Teaching non and pre-verbal kids to read?

Post Reply New Topic

Waterfalls - I'm almost certain that he's apraxic, but so far no slt will diagnose it. They all say that we have to wait until he's five.

If you're interested, here's a short video of him doing his ABCs. No pressure to watch it. I'll take it down in a few hours any way. But, I'm really curious to see what folks think. Oh - he and he does sign, which you'll see as well. But he doesn't yet have the fine motor coordination that he needs to really be able to have a rich sign vocabulary. A year ago, I called every autism school, school for the deaf, and the state looking for a private toddler sign instructor. Not baby sign, but real ASL. I couldn't find one! No one had any recommendations. So, here we are. Anyway, the video is below.

http://youtu.be/Vz25BJHfUTI

I'm sorry, you said that you thought apraxia. I don't know if this is an option for you, but could you learn to sign and teach him? Otherwise, I think if it were me and I really wanted him to learn and was blocked like you're describing, I think if look to find a nice deaf teenager or sibling of a deaf child who was good with kids and could show him. It's not professional teaching but if you think he can pick this up easily with a little help and exposure.....anyway that's what I might try. Or hire a college student who knew how to sign like a speech therapy student.

I don't have a good connection to watch or expertise to offer; but I'd love to watch tomorrow!

There's a whole series of videos called Signing Time that is aimed at elementary school kids. My son's kindergarten teacher used to play it occasionally and my son liked it enough to ask to borrow the DVD's. At least it would be a step beyond the baby sign videos in terms of vocabulary.

For reading, my 4 yo girls like the Rock N Learn Sight Words videos, Word World, Letter Factory, and The Electric Company. One is starting to sound out words on her own, the other I suspect is mildly dyslexic like her brother (she has trouble rhyming and recognizing letters). I kept pushing my 8 yo son to watch them, but he finally convinced me that they just don't match the way he learns and he wasn't getting anything out of them.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, there is an app called Letter School that can be set to Handwriting Without Tears mode. Excellent intro to handwriting, and more forgiving than most of the handwriting apps I've seen. Also would help with letter recognition, because they introduce each letter with a little song like, "This is the letter B, for /b/ /b/ ball!" (HWT is used by OT's to help kids who are dysgraphic. Their wet-dry-try method with a chalkboard and their workbooks are very good.)

Since he is only three and knowing and saying letters and interacting/attending quite well here, I think he will become verbal and fluent, so I wouldn't even worry about signing.
Apraxia, I don't know enough about it to know if he might have it, but based on what he is saying in the video, it is probably not bad enough to prevent intelligible speech.
Quuute boy, he seems to be developing well.

How is his receptive language ? If he can say "difficult" sounds like s, r and l, he probably is not apraxic, and it may only be a mild expressive language delay. If he has solid receptive language skills, and good social skills (which it appears that he does), I wouldn't worry too much about it. Good luck !

Thanks Zette!! ! I'll check those out. And thanks btbnnyr - especially for saying that he's cute! But, he is trying so hard and so proud of himself, so I'm optimistic that we'll continue to see improvement. And you're right, he really is a social little guy. He's easily overwhelmed, but he wants to be around people. Even when he's perseverative, he wants do it in the same room as everyone else.

HisMom - thanks for the perspective! He doesn't have an r or an l yet. In fact, his tongue tends to do weird things inside his mouth when he tries l in particular. It kind of flips over. He has an s, but only in the sense of making a snake sound. He hasn't been able to say a word that starts with an s, or add an s to the end of a word. He only does the ssssssss when he sees the letter, not 'es'. So I don't know. I've noticed his tongue moving to all kinds of weird places in his mouth when he tries to talk, and it doesn't even move to the same place each time when he's mispronouncing something. It's like it's random. I don't know.

Oh, and his receptive language is pretty strong. He can follow 2 step directions if stated clearly while you have his full attention. His therapists say that he has a very mild delay relative to his NT peers, which for a child who has been diagnosed with classic autism, is excellent. He's clearly highly-functioning, which is good, but I'm concerned that once frustration sets in, it will be harder for him to focus on his strengths.

He has about 20 clear words, plus the 10-15 alphabets that he can say clearly enough. That's not enough for a 3 year old boy with average intelligence. And, he's not going to catch up to his peers any time soon, if at all, so I'm looking for plans B,C, D, and E!

Last edited by pddtwinmom on 22 Aug 2014, 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think he's adorable. I'm not an speech therapist, but it's fabulous they are saying only a mild delay and if he started talking late he may just need extra time and support to catch up. I'm happy for you things are going this way.

When what's happening is working relax and enjoy your child. A new problem will arise soon enough. I'd say keep up what's working and be happy. He doesn't need to be typical or normal he just needs to be him.

Thanks, Waterfalls! I completely agree. I like to be proactive, and the fact that he's starting pre-school in two weeks is causing me a bit of anxiety. But, I'm not normal, so I'm definitely not trying to make my boys "normal" - ha! I just want them to be able to communicate.

I would not assume that he has apraxia just yet. I say this as my son has an apraxia diagnosis and it wasn't just based on his inability to say any words. It was also based on his fine motor and oral motor delays, in addition to a motor planning disorder (dyspraxia), which we are working very hard on to remediate. Plus, my son is 5 while yours is 3. Apraxia is a neurological disorder, and there is no cure. Kids with apraxia will usually struggle to say words, and cannot imitate any on request, although they may have delayed echolalia. Verbal apraxia is usually caused by motor planning challenges of the muscles of the face and mouth, especially the tongue. If your son has no motor planning challenges and no problems with imitating words or oral motor movements on request, then I will reiterate that your son may merely have an expressive language delay.

Can your son imitate oral motor movements such as nodding head, sticking tongue out, moving tongue from side to side immediately on request ? Can he lick an ice-cream cone and blow bubbles ? How are his feeding skills ? Does he have proper chewing and lip closure skills ? Can he lick food stuck on his lips off with his tongue ? Can his tongue cross the mouth's midline ? Can he place his tongue at different positions on request ? If he cannot do most of these things, only then would I be concerned. How are his fine motor skills ? Fine motor imitations ? If his fine motor skills are age appropriate, I wouldn't worry.

Regarding his receptive language, can you tell him a simple story with just words and minimal visual cues, and still have him follow it ?

I know that you want to be proactive, but I would not go looking for the apraxia / dyspraxia diagnosis just yet, as it can change the course of treatment (which may not always be the best thing for your child). If you really want to be sure, get a confidential, private assessment done at cost to you, and see what that therapist says. I am not saying to not work on his delays, but I would not look for an "official diagnosis" just yet.

He really does look like he will catch up sooner than you think and then you will regret going down the apraxia / dyspraxia diagnosis route. This is just my humble opinion, I am not a therapist or a professional, just another parent. YMMV.

HisMom - that is so very helpful!

quick answers:

he can stick out his tongue, but not side to side
cannot lick ice cream
can chew/swallow/move food around fine (we had a feeding evaluation because we used to have MAJOR issues with reflux/vomiting, etc)
just learned how to purse his lips to blow air (like bubbles for swimming). Took physical prompts over 6 months for him to get the motion.
in general, his oral imitation is so much weaker than his gross motor. The first attempt he makes is always something that has nothing to do with the face he's trying to imitate. You can almost see him cycling through all of the muscles in his mouth to try to figure out which ones to move. And he still can't do it, usually. Stick out your tongue came 3 months ago.


fine motor is similar - he's strong in some areas, but missing others completely.

he has lots of flexibility. he likes to spin toys and he's good at it! he could spin a dime at 14 mo.
cannot hold one, two, three fingers to count. can't even hold up 1 in the vertical position.
can point, which make it weird that he can't hold it up vertically when he can do it horizontally, but he learned how to point at around 2, and he still prefers to do it with an open hand (can see that in the video).

I'm not dying to have another diagnosis to add to the mix, more so trying to figure out why my child who very much wants to talk just can't. But, the good thing, as you mentioned, is that he is still mastering new skills, and it does seem like it's coming.

Question - my understanding of apraxia (when I use it, I mean childhood apraxia of speech, not full body. sorry for the shorthand) was a that it was neurological condition, but that children could learn to compensate for it and arrive at intelligible speech. Is that incorrect?

Thanks again!

Yes children with apraxia CAN make progress.

Socially, your son is way ahead of me at his age, since I didn't interact like this when I was a kid ever.
Speech-wise, also ahead if he is using few words for communicating.
Receptive language, probably similar, since my receptive was good too.
Attention-wise, he looks great.
Motor-wise, his speech sounds are not as clear as they should be for a 3-year-old (I think), and I noticed that his high-five motor movement appears weak in terms of planning and doing, so there may be something motor going on, but on the milder end of the motor deficit spectrum, so he may catch up naturally in time. Does he enjoy manipulating objects a lot? Doing that a lot should help motor skills.
I had big problems with gross motor (never fine motor or mouth motor) when I was this age, and those resolved naturally in the absence of any therapies, probably by age 7 or 8.
So your son is doing fine as compared with another kid with classic autism who turned out high-functioning and verbal.

My perspective on developmental delays in autism is like this:
Autistic kids, esp. classic autistic, will be measured on behavioral checklists to be really really really delayed compared to NT peers.
However, this doesn't mean that the kids can't develop well and become high-functioning adults, because they were never going to develop along the NT trajectory anyway.
If someone didn't know anything about me now and measured my eye contact pattern from an eye-tracking video of what I was looking at during live interaction, then they might say that this autistic child has an eye gaze development similar to an NT 9-month-old, must have severe autism, will have to be institutionalized later, blah blah blah ridiculous nonsense, etc.
As long as the child develops well along their autistic trajectory, that is what matters.
If measured against autistic trajectory, many NT kids would also be developmentally delayed, and most NT adults probably have certain adulthood cognitive functions at my 9-month-old level.

Try this:

http://www.readingbear.org


I taught my NT daughter to read very young. My AS son learned at age 3, but all of that happened after he was speaking well.

The difference, I think, is that you give the pre-verbal child toms of input without expecting any (or much) output. Honestly, I find it to be more rewarding because your expectations are low...and then one day, they just show you they've been picking it up afterall.

I posted that before I saw the video. How sweet! He is adorable and you are doing a fabulous job!


I still think reading bear would be really useful for you guys.

And I wanted to say I think it's awesome that you are thinking of this. I have had difficulty with speech my entire life and things were SO MUCH better after I could read and write. I think literacy is just that much more important for kids who have trouble with expressive language.

Thank you guys so much!! I really appreciate all of the thoughtful responses and resources. I also appreciate the compliments for my son.


HisMom - thanks for all of your points about apraxia. At what age did your son get evaluated and diagnosed?

Btbnnyr - thank you for the perspective. His speech is definitely not as clear as a 3 year old's should be, even for the words that other people can understand. And thanks for letting me know that it all worked out for you. There aren't too many people who can give me a perspective on high-functioning class autism. I think maybe because back when diagnoses happened later, a lot of these children were already speaking and thus were grouped in with Aspergers? I don't know, but I appreciate it.

screen_name - thank you for the support! I just know I'm right about this. I think 1) he can learn how to read early, and 2) it will dramatically help his communication, especially since he has so many strong social skills. My biggest fear is that he will get frustrated and feel isolated, and thus stop trying socially, even though it's one of his strengths. I'm going to check out your recs.

Thanks again to everyone! I love this board!

Hi guys. I very much appreciate updates, so I thought I would check back in and provide one myself.

My boy was evaluated by one of the 40-ish speech therapists in America that are officially certified to diagnose apraxia of speech, and he doesn't have it. Woo hoo! HisMom, you were absolutely correct. It appears that my son is just very speech delayed.

That same speech therapist thought that he might be hyperlexic. I'm not sure that I agree with that. While he has taken to his letters and numbers, he is not obsessed with them, nor has he taught himself to read despite tons of exposure, so the jury is still out.

I have started teaching both boys to read, but it seems to be progressing like it would with any toddler. By that, I mean that success is still months away. That's okay, because all of us are enjoying the process. It doesn't seem like my boys have any deficits or special gifts in this arena, at least not to me, which is strangely a bit of a relief! I'm enjoying "normalcy" for a change - both the extraordinary and the challenging can be so exhausting!

Thanks to everyone again for all of the wonderful help and advice!