Speaks or signs with flat tone, affect or dysrthymic patterns - Huh? Can anyone explain this to me i need to say if DS does it or not and don't understand the question.

[SammyK]

This is the last question I need to do on his GARS form, please help!

My understanding of it is does your ds speak with an unusual tone or rhythm. When most people speak their speech rises and falls in pitch and tone and speed etc depending on the context. However lots of children with SN have far less variation in their speech and so speak in a rather monotone droning way. My ds speech isn't flat or monotone at all but when he is excited or stressed actually becomes exaggerated in pitch and tone

People with an ASD (for example) can't 'hear' tone of voice or accents that well, so don't learn to use their voice to convey their social class, their emotions etc in the same way that others do. So we end up with a very different voice pattern - maybe sounding too posh, or like a robot reading something out, or putting all the emphasis on the wrong bits of it. That's the sort of thing they're asking, I think.

My DS used to mumble a lot, he is clearer now but random words are said in an Americam accent (rather than a Scottish one) and he sounds posher than his two brothers).

Yes DS sounds very posh most of the time, sometimes american sounding here too.

He checks this box then.

He can get very high pitched when excited, but usually repeats words and phrases in the same tone he has heard them in, or in a sing song voice.

Thanks everyone for helping me. I hate all these bloody forms!

Heh - DS1 is very sing songy and squeaky when he talks. When he's really excited, he's verging on a pitch only dogs can hear!

Ds1 used to have what we called a 'dalek voice'. Everything was said in almost the same tone.

These days he just sounds very posh.

DS2 speaks in a very flat tone, especially when he's unsure. The exception is when he's echoing us when he copies our tone exactly as well as the words.

never heard the phrase "dysrythmic patterns" before, but it describes ds quite well. when he puts a sentence together, he often takes words and phrases from other learned phrases he knows, but uses the original intonation from each word or phrase, so that they don't flow together as a normal sentence should.