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Autism/speech delay in 4 year old

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Lindsey wrote at 2010-01-09 15:57:00
Children generally find actions easier to remember than words. At my special needs school we use Signalong (a simplified version of British Sign Language) to help autistic children communicate. If signing courses for children aren't available to you, you could try making up simple signs for things he wants to communicate but can't. If you remember to always speak while signing he'll continue to hear the language and encourage him to try to say it aswell. An 8 year old at school was only signing last year and could say "Hi" and "Bai" but nothing else. Since September we have seen his speech progress dramatically. "a-ow" back then has progressed to a very clear "ah-pol" for apple. The signing helped him learn and express vocabulary and now he just has to work on how he moves his mouth. Sitting alongside the child in front of a mirror so that they can see the way you move your lips can help them mimic more accurately. You could even make a game of it, seeing if he can mimic different facial expressions.

speechace wrote at 2011-01-11 00:41:30
The school system will provide an evaluation for your son.  If he does not qualify per the district standards, you will need to have him re-screened in approximately 6 months to determine if he has improved through natural maturation or if he will possibly qualify for another evaluation.  If the school system's evaluation indicated that he did meet district standards for a disability, he can receive services either as a Preschool Speech Only student or a PPCD student (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities).  If you weren't comfortable with the explanation of why he didn't qualify for services, call the speech therapist who performed the evaluation with a copy of the report in hand and ask to set up a meeting or phone conference in order to have your questions clarified.  She should be more than happy to explain the district standards and where you should go from here.





Good luck!

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

Experience


As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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