LizK

Ds is only three but finds slapstick humour hysterically funny . Mind you my H is like that so maybe it's a fmaily thing Remember though picking him up form nursery last year and the nursery nurse retelling me how a child fell off a chair during tea-time, the other children looked shocked but DS found it hilarious Lx

Hi Denise I know what you mean. We seem to get all our appointments coming through at the same time and it's so easy to get overwhelmed by it all and loose track of reality. Tend to overly focus on all the ASD-stuff in my son's behaviour and forget about the qualities of the child beneath. I have to have an 'ASD-holiday' and do fun non-related stuff to get some persepctive again Liz x

Bit of a jumble post so bear with me DS is just over 3.5yrs old, probably ASD (primary speech problem the other possible but less likely diagnosis) and has an expressive and receptive speech delay of one year. In addition his speech pattern is disordered and typical of a child with ASD. Although he has other ASD traits his speech delay is his area of major difficulty We have been under a SALT since he was 20mths though she only really took an interest a year back when she confirmed he had a speech delay consistent with ASD. Since then we've had 4 monthly follow-ups but no actual speech therapy and only minimal guidance as to what to do at home. The reason we've been given is that as my son's speech continues to improve he's doesn't need actual therapy, just keeping an eye on. This may be true BUT although his speech is improving he's not catching up, infact eh gap is slowly getting bigger and the ASD speech traits are still there. I'm also aware of how poorly funded SALT service is and how locally they are trying to do consultation work where everyone else does the hands on work instead. We had a follow up with the SALT a fortnight ago, expressed our concerns forcefully and managed to get her to agree to him having a block of 4 session of speech therapy over the summer. Not ideal but it's at least a start What I'm getting round to asking is are there any other aprents on here with preschoolers with speech problems? Are you getting any decent speech therapy provision or has it been a battle? Any advice for things I can do at home with my son to encourage his speech development? My other question relates to speech delay and Aspergers. We've been told that if DS has ASD he is likely to be on the milder end of the spectrum/have Aspergers. This has been based upon the fact he is bright, he can learn and although he has other autistic traits but they aren't so bad (yet anyway). His speech delay almost seems out of proportion to the other traits he has. Makes me wonder whether he has got AS. I've read some stuff that says there is no speech delay in AS, other info that says there are speech problems but not to the extent of my sons. Again interested to know of any children with AS who had speech difficulties. Maybe it's all academic whether he's got AS or not as it's all on the autistic spectrum, in fact our paed prefers to use the term ASD rather than AS as he thinks it can be confusing Liz x

Thanks for the welcome Tylers mum and HH Know I'm going to be asking a lot of questions here! Liz x

Hadn't thought of the legalities of restrciting statementing, good point. Interesting hearing about your son too. Depends on the circumstance but Adam doesn't fit always fit the typical social stereoptype for ASD though he's not 'right' socially but it's hard to get people to listen sometimes-tlaking about lay people here more than anything else. The number of times it's been implied I'm a neurotic mum worrying about ASD because at first glance he doesn't fit into people's preconceived ideas about autism Anyway I digress! Adam definitely has special needs but we were hoping he'd get additional help based upon his needs until his diagnosis becomes more apparent whether it be ASD, a primary speech problem or DAMP. I know a couple of parents of children with speech problems (via the www) who were misdiagnosed as ASD when in fact the autistic traits were seondary to their communication delay which improved as the child got older and speech imprioved. This is another reason why we've not pushed for a diagnosis. My feeling though is that Adam does have ASD as he still exhibits social difficulties, imagination not improved despite improvements in his language. My H and I are happy with how things are though from reading this thread and others do wonder if we are being naive thinking he will get help based on his needs rather than diagnosis especially once we are in the school system. Been thought provoking and something to discuss when we see the paediatrician next month Thanks for your reply, was really useful Liz x

Hope this is the right forum to post this. My son is 3yrs 8mth has a speech delay and probable ASD. He is due tos tart school next year either Jan or Apr 2006. We have been referred to the area Early Years Intervention Service (preschool education team) by his paediatrician. My understand is that the Early Years team will do home visits, liase with his SALT and come up with a plan to ease his transition to school and assess what additional help he will need there. He attends day nursery 2 days a week and we are having input from the area SENCO that covers the nursery. Unfortunately due where the the city/county boundary fall nursery is in a geographically different locality to our home so a different team is involved there. This morning I was speaking to the lady who runs the local NAS branch and she mentioned the Early Bird Scheme. I've never heard of this before but she said it was a scheme for children with ASD that involved home visits and group meetings. I am now wondering is this essentially what the Early Years team does or is it something different? Can anyone shed any light onto this? Liz x

Thanks Elanor. We're under a paediatrician with a particular interest in ASD in young children. I think he has previously seen children like Adam who have turned out not to have ASD in the future so is reluctant to label him yet though has stated that Adam's symptoms currently fit in well with ASD. The other confusing issue is that Adam's speech delay is more 'autistic' and out of proportion to his other AS features and as yet we're not sure if he has a primary speech problem as well as milder AS traits. I'm happy with how things are currently and in all honesty not sure whether I'm still in some form of denial and hanging onto the hope he may mature out of some of his problem. Hope it's still ok for me to post here even if the diagnosis isn't yet formalised! However as we are dealing with the preschool and school issues as well as browsing some of the info here I am becoming increasingly aware of how having a diagnosis seems to hurry things along and makes a difficult job slightly easier Liz

Hi Carole Because of his age really. We've been told by several health care professionals that he may possibly mature out of some of his difficulties with time and improved speech. Not sure how much of his social anxiety is due to ASD per se or secondary to having difficulties communicating for example. Also because he does some 'non-autistic' things. He loves playing with other children in familiar environments, can be socially engaging and a little charmer when comfortable, although he has a few routines and obsessions they don't seem to be as encompassing and affect his life as badly as they do with other children with autism. There's also part of me I guess that doesn't want him 'labelled' yet either. I've noticed people sometimes treat him differently when I saw he's autistic though half the time it's easier to describe him as that rather than go through the what' ifs ands or buts! Idealistically I want his problems rather than a 'diagnosis' addressed iyswim. My gut feeling is that he is on the spectrum, just has some traits more stronger than others. I agree absolutely about having a diagnosis would help access services. There's an Early Bird (??) service here for preschoolers but I think you need a formal ASD diagnosis to access it. Schools here are supposed to decide provision based upon a child's needs rather than diagnosis but I'm learning that unfortunately that is not the case. Adam will definitely need additional help at school but under the new LEA rules won't qualify for statementing and be on school action plus whatever that is! Still getting my head around all this, what a minefield. Liz x

Only just spotted this post so better introduce myself here too! I live in the Midlands and am mums to two boys. My eldest son (currently 3.5yrs old) probably has AS or somewhere on the milder end of the autistic spectrum though he is too young for a proepr diagnosis yet. He has a receptive and expressive speech delay of about 12 months (which is his biggest problem), has social difficulties including crushing anxiety and impulsivity and a few obsessions and routines thrown in for good measure. He may also be dyspraxic, have an OT assessment at some point Am jsut starting tor realise that if you want any decent help you need to battle and do your best neurotic parent act Cna see myself spending a lot of time here, lots of great information Liz x

I am mum to two boys. My eldest son is 3yrs 8mths. His main difficulties are speech delay, social anxiety and impulsivity plus a few obsessions and routines for good measure. We have been advised not to push for a formal diagnosis yet as things may alter as he gets older or if his speech catches up but it is likely he'll be on the autistic spectrum/have AS. This site looks a great source of information and support . I've lots of things I want to ask about though that will have to wait as am currently doing battle with his DLA form Liz x