First, you have Language. Language is broken down to word count( how many words you know) and how well you can put together a sentence. For kids like Hayden, Language skills can be very high, even above their age level. They speak like little adults. They can easily repeat phrases using large words, seemingly, appropriate. The problem lies in other areas of speech, like Communication. Kids like Hayden have a hard time with communication, both Receptive and Expressive. That means what they take in and what they put out. If you were to speak to Hayden, lets say you told him a short story, he would seem to listen and take in what was said. If you were to ask him to repeat it back, he problem could repeat it down to every single word said. Yet, if you asked him to explain the story or to elaborate on what was said, he wouldn't be able to. Although he heard what was said and could repeat it, he didn't actually understand what was said. In Hayden's case, his receptive speech is at about the level of a 2yr old. For Hayden, he also has an Audio Processing Delay. This means it takes his brain a bit longer to process audio input. Think of it as, "Processing......please wait......" As you would imagine, this leads to problems. Because of his age and language skills, many assume he's understanding everything that is said. He probably hasn't. The other area is expressive speech. This is properly using language to communicate one's needs and express one's thoughts. He has difficulty turning that large vocabulary into a useful sentence to express his needs or problems. For example, the screaming when frustrated instead of just asking for help. He wants help but doesn't know how to ask.
Sometimes, kids like Hayden have problems with pragmatic speech. Pragmatic Speech problems could be:
people with pragmatic speech issues may:
•say inappropriate or unrelated things during conversations
•tell stories in a disorganized way
•have little variety in language use
If you've ever talked to him, you've definitely heard him do these things. Another area of problem is Echolalia. Echolalia is literally the repetition of words and sounds a person has heard either recently or quite a while ago. Verbal children with autism are often echolalic, which means they do use words (and sometimes even use those words appropriately) - but their word choice is based on a memorized pattern. Sometimes echolalia is immediate. For example, mom says "Johnny, do you want a drink?" and Johnny responds "You want a drink." Just as often echolalia is delayed. A child hears a line on TV such as "got milk?" and later, when he's thirsty, may say "got milk?" in exactly the same tone and accent as the ad on TV. In both of these cases, the echolalia may sound strange or even rude - but in fact it's a method your child has developed for communicating his wants and needs, verbally. In some cases, echolalia is less functional - but it's usually a good starting point for speech and/or play therapy. For example, a child might memorize entire segments of a favorite video, and recite them over and over. The child's purpose in reciting may be to calm himself or reduce anxiety.
Lately, Hayden's Ecolalia has begun to include repeating the entire, word for word, first 5min or so of Toy Story 2. He's good at it. lol. He does it the entire time we are in the car. His other biggie is singing, loudly, the score of Pirates of the Caribbean. When questioned, if he doesn't understand the question or doesn't know how to answer, he will echo the question or go off on some rant on a subject of his choosing. He isn't being rude, he just doesn't understand. So, the next time you are talking to him or asking him to do something and he doesn't respond the way you think he should, just remember this.
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