, what sort of common disorders do you mean?

like i said dd shows alot of this behaviour as well as being quite manic and difficult alot of the time but she has no tv at all and has a fablous imagination and can be quite social when she is comfortable in a situation (4 months after starting playschool she's just starting to play and socialise and enjoy it there). on those grounds i don't believe she has anything on the autistic spectrum but she is 'unusual'

Pink, sorry it's short for communication disorder.

As I said,very hard on t'Internet.Of course a lot of children without comm. disorders mimic and repeat.It would be these patterns combined with other unusual things that would make alalrm bells ring.

I've nothing against tv by the way but in my opinion it needs to be limited with children who are developing quirky comm. patterns in particualr.

ahhh, never mind moondog. she's got a paeds appointment next week so can ask them.

thanks anyway

Good luck Pink.
Write your questions down before you go in.Easy to get flustered and forget to ask important stuff in the heat of the moment.

yep, especially with her climbing the walls and dp sitting there with random, pointless and usually inaccurate comments!

Yup.
Launch straight in with the questions.
Take notes too.
Better still,bring someone in to take notes for you.
You must squeeze maximum out of every meeting.

that's my biggest fear, we've waited months for this meeting and i'm terrified i'll forget to mention something salient and they'll dismiss me as a paranoid mom or misdiagnose her.

she's technically there for food intolerances but the behaviour stuff seems to be heavily linked in with the food stuff.

Doesn't surprise me at all. behaviour closely linked with food.

Stay calm and clear thinking and persist with questions until you get answers or at least further referrals to folk who can help.

thanks moondog