verbal communication

Hot Dog is a Baloney

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One of the things that I’ve noticed most with the Monster’s verbal issues is the way he perserverates on certain phrases, even when they don’t make sense.

We had an incident, a while back, where he was repeating something that sounded like Spanish, but wasn’t anything I could decipher.  It turned out it was echolalia just churning back something he’d misheard from a Dora the Explorer game, once we heard the source and matched the cadence with what he was saying.

And then there’s the times where it’s genuine nonsense, and we’ve no idea what he’s trying to say. Continue reading →

Putting It Together

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One of the major gaps in the Monster’s expressive language skill-set is his ability to tell something in a narrative fashion.

Give the kid an object, and most of the time, he’ll give you a fairly good description of the physical or factual qualities of the item with a little bit of prompting.  Ask him about his day, on the other hand… and you get a blank look. Continue reading →

Ps and Qs

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As the Monster’s been getting older, and going through his various therapies, he’s been getting better at expressing his needs in a fashion that other people would hopefully understand, not just us.

Of course, this also brings up another problem – getting him to do so in a fashion that doesn’t have him coming across as rude. Continue reading →

What Is “Non-Verbal”?

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On one of the many fora I visit, a parent recently asked what “non-verbal” really means.

The line between verbal and non-verbal is a difficult one, I think, when it comes to Autism.  To most folks, “non-verbal” implies “no speech”… which isn’t the truth of the matter.  Most of our kids make some kind of noises, after all, which may or may not be words… Continue reading →

Baby Steps

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Everything is a baby step, until you have enough room in the rear view mirror to have another perspective.

On Thursdays, as I’ve mentioned a number of times before, I pick up the Monster from school so he can go to his gymnastics program at Rebounders.  This gives me a few opportunities that I don’t normally have. Continue reading →

Pulling Teeth

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The Monster’s verbal inclinations – whether regressing or not this summer – really do tend to send us into loops of repetitive questions.

The real problem is when we try to give him choices.  Anything beyond a yes-no question lately tends to be a failure unless he’s highly motivated to give a more direct answer.  Inevitably, once you get to a certain point in the conversation, the loop begins. Continue reading →

Inconsistent

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In theory – as far as the wife’s aware – the Monster starts his ESY speech therapy tomorrow.

We’ve noticed, as I mentioned earlier, some regression in his skills since school let out.  Aside from the issues in the bathroom, we’ve been dealing with the fact that he’s not been quite as verbal as he was during the school year, though the fall-off hasn’t been quite as bad in terms of absolute slip.  What we have noticed is a slide back to more familiar patterns that he used to use earlier in the spring. Continue reading →