Speech disorders and autism

My son is 3 and has autism, sensory processing disorder and i have been told by several of his therapists he has a speech disorder and they believe it is speech apraxia. So they did another evaluation the other day and they said they still needed to work on his echolalia and his sounds but his language skills where almost age appropriate now. I find this hard to belive when he barely talks repeats everything and you cant understand most of what he does say. They then decided to so a test for his sounds which they said he was able to say all sounds appropriately when looking at their mouth and that was not typical of kids with apraxia so thy dont think he has it so i asked them why we cant understad what he says most of the time and he has such difficulty saying sounds otherwise and they said they dont know so that puts us back to not having a clue whats going on. Anybody know what may be going on.

His hearing has been checked too.

Basically if he doesn't have enough language, it's nearly impossible to diagnose a speech impairment.

My son is 4 and just now having enough language where they diagnosed him with a speech disorder. He didn't speak in sentences until he was 3-1/2. He is also developmentally delayed.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Captain Obvious:</b>" Basically if he doesn't have enough language, it's nearly impossible to diagnose a speech impairment. ... [snip!] ... they diagnosed him with a speech disorder. He didn't speak in sentences until he was 3-1/2. He is also developmentally delayed."</blockquote>


My son stil only says 2 to 3 word sentences and he does not answer any questions just repeats.

Quoting Mommyof2boys :" <blockquote><b>Quoting Captain Obvious:</b>" Basically if he doesn't have enough language, ... [snip!] ... delayed."</blockquote> My son stil only says 2 to 3 word sentences and he does not answer any questions just repeats."

It even took my son forever to repeat us!

Just keep pressuring them and keep having him reevaluated.

I am in the same boat with The Dagonator. He babbles but no real understandable words and is developmentally delayed. He is in speech therapy but it is more communications training with sign language. They do not know why he can not talk (He is 2 yrs and few months old) They are doing tons of tests but he loves to sign so at least we are getting some communication clarification. I suggest seeing if your library has the baby signing time dvds (DH got them from the library and copied them onto our PS3 for The Dagonator to watch).

<blockquote><b>Quoting My Lil' Monster:</b>" I am in the same boat with The Dagonator. He babbles but no real understandable words and is developmentally ... [snip!] ... library has the baby signing time dvds (DH got them from the library and copied them onto our PS3 for The Dagonator to watch)."</blockquote>



Any time we ask about signing with him they say it would be pointless because he would not use it long. They do pic communication with him thougj

Quoting Mommyof2boys :" <blockquote><b>Quoting My Lil' Monster:</b>" I am in the same boat with The Dagonator. ... [snip!] ... signing with him they say it would be pointless because he would not use it long. They do pic communication with him thougj"

I actually find signing more efficient because when we are at the grocery store and he is thirsty, hungry, sleepy, or anything he signs it to me. I for one was against the picture therapy for one main reason...why carry a picture book or cards when signing (even if he is not going to use it for ever) is more efficient to him and us? It is easier for him to sign "sleepy" than to search for a damn picture in which he may not even have in his book. He signs over 40 words right now which is more than his 10-15 pictures in his "communication book" and he is less frustrated since he can tell me right then and there rather than seek the word/words he is looking for. Also ASL is considered a second language and if he learns enough and retains enough even once he is speaking then why not encourage it.