Re: Hope for speech

[Guest guest]

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

[Guest guest]

You are not alone--God Bless

and Sal Juarez <jamieandsal@...> wrote:

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My son was 3.5 when he started talking, with Pivotal Response Training. Once he

uttered the slightest sound for something he wanted, he got (and not until

then), then we built up from there.

Kristy

Re: Hope for speech

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

[Guest guest]

I was told a few months before my son turned five that he would probably never

speak because he had no words. I was crushed, but felt that I had to push it at

least for a little while longer. What if they were wrong?

Well, I hired a speech therapist and she came once a week for an hour. My son

babbled a lot but didn't have any real words. She tried so hard with him to have

him repeat a word or sound and you could see him looking at her mouth and trying

to figure out how to do what she was doing but he just couldn't. I was hanging

out with my son one day and heard him do one of his stimmy sounds " EI, EI " which

he would say over and over to himself for fun. I started saying " EI, EI " also

and he sort of stopped and looked at me and he smiled. We did that sound

together for a while and then would do it on and off over the next few days.

Then I tried to initiate this fun game by saying " EI, EI " first. When I did it,

he laughed and then he did it. Finally! Repeating!!!! I told the speech

therapist and she said it was a big breakthrough. She was also able to get him

to repeat that sound. I felt like this was the beginning of something big.

Then she left to go on early bed rest (she was pregnant) and I felt so

depressed. Here we were with a breakthrough and our speech therapist had to

quit. While waiting to hire another SLP (not so easy to find ones that will come

to your house and have experience with autism in my area), I decided that since

my son knew the song " Old Mac " that I would sing it to him and pause at

the part where it goes " EI, EI, O " and see what would happen. Guess what? He

filled it in! I laughed and praised and did it over and over to make sure it was

not a fluke. He laughed too and I could tell that he was pleased with himself.

Everyone who worked with him was astonished and we all praised him and clapped

and cheered when he did his " EI, EI " fill in for the song. I started leaving out

the part about " on this farm he had a ..... " and he said cow. More claps and

cheers. He was almost five and a half at that point.

He is now seven (just turned seven a few months ago) and he still isn't a fluid

speaker. He can say words (if I point at a pig and say " what's that? " he will

say " pig " , etc.), but he doesn't talk in sentences. Well, except " I want juice "

or " I want chips " which he knows he has to say in order to get them and we

worked on that a lot. He has great motor planning trouble (I believe he is

apraxic) and though he tries very hard, it is tough for him to properly

pronounce words when there is more than one word together. " I love you " is " I

wuh you " , although if he tries hard to say just " love " on it's own it is much

clearer. The fact that he will say things spontaneously, " I want video " or

" ball " to indicate he wants to play catch, is huge. We feel very blessed and

lucky. I never thought I would hear " Mommy " , let alone some of the other words

he can now say. It has shown me that he understands a lot more than we thought

too. And while he will never be conversational, we are still doing speech once a

week to get his articulation shaped up and to hopefully push him (in a good way)

to use language more and more. You never know! If I had listened to the speech

therapist who told me his chances of speaking were next to none, I wonder if he

would be using any language at all right now.

I encourage you to try. Step up your efforts if you have given up. I followed

all the advice about trying to get speech going from books and experts and none

of it worked, so I know your frustration. I spent thousands of dollars on speech

when he was two and three and it felt like I was throwing $100 bills out the

window of my car as I drove to each appointment. I stopped taking him when he

was three and a half because we were getting nowhere. But once I was told he

couldn't and he wouldn't, I had to try one last time. If your child babbles, see

if any of the babbling is a repetitive sound. If so, try to join in and see if

your child notices. I know it may have been a fluke for us. Just something that

happened that led to something else. But it happened so please don't lose hope.

I wish you all the best and I will pray for you and your son.

Rhoda

Re: Hope for speech

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

[Guest guest]

What a wonderful story thank you for posting it. My daughter is beginning to

make sounds like your son did. We sing sounds together. She has one song and

we are now working on a second of must sounds. I believe that she will speak

and she is legally going to be 7 at the end of the month but we believe she is

only 6. She is adopted from China and they had three dates in her file and just

went with the middle one. Sheri

Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote: I was told a few months before my

son turned five that he would probably never speak because he had no words. I

was crushed, but felt that I had to push it at least for a little while longer.

What if they were wrong?

Well, I hired a speech therapist and she came once a week for an hour. My son

babbled a lot but didn't have any real words. She tried so hard with him to have

him repeat a word or sound and you could see him looking at her mouth and trying

to figure out how to do what she was doing but he just couldn't. I was hanging

out with my son one day and heard him do one of his stimmy sounds " EI, EI " which

he would say over and over to himself for fun. I started saying " EI, EI " also

and he sort of stopped and looked at me and he smiled. We did that sound

together for a while and then would do it on and off over the next few days.

Then I tried to initiate this fun game by saying " EI, EI " first. When I did it,

he laughed and then he did it. Finally! Repeating!!!! I told the speech

therapist and she said it was a big breakthrough. She was also able to get him

to repeat that sound. I felt like this was the beginning of something big.

Then she left to go on early bed rest (she was pregnant) and I felt so

depressed. Here we were with a breakthrough and our speech therapist had to

quit. While waiting to hire another SLP (not so easy to find ones that will come

to your house and have experience with autism in my area), I decided that since

my son knew the song " Old Mac " that I would sing it to him and pause at

the part where it goes " EI, EI, O " and see what would happen. Guess what? He

filled it in! I laughed and praised and did it over and over to make sure it was

not a fluke. He laughed too and I could tell that he was pleased with himself.

Everyone who worked with him was astonished and we all praised him and clapped

and cheered when he did his " EI, EI " fill in for the song. I started leaving out

the part about " on this farm he had a ..... " and he said cow. More claps and

cheers. He was almost five and a half at that point.

He is now seven (just turned seven a few months ago) and he still isn't a fluid

speaker. He can say words (if I point at a pig and say " what's that? " he will

say " pig " , etc.), but he doesn't talk in sentences. Well, except " I want juice "

or " I want chips " which he knows he has to say in order to get them and we

worked on that a lot. He has great motor planning trouble (I believe he is

apraxic) and though he tries very hard, it is tough for him to properly

pronounce words when there is more than one word together. " I love you " is " I

wuh you " , although if he tries hard to say just " love " on it's own it is much

clearer. The fact that he will say things spontaneously, " I want video " or

" ball " to indicate he wants to play catch, is huge. We feel very blessed and

lucky. I never thought I would hear " Mommy " , let alone some of the other words

he can now say. It has shown me that he understands a lot more than we thought

too. And while he will never be conversational, we are still

doing speech once a week to get his articulation shaped up and to hopefully

push him (in a good way) to use language more and more. You never know! If I had

listened to the speech therapist who told me his chances of speaking were next

to none, I wonder if he would be using any language at all right now.

I encourage you to try. Step up your efforts if you have given up. I followed

all the advice about trying to get speech going from books and experts and none

of it worked, so I know your frustration. I spent thousands of dollars on speech

when he was two and three and it felt like I was throwing $100 bills out the

window of my car as I drove to each appointment. I stopped taking him when he

was three and a half because we were getting nowhere. But once I was told he

couldn't and he wouldn't, I had to try one last time. If your child babbles, see

if any of the babbling is a repetitive sound. If so, try to join in and see if

your child notices. I know it may have been a fluke for us. Just something that

happened that led to something else. But it happened so please don't lose hope.

I wish you all the best and I will pray for you and your son.

Rhoda

Re: Hope for speech

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

[Guest guest]

Rhoda,

That's awesome! It sounds like you were doing Floortime with your son.

Please don't give up hope that he may never be conversational. My son is having

a language burst right now. In the last couple of weeks he is using descriptive

language and sharing thoughts and feelings, and his language was where your

son's language was not that long ago! He is even asking " why " questions,

something I thought would never happen (but hoped it would). It is astonishing

me, but with Dr. G's help we have been aggressive with his protocol to bring

down his HHV-6 titers (they were frighteningly high at 10,240:1 and now down to

320:1), and he's had lots of therapy along the way.

Hang in there! We do Floortime, too, and it's good stuff. We sing a lot of songs

(lots more when he was younger and less verbal). I, too, would sing a song to a

point, and leave out a word and wait, and he would respond. We used to sing a

song based on the Leap Frog songs, that we made up: " the cow says, ______....the

cow says, ______. Every animal makes a sound; the cow says, _______. " and go on

and on with every animal we could think of. I think this really helped him make

different sounds.

Kristy

Re: Re: Hope for speech

I was told a few months before my son turned five that he would probably never

speak because he had no words. I was crushed, but felt that I had to push it at

least for a little while longer. What if they were wrong?

Well, I hired a speech therapist and she came once a week for an hour. My son

babbled a lot but didn't have any real words. She tried so hard with him to have

him repeat a word or sound and you could see him looking at her mouth and trying

to figure out how to do what she was doing but he just couldn't. I was hanging

out with my son one day and heard him do one of his stimmy sounds " EI, EI " which

he would say over and over to himself for fun. I started saying " EI, EI " also

and he sort of stopped and looked at me and he smiled. We did that sound

together for a while and then would do it on and off over the next few days.

Then I tried to initiate this fun game by saying " EI, EI " first. When I did it,

he laughed and then he did it. Finally! Repeating!!!! I told the speech

therapist and she said it was a big breakthrough. She was also able to get him

to repeat that sound. I felt like this was the beginning of something big.

Then she left to go on early bed rest (she was pregnant) and I felt so

depressed. Here we were with a breakthrough and our speech therapist had to

quit. While waiting to hire another SLP (not so easy to find ones that will come

to your house and have experience with autism in my area), I decided that since

my son knew the song " Old Mac " that I would sing it to him and pause at

the part where it goes " EI, EI, O " and see what would happen. Guess what? He

filled it in! I laughed and praised and did it over and over to make sure it was

not a fluke. He laughed too and I could tell that he was pleased with himself.

Everyone who worked with him was astonished and we all praised him and clapped

and cheered when he did his " EI, EI " fill in for the song. I started leaving out

the part about " on this farm he had a ..... " and he said cow. More claps and

cheers. He was almost five and a half at that point.

He is now seven (just turned seven a few months ago) and he still isn't a

fluid speaker. He can say words (if I point at a pig and say " what's that? " he

will say " pig " , etc.), but he doesn't talk in sentences. Well, except " I want

juice " or " I want chips " which he knows he has to say in order to get them and

we worked on that a lot. He has great motor planning trouble (I believe he is

apraxic) and though he tries very hard, it is tough for him to properly

pronounce words when there is more than one word together. " I love you " is " I

wuh you " , although if he tries hard to say just " love " on it's own it is much

clearer. The fact that he will say things spontaneously, " I want video " or

" ball " to indicate he wants to play catch, is huge. We feel very blessed and

lucky. I never thought I would hear " Mommy " , let alone some of the other words

he can now say. It has shown me that he understands a lot more than we thought

too. And while he will never be conversational, we are still doing speech once a

week to get his articulation shaped up and to hopefully push him (in a good way)

to use language more and more. You never know! If I had listened to the speech

therapist who told me his chances of speaking were next to none, I wonder if he

would be using any language at all right now.

I encourage you to try. Step up your efforts if you have given up. I followed

all the advice about trying to get speech going from books and experts and none

of it worked, so I know your frustration. I spent thousands of dollars on speech

when he was two and three and it felt like I was throwing $100 bills out the

window of my car as I drove to each appointment. I stopped taking him when he

was three and a half because we were getting nowhere. But once I was told he

couldn't and he wouldn't, I had to try one last time. If your child babbles, see

if any of the babbling is a repetitive sound. If so, try to join in and see if

your child notices. I know it may have been a fluke for us. Just something that

happened that led to something else. But it happened so please don't lose hope.

I wish you all the best and I will pray for you and your son.

Rhoda

Re: Hope for speech

Our son just turned seven and still has no words. Lots of stories are heard

about kids talking later on in life. Anyone personally have inspirational words

for us to keep faith that one day he will say something? Thanks and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Juarez, M.S., Marriage and Family Therapist

[Guest guest]

Rhonda,

You did so good!!!! You took what your child loved and was interested in

and used it to promote speech. That is so important. asked if anyone

had any stories of hope for speech. One of the things that kept me going

when I was worried about 's speech is that Albert Einstein did not say

his first word until he was five. I played that thought over and over again

in my head when I was discouraged. Also some think Albert Einstein was a

member of our Autism club. Read about his early years, very interesting and

inspiring. One of the smartest kids I ever had in my sixth grade class did

not speak until he was older like that and then he started with entire

sentences. No one, not even the speech experts, can predict what these kids

can do. If they tell you it can't be done, get mad, dump them, and work

even harder to prove them wrong. Anger is a great motivator.

Marcia

[Guest guest]

Thanks Marcia. You are right. Anger helps a lot. If someone says my son can't do

something, it makes me mad AND determined!

Rhoda

Re: Hope for speech

Rhonda,

You did so good!!!! You took what your child loved and was interested in

and used it to promote speech. That is so important. asked if anyone

had any stories of hope for speech. One of the things that kept me going

when I was worried about 's speech is that Albert Einstein did not say

his first word until he was five. I played that thought over and over again

in my head when I was discouraged. Also some think Albert Einstein was a

member of our Autism club. Read about his early years, very interesting and

inspiring. One of the smartest kids I ever had in my sixth grade class did

not speak until he was older like that and then he started with entire

sentences. No one, not even the speech experts, can predict what these kids

can do. If they tell you it can't be done, get mad, dump them, and work

even harder to prove them wrong. Anger is a great motivator.

Marcia

[Guest guest]

Rhoda's son is very much like my own. Speech therapy did very little

to help him, but by focusing on joint attention and repeating sounds

he could say, he's made progress in the last couple of years. He is

seven and can request items using full sentences. He will try to get

away with just using one word, such as " juice, " but we ask him to use

z " big boy " sentence and he does. Recently, we've been able to help

him put his emotions and the cause of those emotions into words.

He'll approach us and say " angry. " I reply with " You're angry. Why?

Because . . . " and then he can fill in the rest.

There are some good books on verbal behavior and using the technique

that Rhoda mentioned, which is to leave off the last words to a song

and have them fill in. My son can't stand to leave

things " unfinished, " so there's plenty of motivation for him to use

language in these situations.

I also would look into alternative means of communication. I heard a

story a while back about a preteen girl who had no language. No one

thought she could understand them, much less communicate with them

using a keyboard. A therapist encouraged them to teach her and it

opened up a whole new world for all of them. Not only did she

understand everything everyone was saying to her, she was actually

very intelligent and was frustrated by the " baby " work given to her

in her special ed class.

Don't give up hope! The breakthroughs with our son are like tumblers

in a a lock. Everything has to be in alignment and then something

just clicks.

Good luck,

Robyn