ASD and Language Disorder reassurance please

[Crystalball84]

Hi , my son just turned 5 and has been diagnosed with Autism. We haven't received the full report yet. In the spoken feedback she said there seems to be some disordered language and processing issues. I agree. He does not talk about the past or future. He is in the now. He does well with vocabulary and nouns but conversation and questions from him don't happen.
Did anyone have a child similar and did speech therapy help? We are going to follow up with some more in depth assessment on speech and language.
He talks to himself a lot, likes to tell stories that he loves- fairytales. I'm just wondering how much progress is possible. I know it's so different for every child. I'm just very sad today.

Sounds exactly like DD who is almost 4.

She can do some questions but they are scripted e.g can I have a sandwich please?

We have found speech therapy helpful both private and NHS - NHS was more about giving the parent the tools rather than working with DD and my trust uses the Hanen method 'More Than Words' which I absolutely recommend looking up.

Ok, thank you, I'll look it up. I think the at home work is crucial. He is not one to sit and work for long, or at all.

My DD is a year older (about to turn 6). She has autism and language disorder. Her speech was exactly like your DS. The speech therapy via her EHCP has been brilliant, now she can talk about lots of things past and future. Her language isn't age appropriate as she still can't do more complex/abstract "why?" questions but is very verbal and chatty now. For context around her 4th birthday she was just able to answer "What is your name?" after I spent 2 intensive weeks working on it with her. So progress has been huge in this time.

@Rhubarblin thank you so much for sharing. That gives me great hope. Do you know what your DD did in speech therapy,nor did you supplement it at home? I'd love to start somewhere.

They did "Bucket Time" everyday and then 3x a week targeted SALT working on the "BLANK levels". You should be able to google both of these for ideas? We used to do a bucket time type thing at home. Then to work on the blank levels, I just kept modelling the answers until she was able to do it, throughout the day. You're probably already doing this naturally. She's now at Level 3 but can also do a bit of 4.

We've had a massive leap in speech between 5 and now (6 and a half)! Exactly the same really at 4/5 he wouldn't answer questions and talked about fairy tales to himself (3 little pigs mainly). He still has an unusual way of putting things and talks about his interests but definitely has conversations now and talks a lot about past and future.
I can't take much credit... school has helped, the social side and I think learning to read. Addressing some sensory issues maybe too... I've always felt speech and language therapy we've done hasn't helped much.

@Rhubarblin I will look those up now. Thank you. I feel I'm always monitoring how I speak to him and trying to teach him all the time. It kinda gets in the way of enjoying him. Although I know that's heightened at the moment because of the confirmation of his diagnosis. My son says the 3 little pigs to himself all the time. There must be something about it!! Thanks so much for sharing.@Bobobab

That's so funny, I kind of miss the big bad wolf phase!! For my ds that type of speech is how he comforts and regulates himself when he was younger it was counting songs... seeking an OT support has improved that and given him other tools to regulate plus increased body awareness (he told me his ear hurt a few weeks ago and he'd never been able to tell me he was ill, its funny how something so "normal" can feel so huge).

Also understanding my ds is a gestalt language processor has helped me understanding his development more.... I think this is why learning to read and write has helped him, he is forming more original sentences rather than scripting.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself, it sounds like you are already on it... make sure nursery/school are too and you are getting all the support you can. Not sure whether you are at school yet and have an EHCP already but getting that and a 1 to 1 at school has been so important, as well as things like disability swimming sessions that the LA provide and some other things. We have so many development worries, I google something different everyday, but little by little he gets there he just often needs more or different support.

I have never heard of Blank Levels - this is great! Thank you

@Bobobab I'm not in the UK so it's a little different here. He will start school in September and hopefully he in an AS class attached to a mainstream school. I hope he does as well as your DS. He sounds like he is doing great. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
@valensiwalensi the blank levels look so helpful don't they. It's great.