Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 9/25/2009

Question
my son is 3. at 2 his speech was 10-20 words now the progress he has made with speech at 3 is much better. he talkes in 3-4 word sentences and asks questions and knows shapes,colors and his alphabet but he is still lacking. he does not answer abstract questions like how was school or how old are you. he sometimes just starts to carry a conversation with you and its jibberish but a few words are audible. but then a few minutes later he will speak differently. he was diagnosed a few months ago and has only gotten speech therapy for 2 months. what can i do to help him. his is diagnosed with mild autism high functioning the speech seems to be the biggest deficit.

Answer
The issues that you have are common with individuals with autism. Abstract concepts are often very difficult. There are 7 stages of language that children go through. It sounds like your son is around the 3rd or 4th stage at this time. Abstract concepts come in around the 5th or 6th stage. That is why he can't tell you what he did at school. In addition, you are asking him to talk about something that happened in the past-which he doesn't understand yet

I would highly recommend that you sign up for a class that I teach on using computer-based interventions to improve language skills. It's a free class, and I think you will get a lot out of it. You will learn about why your son has these issues and what you can do to improve them:
You can click this link to register:

http://www.valerieherskowitz.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=134