A good example to illustrate DD's language - could I have opinions, please?

[lou031205]

Hope this is clear, and you might have ideas as to what is going on:

Me: DD, I want you to be good for Nanny, then I might get you a treat when I come back.

DD: Treat?

DD: I want circles.

Me: Circles?

DD: Lots of circles.

Me: What circles?

DD: Lots of circles. Red, green, pink, blue, purple, chocolate & orange.

Me: What happens to the circles? (I'm thinking perhaps it is a game at preschool)

DD: Put in cup.

Me: Then what happens?

DD: Eat all.

Me: Smarties? Do you mean smarties?

DD: Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Why can she describe the colour & function & remember that last time she had them I put them in a cup, but not know to name them or their category? She didn't even call them sweeties, just circles?

DS does this all the time. French bread is 'line bread', cheese straws are 'crunchy sticks'. I'd bet interested to know if this is something to work on too. I'm really quite pleased he can do this much describing...

Lou, sounds like a specific word finding problem to me which is quite common with kids with lang. difficulties.They often can't make the fine semantic discriminations needed.

So, if you think of language like a filing cabinet, they might be in the correct drawer but have failed to locate the exact file if you see what I mean?!

ds2 (6.10) was trying to tell me what was wrong with his dinner earlier.

After lots of NO NO NO & pushing the plate away.... He actually has good verbal skills until something upsets him & then he struggles.

Me: ds2, Why don't you like it
DS2: I do
Me: What is upsetting you
DS2: That other
Me: What other
DS2: More that other
ME: You want more pasta
DS2: NO! More red wet
ME: You want more sauce.
DS2 no, no No SAUCE
ME: Oh is there too much sauce
DS2: Yes there's too much pasta sauce.

Once he had calmed down, found the correct words he was perfectly able to articulate himself.

Sometimes it is all a mystery!!

That's really helpful. Glad it isn't totally unusual.

Moondog - the ed psych spoke to the SALT at length about DD's language, & she wouldn't say if she thought DD had a specific word finding problem. Ed psych sounded frustrated that SALT wouldn't commit. It was for statement process. Is there any reason you can think of why the SALT wouldn't want to say that DD has a word-finding problem?

DD does this all the time. It means that she may as well be speaking Portugese to strangers, or even preschool workers. How are they meant to know that a 'black thing' is a seatbelt, or that 'bowleat' is food, etc.?

Is there anything I can do to help her? I always try to label the item once I have decoded it, but she loses it when she has to use it functionally.

My mum has always had problems with nouns, and it's got worse and worse as her memory problems have increased. What I have found works is to try and establish known descriptions for things - so corned beef is 'that meat in a tin', pencils are 'things you write with that rub out', and smarties would prob be 'coloured circle sweets'.

By using the same phrase every time we talk about something it seems to stick somehow, so even now when she can't get the words out for most things, I can understand what she means

That's really helpful, CMOTd, thank you!

Lou, can't think why she wouldn't commit to this, no.

Your SALT should be able to offer you guidance on this/

However, this site looks quite good and sells what looks like a good book by a reputable author.

moondog, thank you, thank you. That site is fab, and DD fits a lot of it. I will ask her SALT about it.