echolalia

[Guest guest]

Is it still echolalia if the pronoun is reversed. Such as " you really

liked the train today " and it is repeated back. " I really liked riding

on the train today " So, the sentence is changed, pronouns are changed

but the general sentence is basically the same. My 2.9 year old does

this ALOT. and sometimes repeats questions and I have to prompt him to

answer them.

[Guest guest]

Don't panic!!!! This is perfectly normal from what we've seen with Asa

also. (4 1/2)

Here's the thing-- we make them REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT and REPEAT again with

speech therapy to get them to learn the words. So-- repeating is going to

become a constant pattern with them, and then you'll see this as a habit. I

believe it eventually goes away as they get older and learn more vocabulary

along

WITH those words-- grammar and how it all goes together etc.

right now-- all they will know is the repeating of the words

Bek

In a message dated 12/15/2008 10:24:02 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

gretchie9@... writes:

My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in October.

Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids and tonsils taken

out. We are on the surgery list in January and I hope that it will help with

some of 's speech issues.

is almost three and half. He has made progress this year with

language, but articulation is still the biggest challenge for him. His father

and

I are often the only people that understand him. I have noticed that

is showing significant signs of echolalia. He repeats what we are saying

instead of answering yes. He will say no if he doesn't want something. But

never yes. Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

" Chocolate Milk. "

Has anyone else had this problem? 's been late on everything and I

know echoing is a process of language development. Is this something he will

out grow? I know it's a symptom of autism/asperger' I know it's a symptom of

autism/asperger' He shows no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but

panicked tonight. I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that

seem to have improved, but are still not where they need to be. Not by a long

shot.

I am in search of a developmental pediatrician. <WBR>I'll go anywhere (but

we are living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendat

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[Guest guest]

My almost three year old Tarrin, is close to the same. He says No just fine, but

Yes is a diffrent story. He will either echo back or he will just say want some.

I do know that autism causes it, that's the reason they give us when Tarrin does

it, he is very close to a diagnosis of autism. But I am sure that there are

other causes. I am not sure how long it will take to tell if it's a normal step

or not, but the guidelines that they gave us is that anything that concerns us

and lasts longer than three months should be addressed.

Practice random acts of kindness...

From: Gretchen Walsh <gretchie9@...>

Subject: [ ] echolalia

Date: Monday, December 15, 2008, 9:42 PM

My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in October. 

Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids and tonsils taken out. 

We are on the surgery list in January and I hope that it will help with some of

's speech issues.

 

is almost three and half.  He has made progress this year with language,

but articulation is still the biggest challenge for him.  His father and I are

often the only people that understand him.  I have noticed that is

showing significant signs of echolalia.  He repeats what we are saying instead

of answering yes.  He will say no if he doesn't want something.  But never yes. 

Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

 

Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

" Chocolate Milk. "

 

Has anyone else had this problem?  's been late on everything and I know

echoing is a process of language development.  Is this something he will out

grow?  I know it's a symptom of autism/asperger' s and that's what I am most

worried about.  He shows no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but

panicked tonight.  I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem

to have improved, but are still not where they need to be.  Not by a long shot.

 

I am in search of a developmental pediatrician.   I'll go anywhere (but we are

living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!    

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

My youngest daughter had echolalia about this age. I put her in

speech therapy and really worked on questions. I told her preschool

teachers and everyone else to ask her questions and if she echoed, to

tell her what she was supposed to say and then ask her again. This

really helped. For about a year, I had to ask her a question and then

if she didn't answer correctly, I would tell her what she should have

said. Then I would ask her again and make her say it correctly.

Also, I gave her nordic naturals fish oil strawberry chews. She is

now 6 and has no signs of echolalia and is typical. He can get over

it but not without making him go back and say it correctly. " Do you

want Chocolate milk? " " Chocolate Milk "

Then say " , do you want chocolate milk, yes or no? " Hopefully

he will say either yes or no. If he says " yes or no " say , " Do you

want chocolate milk? " , say " Yes, I want chocolate milk " and

then try to make him say the answer. It takes a while to get the hang

of it, but that worked for my daughter. Kristy

On Dec 15, 2008, at 8:42 PM, Gretchen Walsh wrote:

> My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in

> October. Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids

> and tonsils taken out. We are on the surgery list in January and I

> hope that it will help with some of 's speech issues.

>

> is almost three and half. He has made progress this year

> with language, but articulation is still the biggest challenge for

> him. His father and I are often the only people that understand

> him. I have noticed that is showing significant signs of

> echolalia. He repeats what we are saying instead of answering yes.

> He will say no if he doesn't want something. But never yes.

> Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

>

> Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

> " Chocolate Milk. "

>

> Has anyone else had this problem? 's been late on everything

> and I know echoing is a process of language development. Is this

> something he will out grow? I know it's a symptom of autism/

> asperger's and that's what I am most worried about. He shows no

> other signs, but that echolalia has me all but panicked tonight. I

> just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem to have

> improved, but are still not where they need to be. Not by a long

> shot.

>

> I am in search of a developmental pediatrician. I'll go anywhere

> (but we are living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Gretchen-

Yes, my son does this, and wow am I excited! Why? Because I have

spent hundreds of hours getting him to copy every language model that

I have presented him. We won't know if this is echolalia until he has

enough words and language that prove that he is copying everything

word for word and intonation as well. This can be therapy induced is

what I am trying to get at. So, if I say do you want chocolate milk,

and he repeats chocolate milk, I say do you want chocolate milk, yes,

and he repeats yes, I hand it to him. If it is not what he wants

then he will associate YES with, oh she's going to give it to me even

if it is not what I want. If he doesn't want it, I make him say no

before I will take it back from his outstretched hand. I hope that

makes sense, just take every verbal word as a chance to teach him. I

love this site for tips on not just what things are, but what to do

about them:

http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/06/01/echolaliawhat-it-is-and-what-it-means/

Penny

>

> My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in

October.  Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids

and tonsils taken out.  We are on the surgery list in January and I

hope that it will help with some of 's speech issues.

>  

> is almost three and half.  He has made progress this year

with language, but articulation is still the biggest challenge for

him.  His father and I are often the only people that understand

him.  I have noticed that is showing significant signs of

echolalia.  He repeats what we are saying instead of answering yes. 

He will say no if he doesn't want something.  But never yes.  Instead

our conversation would sound more like this...

>  

> Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

> " Chocolate Milk. "

>  

> Has anyone else had this problem?  's been late on everything

and I know echoing is a process of language development.  Is this

something he will out grow?  I know it's a symptom of

autism/asperger's and that's what I am most worried about.  He shows

no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but panicked tonight. 

I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem to have

improved, but are still not where they need to be.  Not by a long

shot.

>  

> I am in search of a developmental pediatrician.  I'll go anywhere

(but we are living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!    

>  

>  

>  

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Gretchen

Your son sounds just like my son Logan.  Logan just turned 4 on Dec 11. 

He was diagnosed with ASD in Sept of 2007 by the school.  We did not feel

comfortable with that diagnoses (he does not have any signs of ASD other than

speech delay) so we had him re-evaluated in Oct of this year by a ped

neruologist,  who stated he did not feel Logan was autistic but does have verbal

apraxia.  Logan does exactly what does.  If you ask a guestion he will

repeat it if he wants it or will so " no " if he doesn't.  I do try to get him to

say " yes, I want what ever it is " .  It is working but takes a while.  I have

also been researching relationship development intervention it sounds like it

might really help.  Hang in there I know we are all doing the best we can. 

Ramena

________________________________

From: Gretchen Walsh <gretchie9@...>

Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 9:42:08 PM

Subject: [ ] echolalia

My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in October. 

Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids and tonsils taken out. 

We are on the surgery list in January and I hope that it will help with some of

's speech issues.

 

is almost three and half.  He has made progress this year with language,

but articulation is still the biggest challenge for him.  His father and I are

often the only people that understand him.  I have noticed that is

showing significant signs of echolalia.  He repeats what we are saying instead

of answering yes.  He will say no if he doesn't want something.  But never yes. 

Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

 

Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

" Chocolate Milk. "

 

Has anyone else had this problem?  's been late on everything and I know

echoing is a process of language development.  Is this something he will out

grow?  I know it's a symptom of autism/asperger' s and that's what I am most

worried about.  He shows no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but

panicked tonight.  I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem

to have improved, but are still not where they need to be.  Not by a long shot.

 

I am in search of a developmental pediatrician..   I'll go anywhere (but we are

living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!    

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

My son is 3 years old and he does the same just repeating the questions we ask.

he never says 'Yes' but he will say 'No'. I took him to the EI program in my

school district and they  evaluated him and diagnoised with Echolalia and they

have accepted him for the EI programme and they are going to provide him speech

therapy focusing mainly on Echolalia.

 

They said my son has reflected few charaterstics of Autism like articulation,

echolalia but they said he was good in Motor skills, eye contacts and other

areas.

 

They said around 75% of the kids with Echolalia will be Autistic and also a

regular kid also can have a problem of Echolalia and they eventually will come

out of it.

 

I would suggest take him to the Early Intervention programme in your School

district and check with them.

 

Regards

-WS

From: Gretchen Walsh <gretchie9@...>

Subject: [ ] echolalia

Date: Monday, December 15, 2008, 8:42 PM

My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in October. 

Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids and tonsils taken out. 

We are on the surgery list in January and I hope that it will help with some of

's speech issues.

 

is almost three and half.  He has made progress this year with language,

but articulation is still the biggest challenge for him.  His father and I are

often the only people that understand him.  I have noticed that is

showing significant signs of echolalia.  He repeats what we are saying instead

of answering yes.  He will say no if he doesn't want something.  But never yes. 

Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

 

Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

" Chocolate Milk. "

 

Has anyone else had this problem?  's been late on everything and I know

echoing is a process of language development.  Is this something he will out

grow?  I know it's a symptom of autism/asperger' s and that's what I am most

worried about.  He shows no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but

panicked tonight.  I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem

to have improved, but are still not where they need to be.  Not by a long shot.

 

I am in search of a developmental pediatrician.   I'll go anywhere (but we are

living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!    

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

75% of autistics it may be said develop echolalia -but 75% of

children with echolalia for 100% sure do NOT have autism!

Furthermore I personally would never trust a school system to

diagnose my child's condition. I once again highly suggest out of

district, out of pocket or through insurance evaluations by a

competent neurodevelopmental medical doctor/SLP/OT etc. Not to say I

don't trust the school -but it's your child and it's their opinion.

School professionals in my opinion are not experts on diagnosis and

your comment (unless you are quoting them incorrectly) is proof of

that.

Please consider a second opinion -like before the holidays if

possible!!!!

=====

[Guest guest]

My son Jack is also 3 1/2 with a diagnosis of Verbal Apraxia by a

Dev. Ped. and has had great strides in speech development just in the

last 6 months. Same problem exactly, says no to what he does not want

but repeats the item I am asking him about for a " yes " . Yes is

extremely difficult for him. We make jack sign yes and at least try

to say it. Does your son repeat your questions? Can he answer

questions yet? Jack still cannot tell me his age but will tell me

what movie he wants to watch! I wonder too if this is actuallly just

speech development and will outgrow it. If it was echolalia, would

the child have to repeat everything?

[Guest guest]

doesn't necessarily repeat questions.  He mostly just repeats what he

wants or doesn't want out of the question portion of the sentence.  Does that

make sense?

 

If I say...

 

" , do you want to go inside? "  

 

He would say...

 

" No go inside. "   or " Go inside. "  

 

He would not answer yes.

 

One thing that has helped us tremendously is to phrase questions like this...

 

" , do you want to go inside, yes or no? "   That forces him to use the word

yes.  It's worked well.

 

can answer questions, but sometimes gets thrown off if he is asked

something out of the ordinary.  I don't think it's that he doesn't understand

the question.  I just think that his motor planning issues make it hard for him

to come up with a response on his own. 

 

I have talked to our private SLP endlessly this week about echolalia and she

assures me that kids with apraxia often repeat what they hear in the question

because it is simply easier for them.  They are also used to being asked to

repeat things over and over again because of the huge amounts of speech therapy

they receive. So why would repetition seem odd to them when they are asked to do

it nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK.  Can we really expect toddlers to know

when to turn it on and off? 

 

Our SLP also told me that echolalia is more defined than just a simple repeated

word or phrase to a question I ask.  She told me if breaks into the

entire soundtrack of the Lion King without being prompted, but he can't say hi

or bye or comprehend questions - then it's echolalia.   Or if he repeats things

he heard hours ago unprompted, then that can also be echolalia. 

 

I felt better after talking to our SLP.  But mostly, I felt better after hearing

from of all of you other mommies about what's happening or happened with your

kids.   This board has genuinely been a big source of support for us!  Thanks!

 

Gretchen

 

From: giovetsis <giovetsis@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: echolalia

Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 8:38 AM

My son Jack is also 3 1/2 with a diagnosis of Verbal Apraxia by a

Dev. Ped. and has had great strides in speech development just in the

last 6 months. Same problem exactly, says no to what he does not want

but repeats the item I am asking him about for a " yes " . Yes is

extremely difficult for him. We make jack sign yes and at least try

to say it. Does your son repeat your questions? Can he answer

questions yet? Jack still cannot tell me his age but will tell me

what movie he wants to watch! I wonder too if this is actuallly just

speech development and will outgrow it. If it was echolalia, would

the child have to repeat everything?

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

[Guest guest]

Gretchen -

  I just read your note - we took our two toddlers to Dr. Keen at the

n Joy Rehab Center in Wheaton Illinois. She is a developmental pediatrician

from Loyola that also comes to n Joy. She diagnosed both our kids with

autism last year. Our 4 year old has echolalia. She is slowly adding more

appropriate responses when speaking. Our 3 year old has apraxia, so he has

different issues than his sister. Dr. Keen has been wonderful for us - we go

every 6 months to visit her - she even called me at home one day when I was

having an IEP and needed a letter from her to try and get  1:1 aide in our 3

year olds preschool classroom. We love her. Not sure if you would want to travel

that far, but she is worth it in our eyes. Good luck!!

                                                           Yvette Pastirik 

From: Gretchen Walsh <gretchie9@...>

Subject: [ ] echolalia

Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 2:42 AM

My 3-year-old son was diagnosed with verbal apraxia back in October. 

Since then, an ENT also recommended he have his adenoids and tonsils taken out. 

We are on the surgery list in January and I hope that it will help with some of

's speech issues.

 

is almost three and half.  He has made progress this year with language,

but articulation is still the biggest challenge for him.  His father and I are

often the only people that understand him.  I have noticed that is

showing significant signs of echolalia.  He repeats what we are saying instead

of answering yes.  He will say no if he doesn't want something.  But never yes. 

Instead our conversation would sound more like this...

 

Me - " Do you want chocolate milk? "

" Chocolate Milk. "

 

Has anyone else had this problem?  's been late on everything and I know

echoing is a process of language development.  Is this something he will out

grow?  I know it's a symptom of autism/asperger' s and that's what I am most

worried about.  He shows no other signs, but that echolalia has me all but

panicked tonight.  I just keep thinking about his conversation skills that seem

to have improved, but are still not where they need to be.  Not by a long shot.

 

I am in search of a developmental pediatrician.   I'll go anywhere (but we are

living in Ohio) if anyone has any recommendations!    

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

This is such an interesting conversation. I was just wondering to

myself recently about thomas' use of " taught " phrases. He can answer

many questions and he does say yes and no, but he will use the few

phrases that he can say now (yeah! because last summer he only had a

few words and approximations and non-verbal signs, etc.) But he seems

to prefer to use these phrases that he has learned and usually they

work, but often it doesn't quite fit with whatever is going on. I

don't feel, nor do any of the doctors that have seen him, that he has

a spectrum disorder. He also will repeat a lot, especially if he is

focusing on a toy or show on tv. Then i see that he's like " whatever

mom, I'm busy " and he'll just repeat what i say. His therapist and I

have also noticed that after months of therapy, he had trouble waiting

his turn in conversations. Now that he has some language to use, she

says something and he says it as she's saying it, instead of waiting.

We are working on that and it really only happens during speech time.

To me, this is not so problematic since he was completely non-verbal

8 months ago. I just wanted to add my thoughts because I do think

that when they can finally say something, they want to keep saying

what is easier for them, not try really hard for something new.

erin

[Guest guest]

I had a few things to add on this one. Much of what you are

seeing is what we saw and in our case with Tanner it was all due to

motor planning. Tanner tends to talk more -say more -sometimes in

those cases mess up more -with people he feels comfortable with.

With people he doesn't know as well he uses words that he has mastered.

The words best used by the SLPs to describe this are " motor memory "

You son's using words that made it into his motor memory and the trick is

to get more and more in his motor memory!

As far as not waiting his turn -imagine if you knew you could do

something really complex- but someone distracts you -and now the

moment is gone. That's apraxia too. When Tanner wanted to talk he

was always our little E.F. Hutton. We all got quiet when he wanted

to talk because once he figured out how to say what he wanted he

needed to say it. If he didn't...he sometimes forgot how to say it.

There were times other people cut him off- said things like " I'm not

done speaking yet Tanner " and then when they said to him " OK Tanner

now you can tell me what you want " (this was typically not anyone in

our family or any of our close friends as they all knew -this was the

person that assumed he was being rude) He would stand there with a

blank look and say (when he was small) " I can't " As he got older he

would try to say more..but would in frustration say " Now I don't

remember how to say it " He used to get SO frustrated. I'm kind of

shocked that your speech therapist isn't getting it that part of this

could be due to his motor planning as it's not uncommon. We just

have to find ways to work around it -teach them while accepting that

they are dealing with frustrations that we only think we understand.

Tanner once told me " It's hard to say what I mean mom. It's really

hard. " When he reads a book out loud he had to learn breath

control -check the archives -even that was hard for him as he

couldn't figure out how to talk and breath. He used to say " my

breath hurts " Stuff we just take for granted!

(this is when he was reading page after page of long paragraphs -he never talked

that long or much and didn't know how to fit in breathing!)

Apraxia is a frustrating condition. Society assumes things about our

children and trust me -most times it's up to each one of you to be

there to advocate and tell sometimes the experts they are wrong.

Gold star of the day to Jeanne for what you just posted about your

son and not underestimating what our kids know just because they

can't always say it!

=====

[Guest guest]

-,

thanks for your response. I do agree that it's the apraxia. His

therapist does too- but I think that she's trying to get him to use

language in a conversation by giving him tips on turn taking and such.

Socially, he has not progressed one bit. His speech therapy is at

home 4x a week and he goes to an EI program 2 times a week for a

morning. The program is supposed to be for social skills and I

haven't seen any progress at all. I am finding that i don't like the

program. The problem is that there are only three EI programs around

and one is way too far, the other doesn't have any typical kids, so

this is the only choice. I don't know if it is the teacher ot the

program. He transitions soon and he will be going soemwhere else.

As far as what else you wrote- i agree it is soo frustrating for us

and for thomas. He can say a phrase for a few weeks and then it's

gone. He can say a sound in the middle of one word but nowhere else.

He talks to me and i can't understand him. Soemtimes he laughs at my

ignorance , butoften he cries or gets mad. won't even talk

around people that he doesn't know. Although (breakthrough) he told

Santa twice what he wanted for christmas! His #1 choice- a whoopee

cushion!

thanks again

erin

-- In , " kiddietalk "

<kiddietalk@...> wrote:

>

> I had a few things to add on this one. Much of what you are

> seeing is what we saw and in our case with Tanner it was all due to

> motor planning. Tanner tends to talk more -say more -sometimes in

> those cases mess up more -with people he feels comfortable with.

> With people he doesn't know as well he uses words that he has mastered.

> The words best used by the SLPs to describe this are " motor memory "

> You son's using words that made it into his motor memory and the

trick is

> to get more and more in his motor memory!

>

> As far as not waiting his turn -imagine if you knew you could do

> something really complex- but someone distracts you -and now the

> moment is gone. That's apraxia too. When Tanner wanted to talk he

> was always our little E.F. Hutton. We all got quiet when he wanted

> to talk because once he figured out how to say what he wanted he

> needed to say it. If he didn't...he sometimes forgot how to say it.

>

> There were times other people cut him off- said things like " I'm not

> done speaking yet Tanner " and then when they said to him " OK Tanner

> now you can tell me what you want " (this was typically not anyone in

> our family or any of our close friends as they all knew -this was the

> person that assumed he was being rude) He would stand there with a

> blank look and say (when he was small) " I can't " As he got older he

> would try to say more..but would in frustration say " Now I don't

> remember how to say it " He used to get SO frustrated. I'm kind of

> shocked that your speech therapist isn't getting it that part of this

> could be due to his motor planning as it's not uncommon. We just

> have to find ways to work around it -teach them while accepting that

> they are dealing with frustrations that we only think we understand.

> Tanner once told me " It's hard to say what I mean mom. It's really

> hard. " When he reads a book out loud he had to learn breath

> control -check the archives -even that was hard for him as he

> couldn't figure out how to talk and breath. He used to say " my

> breath hurts " Stuff we just take for granted!

> (this is when he was reading page after page of long paragraphs -he

never talked that long or much and didn't know how to fit in breathing!)

>

> Apraxia is a frustrating condition. Society assumes things about our

> children and trust me -most times it's up to each one of you to be

> there to advocate and tell sometimes the experts they are wrong.

> Gold star of the day to Jeanne for what you just posted about your

> son and not underestimating what our kids know just because they

> can't always say it!

>

> =====

>

[Guest guest]

,

Here are a couple of things that might help .....

- The Listening Program by Advanced Brain Technologies..... works tonal

processing of the ear; I would spring for the newest, most expensive version

that is recently out with the bone conduction earphones (works to vibrate the

actual bone inside the ear) because some of the moms with the nonverbal kids who

are using this have made 'amaaaazing' strides. Before doing this work, Mark

used to leave off the sounds off of the ends of words, he spoke very, very

LOUDLY at inappropriate times and couldn't seem to guage how loudly or softly he

was speaking. This program also helped with his coordination skills as it

stimulates the vestibular system as a whole. Many of our kids have been helped

by either this program or programs similiar to this.

- Consider doing a milk free trial to check for milk intolerances. This is a

problem for many of our kids. I blame it on all of the 'stuff' they put into

milk these days. Many of the children here are milk free 'responders' and

spring back to life without it (mine included). Here's how to check for milk

intolerance: You remove all milk products and everything with milk in it, look

for the item casien or casienate when reading labels, (no white bread because it

is loaded with milk). You do this for a period of 3 weeks so that all milk can

clear the body and the immune system can quiet down. Then, after 3 weeks of

being completely 'milk' free, reintroduce in a 'big' way for a couple of days

and 'see' what happens. If your child is a responder, you will know it for the

difference will be too big to miss. It is important to check for this as many

of our kids have allergy/sensitivity induced issues. For my son, food

sensitivities have been a 'huge' part of his dyspraxia. We have removed the

problem foods, worked on healing his immune system and now are in the process of

adding some of the foods back.

- If your son has low muscle tone in his face, make sure that your doing some

type of oral motor work with him within his speech therapy. This will help with

his articulation. We did 9.5 years of speech therapy without much improvement.

I then saw the SLP at NACD who started us on daily oral motor exercises and

POOF.... that articulation that we had struggled with for years and years got

cleaned up in about 6 months.... after one year we graduated from speech!

So.... not all speech programs are the same for our kids and for my son, oral

motor work was a HUGE key to attaining clear speech. In addition, always ensure

that your SLP is giving you homework and whatever she gives you..... tripple it!

Really work that mouth, lips, jaw, tongue on a daily basis in a fun, uplifting

manner for your son and you should get results much faster.

I know that this veers off the subject of echolalia but is definately the

expert on that one so I defer to her and agree that this is a part of normal

development in speech. Some of the ASD kids get 'stuck' at this stage but I

still think that for them, they are just 'stuck' in one stage of what is

generally normal behavior..... for them it becomes abnormal because they are not

progressing beyond it; with working the neural connections, the ear and the

therapy, I believe that ALL children can move out of echolalia.... but that is

definately an uneducated opinion since we didn't have this issue with Mark. For

us, just getting any intelligeable words out was a happy day! But.... we're

okay now, thankfully!

Note that Mark spent many, many years not wanting to talk around adults. He was

okay around other kids but he intuitively 'knew' that adults could see his delay

and thus over time became more and more withdrawn from adults he didn't know

well. This is a tough one for our kiddos. They know that they cannot be

understood by other adults.... they get tired of everyone saying " what? " when

they speak anything. I tended to let Mark withdraw and I let him fade into the

background when he wished BUT.... there came a time where he HAD to come forth

and I suspect that I let him fade into the background for a bit too long. It

has taken me a bit of pushing to get him to be less shy around adults; since his

speech is okay now, there shouldn't be an issue but he has been shy for so, so

long that this has been a tough habbit for him to break. This past Saturday we

went to a huge family Christmas party with my SO law firm; prior to it we

practiced leaning forward, holding out the hand (to shake) and saying, " hi, my

name is Mark " while making good eye contact. This worked very well for him and

he did the moves splendidly! I was very proud of him because I knew how shy he

is with adults and how difficult it was for him. In the past, I would introduce

him to new adults.... he would semi-look-away, not making any eye contact

whatsoever, and mutter " hi " before dissappearing with all of the children. Now

that Mark is a young man himself, he needs to learn these skills. I have found

that practicing at home or with a family friend works nicely to get the basic

intros' down in a safe, easy environment. I wish I had started this with Mark

when he was much younger because he probably wouldn't have reached the point of

shyness that he currently has. Hopefully his success with it on Saturday will

take hold and work for him in the future.

Take care and we wish good luck with his speech.

Janice

Mother of Mark, 13

[ ] Re: echolalia

-,

thanks for your response. I do agree that it's the apraxia. His

therapist does too- but I think that she's trying to get him to use

language in a conversation by giving him tips on turn taking and such.

Socially, he has not progressed one bit. His speech therapy is at

home 4x a week and he goes to an EI program 2 times a week for a

morning. The program is supposed to be for social skills and I

haven't seen any progress at all. I am finding that i don't like the

program. The problem is that there are only three EI programs around

and one is way too far, the other doesn't have any typical kids, so

this is the only choice. I don't know if it is the teacher ot the

program. He transitions soon and he will be going soemwhere else.

As far as what else you wrote- i agree it is soo frustrating for us

and for thomas. He can say a phrase for a few weeks and then it's

gone. He can say a sound in the middle of one word but nowhere else.

He talks to me and i can't understand him. Soemtimes he laughs at my

ignorance , butoften he cries or gets mad. won't even talk

around people that he doesn't know. Although (breakthrough) he told

Santa twice what he wanted for christmas! His #1 choice- a whoopee

cushion!

thanks again

erin

-- In , " kiddietalk "

<kiddietalk@...> wrote:

>

> I had a few things to add on this one. Much of what you are

> seeing is what we saw and in our case with Tanner it was all due to

> motor planning. Tanner tends to talk more -say more -sometimes in

> those cases mess up more -with people he feels comfortable with.

> With people he doesn't know as well he uses words that he has mastered.

> The words best used by the SLPs to describe this are " motor memory "

> You son's using words that made it into his motor memory and the

trick is

> to get more and more in his motor memory!

>

> As far as not waiting his turn -imagine if you knew you could do

> something really complex- but someone distracts you -and now the

> moment is gone. That's apraxia too. When Tanner wanted to talk he

> was always our little E.F. Hutton. We all got quiet when he wanted

> to talk because once he figured out how to say what he wanted he

> needed to say it. If he didn't...he sometimes forgot how to say it.

>

> There were times other people cut him off- said things like " I'm not

> done speaking yet Tanner " and then when they said to him " OK Tanner

> now you can tell me what you want " (this was typically not anyone in

> our family or any of our close friends as they all knew -this was the

> person that assumed he was being rude) He would stand there with a

> blank look and say (when he was small) " I can't " As he got older he

> would try to say more..but would in frustration say " Now I don't

> remember how to say it " He used to get SO frustrated. I'm kind of

> shocked that your speech therapist isn't getting it that part of this

> could be due to his motor planning as it's not uncommon. We just

> have to find ways to work around it -teach them while accepting that

> they are dealing with frustrations that we only think we understand.

> Tanner once told me " It's hard to say what I mean mom. It's really

> hard. " When he reads a book out loud he had to learn breath

> control -check the archives -even that was hard for him as he

> couldn't figure out how to talk and breath. He used to say " my

> breath hurts " Stuff we just take for granted!

> (this is when he was reading page after page of long paragraphs -he

never talked that long or much and didn't know how to fit in breathing!)

>

> Apraxia is a frustrating condition. Society assumes things about our

> children and trust me -most times it's up to each one of you to be

> there to advocate and tell sometimes the experts they are wrong.

> Gold star of the day to Jeanne for what you just posted about your

> son and not underestimating what our kids know just because they

> can't always say it!

>

> =====

>