HFA and speech development in young kids

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Hi All..

My daughter is 6 yrs old with HFA. Lately, (past 4 months) we have noticed that her speech increased drastically compared to 6 months ago. She started using sentences and answering why questions. Although this is very good and we are happy with what she is managing, there is still a long way ahead.

My question to other parents is...how does speech develop in HFA kids? is it like a switch where they are not talking one week and full comversation the next one? is it a gradual but steady development? What should we as parents expect and how can we help her besided intensive speech therapy? Sometimes it is frustrating seeing her struggling to find the correct word... my theory is that she is a perfectionist and won't utter a word unless she is sure that syntax and grammar are correct.

any replies would be greatly appreciated

I've heard that a lot of HFA go through a sudden advancement in verbal skills at that age.

My theory is that it's the same process as what happens to NT kids around 1-2 years old, just delayed a few years. NT kids usually say their first words between 10-18 months, and for awhile they're gradually learning one word at a time, going from one word to two words to three words to four words... and then something shifts, and they're suddenly learning a whole bunch of new words, and their vocabular goes up to 100 words, then 200 words, then 300 words, and so forth.

It probably depends on the child. Although, something similar did happen to me as well. I have classic autism, and went from completely non-verbal up to 2 1/2 or a bit older, to using full, complex sentences by age 3. For me, that was followed by a regression a month or two after my third birthday where I went back to completely non-verbal for a couple years again, and then by primary, just before age 5 1/2, I was using complex, complete sentences yet again (learning to retalk the second time and then using sentences was pretty quick once I began to be verbal again).

My son is 6 as well. He was diagnosed as PDD-NOS when he was 2.5, but I suspect that he has HFA or Aspergers. Either way, it is all on the spectrum. His language development has taken a very strange path, but it has always been a progression. He has never regressed in his language. He had words on time at 10 months old. However, we realized that he was not really using the words to communicate with us. He was just reciting or repeating the words he had heard. He started repeating phrases and sentences that he heard others say on tv or from books at about 2 ys of age. We had started him in speech therapy at 18 mos, and he did start to ask for more juice or food, but he still was not really showing us things or pointing to things. He was just doing a lot of echolalia. At about 4 yrs of age, he was able to start answering who, what , where questions. At about 4.5 to 5 he started telling us stuff and asking questions. Now at 6 yrs of age, he talks non stop! LOL! Some of his language sounds fairly normal, but he tends to go into monologues about things he is interested in. His thoughts at times seemed jumbled, like he will mix things that he has heard us or other people say and sometimes it is out of context or just doesn't make sense. But overall, his language is always improving. I just think it is a matter of time and a lot of time spent talking to him and trying to help him make corrections so that he gets it. I am totally amazed at how his language has improved. The other day he asked me if "we could make an exception for something" and he used it in the right context. So I think your daughter is on the right track. I would just keep talking to her as much as you can!