Help! Will 4 1/2 year old speak clearly?

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30 Jun 2010, 12:25 pm

My lovely son was diagnosed at 2 years 9 months as HFA. He said first words at age 1 ie, 'no', bye' and 'go'. Then nothing really more until age 3 when he began two word sentences and now aged 4 1/2 he can speak in some sentences, but doesn't speak a lot. We did use PECS, but i'm not convinced it really helped. He can do the following:

count to 100
add and subtract number under 20
read level 1 books
change his clothes
toilet trained at age 3
make some eye contact to me, not so good with strangers
can speak some sentences but his speech is not clear, only I underdstand him and hr dribbles from his mouth.
obey instructions, usually I bribe him with toys, Hey but it works! so why not.

he has trouble with:

When he is interrupted and can't complete something ie counting objects
when he tries to do something and needs help but is stubborn and doesn't want it ie putting shoes on.
when he loses or gets things wrong ie says wrong answer to a sum.

At the moment I'm not too worried about his upsets, as I can usually control him and bring him round and I'm sure with time he will get better.

I am however really worried about his speech, it's coming on but the real problem is that it's not clear instead of 'f' he says 'p' and he doesn't complete the endings on words, so really he's not understanable by strangers,but i can understand his speech clearly, as when he reads you can make out what he is trying to say. My worry is that he is approaching 5 years of age and will be starting school soon, at that age everyone will notice that developmentally he is not like his peers, even though he probably is ahead academically in reading and numeracy, but the speech will be a problem for him . When he talks to others they don't reply, because they don't know what he's saying and it's very frustarting for him and I worry that he might give up trying because of this.

He has come a long way in the past year, but my extreme worry is that he progress will not continue and his speech will stay the same, I keep thinking that's all he will say and never speak clearly, because he is on the spectrum and his progress is not like other kids. Please can someone tell me if I'm thinking wrong. Will other people ever understand him? What can I do to improve his speech. I already use PECS.

Thank you all, |I would appreciate any help



Last edited by tv on 30 Jun 2010, 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CanadianRose
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30 Jun 2010, 12:54 pm

With the help of a good speech therapist/autism consultant with knowledge about speech - YES - a child can learn to speak more clearly.

They may never surpass the silver tongue of Patrick Stewart (Shakespearean actor and immortalized as the character of Jean Luc Picard of Star Trek the Next Generation). Now there is a clear speaker!!

However, Mr. James Earl Jones - immortalized as the voice of Darth Vader of Star Wars - had a major speech impediment growing up. He stuttered. With practice, he became was one the clearest speakers, not a hesitation or stutter and a wonderful actor (both voice and physical).

Keep working - it will get better.



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30 Jun 2010, 1:11 pm

I agree and can't add much to the previous post except for to encourage you to do intervention as soon as possible (and it seems you are.)

Many autists were's clear speaking at first. I know of two that spoke unclearly at 4 that actually have high IQ's and careers now :)


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Willard
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30 Jun 2010, 1:21 pm

Don't you think peer influence will cause a lot of that to clear up once he's with a group of other kids for a while?

I've never known anyone with a speech impairment that didn't outgrow it eventually, unless the cause was physical. Not saying it never happens, but I think its early yet to be too concerned.



Callista
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30 Jun 2010, 2:01 pm

Speaking clearly won't mean that he won't be recognized as different. In fact, he will probably be recognized as different his whole life; and the best approach is to simply teach him that different is OK and anybody who thinks it isn't OK is being mean.

But yes, a good speech therapist should help him; and with his good literacy skills, he may benefit from taking advantage of written communication to supplement his shaky oral communication as well.


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30 Jun 2010, 2:08 pm

I think that a language therapist would be of great help. I had a language therapist at the ages 4 and 5, and not only do I speak clearly. I also can't shut up, both in real life and on WP.


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30 Jun 2010, 2:17 pm

You might want to ask these things on the Parents forum as well.

It's hard to say if your son will speak clearly or not. If he's speaking that much now I think there is a good chance he will. Kids who aren't speaking at all are more likely to stay that way than kids who are making some noise and have some words. My son didn't speak till 5/6. He tried but it was utterly unintelligible. His receptive language skills seemed to be good because he always knew what was going on and often responded appropriately to language cues. He also made eye contact well. He was diagnosed with PDD-NOS and ADHD. In recent tests he didn't come out as being on the spectrum, but I think he probably really is.

In Kindergarten he got a really good speech therapist. Something clicked on in his brain and he began to progress very rapidly. Today, at the age of 9, he speaks about as clearly as any child his age and is an excellent student, not only gifted but profoundly gifted (99+ percentile) and always straight A's. His writing skills are in the 99.9 percentile and I think he got a 99.8 in grammar. His reading comprehension is also in that range, but his word reading came out at a lowly 87percentile (a fabulous score, but significantly lower than all his others). His math reasoning was also in the upper end of the 99s. Your son has more words than mine did at his age, so there is just no way to know what your son is capable of.

Some of your childs other behaviors, like wanting to do things himself, sounds like perfectly healthy development. His academic achievements are impressive. Rejoice that his brain is developing so well. Your son sounds very bright.



Last edited by Kiley on 30 Jun 2010, 2:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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30 Jun 2010, 2:20 pm

My son didn't say one word until he was 3. By 4 1/2 he had some vocabulary, but he had trouble with L's, th's (he still has trouble with th's when he's not reminded) and a couple of other things. He still doesn't say ending g's and his syntax is all over the place, but getting better. That said, he has come a remarkable distance since then and is still improving. He is doing really well and I have absolutely no speech concerns for his future. He has a much smaller vocabulary than other children, but he's getting there.

I have him in speech and language therapy, and have for 5 years now, and I will for several more probably, but by the time he's an adult he will be fine.

Keep in mind that language is very complex and really hard to learn, particularly if you have a disability. Think of it as you learning a foreign language, but not having a base language to bridge from. The rules of language as well as vocabulary and meaning have to be learned, and it's really hard if it doesn't come natural, but not impossible. A lot of my son's language was learned by rote, and then the meaning came later. I also used PECS, (and still do for reminders and instant processing) but I found sign language worked better. My son however is very good with his eyes, and processes what he see's instantly, wheras anything through the ears may or may not get processed, sometimes taking up to a minute to hear, figure out a response and articulate an answer.

IMO The earlier you get your child into speech, the better the outcome.



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30 Jun 2010, 2:48 pm

I did not talk until I was 3.5 years old. At 4 years old, I would often say "I need to enunciate, so I can speak more klilly". The R's and the L's messed with me bad. I could say grill but not girl. After lots of practice, I finally got it right. I spoke fine by age 5.


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liloleme
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30 Jun 2010, 5:15 pm

What did you say about something "hr" dribbling from his mouth?



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01 Jul 2010, 7:22 am

sorry meant 'he' dribbles from his mouth



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01 Jul 2010, 9:15 am

tv wrote:
I keep thinking that's all he will say and never speak clearly, because he is on the spectrum and his progress is not like other kids. Please can someone tell me if I'm thinking wrong. Will other people ever understand him? What can I do to improve his speech.


yes, you are thinking wrong =) he sounds like a bright boy! his speech issues sound like problems with phonology, not articulation or acquisition of language. the limited amounts of speech is probably due to his asd, hes just not a conversationalist.

your son needs to get into a speech/language therapy program with a speech and language pathologist. im not sure where you live, if its in the US then he should get free services through your local school district. if not in the US im not sure if you have free options, but some insurances will cover some speech therapy especially with an asd diagnosis. with speech therapy he will be fine. they can work with him on all the speech issues and by the end of it he should be speaking clearly.

my youngest is same age as yours, also asd, and had about the same development with single words and then short phrases by 3. he too drops the endings of words and substitutes letters. it is very hard for people to understand him. this past year we got him into speech therapy through his school and that will continue as long as he needs it. i think 2-3 years of speech and he will be fine. so he is right where your son is now.

my oldest has already gone through this process. at 5 yrs old entering kindergarten he was completely unintelligible. that is no exaggeration, literally no one could understand him but me. he had severe issues with articulation, production of sounds (about 1/4 of the alphabet), dropping end syllables. he went through 7 1/2 years of speech therapy, all free through the public schools he attended, and finally graduated out of it half way through 6th grade. after the first two years or so he was able to be understood, altho some words were still garbled and he couldnt do several sounds. he had lingering issues with a few hard sounds, K and G specifically, that gave him trouble and kept him in speech the last year. now, he can speak clearly and is perfectly understood. he does have to pay attention to some sounds in certain words and they are more work for him, but he can pronounce them now. he also still stumbles on some words, and has to concentrate to get the sounds and syllables out in the correct order, hard long words like consequently. this is my drama child, he performed in two plays within the past month, did all his lines perfectly with no errors =) it always amazes me to watch him on stage knowing how his speech was soooo bad when he was younger.

so there you go. with speech therapy, your son should be fine. these days they start it very early too, much better than when i was growing up. i did two years myself in 4 & 5 grade. the earlier the intervention the easier it is to correct.



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01 Jul 2010, 7:04 pm

Willard wrote:
I've never known anyone with a speech impairment that didn't outgrow it eventually, unless the cause was physical. Not saying it never happens, but I think its early yet to be too concerned.


You've never met an adult with a lisp?


To the OP: I would really recommend seeing a speech therapist. If he is saying "p" for "f" (and I'm assuming many other errors as well), then his speech is very delayed for his age. I would be concerned about a 3 year old who made that sound in error, let alone a 4 1/2 year old.

Delays in speech sound acquisition are very treatable (unless there is a physical problem or apraxia and those can still improve), but ideally they will be treated early. Particularly if intelligibility is reduced. You want the other kids and the teachers at school to be able to understand him, and you don't want him to feel self-conscious about his speech.


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04 Jul 2010, 10:42 am

Worried about it? Sheesh... he's autistic, he's four, and he's talking. That's a "good outcome" marker right there, and nothing to do with worry. Speech therapy would be useful, as it is for many autistics; but worrying... not so useful.

Have you had him checked for hypotonia? That's a big word that just means "muscle weakness" and is sometimes found in autistic kids. What made me think of it is that you say he dribbles from his mouth; and that might be because he doesn't have good muscle control/strength in his facial muscles. (Of course, some kids just let their mouths hang open so they don't have to think about keeping them closed.) In any event, you should mention it to your speech therapist, since they are trained to check for physical problems that interfere with speech.

Keep up the PECS :) It's a fairly self-explanatory system, and will be a great backup when he can't get others to understand what he's saying. Later on, he may want to "graduate" to writing or typing for backup communication, which is even easier for others to understand. It's not uncommon for us to lose verbal communication when we're utterly exhausted or overwhelmed, and it really helps to have some other way to sneak ideas around the unavailability of speech. Plus, always having a way to communicate reduces frustration and discouragement and increases your experience with communication in general, so that as speech becomes easier to use, he'll gain skill with it faster than if he'd had no alternatives to practice with.


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04 Jul 2010, 10:58 am

Callista wrote:
Speaking clearly won't mean that he won't be recognized as different. In fact, he will probably be recognized as different his whole life; and the best approach is to simply teach him that different is OK and anybody who thinks it isn't OK is being mean.


My parents really went out of their way to make sure "different=weird=unique=special" and it did wonders for instilling in me a sense of self esteem in my early years. No matter what you do, school is probably going to present difficulties for him so it's important that you give him a solid foundation to start off with. He's going to have to learn to deal with bullies by himself, and it's important that he knows that when they pick on him it's because something is wrong with THEM and not HIM.