Any hope for speech? long

[Guest guest]

Mike had a habit of learning things indirectly without letting on that he had heard them. For some reason, he was quite perseverative about swear words. He would spin himself in circles and repeat words he had heard people say under their breath when they were angry. This was usually a random stranger standing far away from Mike, who had whispered something under their breath. When this happened, we took flagrant advantage of 's processing problems and limited attention span. Mike would use the "interesting" word all day long, then he would wake up the next morning and not quite remember the exact word, so his version would be slightly off. Our response was to fake the shocked reaction people use when a little kid swears. This of course made him hang onto the altered version of those

words. It wasn't unusual to hear the whole family using those new versions of cuss words. was delighted, so he would use a string of these words when he was angry. That was almost the only time he tried to express his feelings. Instead of thinking Mike was behaving in a socially inappropriate way, people outside our immediate family found it totally charming. His aunts, uncles and cousins also got into the habit of using these words to express their dissatisfaction while in Mike's very keen earshot. Subject: Re: Any hopes for speech?-longTo: BorreliaMultipleInfectionsAndAutism Date: Saturday, January 22,

2011, 7:39 PM

This reminds me of when my youngest started talking. He would say lines off of Spongebob. So, I would be Sandy and role play. It was lots of fun. You could see the excitement and joy in his face when I did.

Love and prayers,

Heidi N

" I often talk to my son in his language and try to make the same

sounds he does (I do this only in home because I can imagine the looks I will

get if I do this outside our home :)"