Just wondered at what age your kids first put a sentence together?

How well do HFA children speak?

Thanks

Ian

my son started putting sentences together at 3 and a half. before that, he would let us know what he wanted but it would be more like...... "want drink". now it's "I want a drink please". if someone told me (when my son was 2.6) that he would be speaking in full sentences, i don't know if i would have believed it. he has come such a long way.

My child has HFA and it wasn't so much putting sentences together as it was just conversation in general. For instance during a session with his speech therapist my son was asked what school do you go to. His answer was the green paint on the wall. The sharp scary teeth. I know where he got this answer but a stranger might be just totally confused as the speech therapist was. There was a Wildcat (the team mascot) painted green on the side of the school building. He was 8 at that time. I believe he understood what she was asking he just didn't know how to respond with a correct answer. He was also using his visual skills which are much more acute than his auditory skills. He had that picture of the green wildcat videotaped in his mind(kind of like Temple Grandin talks about), but he didn't have a video for the words Rykers Ridge Elementary. I hope that makes some sense. I know it's confusing. Now he can have normal conversations and respond correcly most of the time to what the other person is asking. He is rather slow in speaking and he usually diverts his eyes but most people would not realize that he is autistic.

My child has HFA and it wasn't so much putting sentences together as it was just conversation in general. For instance during a session with his speech therapist my son was asked what school do you go to. His answer was the green paint on the wall. The sharp scary teeth. I know where he got this answer but a stranger might be just totally confused as the speech therapist was. There was a Wildcat (the team mascot) painted green on the side of the school building. He was 8 at that time. I believe he understood what she was asking he just didn't know how to respond with a correct answer. He was also using his visual skills which are much more acute than his auditory skills. He had that picture of the green wildcat videotaped in his mind(kind of like Temple Grandin talks about), but he didn't have a video for the words Rykers Ridge Elementary. I hope that makes some sense. I know it's confusing. Now he can have normal conversations and respond correcly most of the time to what the other person is asking. He is rather slow in speaking and he usually diverts his eyes but most people would not realize that he is autistic.

My son was very similar to yours. At 2 1/2 he had an extensive vocabulary and echolalia, but he did not use his words to communicate. It wasn't until he started speech therapy at 4 1/2 that the proverbial lightbulb went off, and he began to actually communicate with his words. It was like opening a flood gate, and by the end of kindergarten he was fully verbal. Excesssively so! Unless you are very familiar with autism, you would never know he is autistic by talking to him. He still occasionally misuses a preposition, and language processing will always be a challenge, but it's a far cry from where we were eight years ago.

my oldest son has autism, and recently has re-started mimicking tv shows (echolalia) and video games. He's 11 and hasn't copied tv shows in 2 or 3 years (at least not as frequently as he seems to be doing now). My question is, is this normal? I try to get him to talk about other things, and he'll start talking about other things, then go back to repeating an episode of Kids Next Door or Ed, Edd and Eddie. Can someone give me some advise please??? thank you!

my oldest son has autism, and recently has re-started mimicking tv shows (echolalia) and video games. He's 11 and hasn't copied tv shows in 2 or 3 years (at least not as frequently as he seems to be doing now). My question is, is this normal? I try to get him to talk about other things, and he'll start talking about other things, then go back to repeating an episode of Kids Next Door or Ed, Edd and Eddie. Can someone give me some advise please??? thank you!

My 10 1/2 year old son does the same thing (same shows, too!). He is perfectly capable of carrying on a conversation, but he still slips in lines from these shows every so often. I think it's a comfort thing for them.

My son is 2 1/2 and just began to speak. He is beginning with sentences but often answers questions with the wrong answer. He is still young and language is still new, but I can relate to the echolalia of tv or videos. It sounds cute right now, but I worry about down the road. Another thing about my son that I am figuring out now that he has some words is that he sees the abstract view of things and this is what he answers with. If he is shown a picture, he doesn't see the main intention of the picture, something in the backround stands out to him. My son surprises me all the time with the things he knows. In some areas he is a year or better ahead of his age but then something as basic as picking out farm animals is a huge challenge for him. He doesn't get the concept, he thinks if it has four legs it must be a cat. Thanks for sharing, it helps shed some light on the future.

My son was four and half before he started putting words together. He is five in a couple of weeks and he still only puts a few words together but I still wouldn't consider them proper sentences. However, he is more able to communicate to say what he wants now.

well I know from what I have read up on that ppl with autism shouldn't watch a lot of tv. I notice a BIG difference in my 4 year old when he watches alot of tv. That could be the problem.

From what I have read they "zone out" so to speak and it is too much going on for them to concetrate on things.

hope that this helps ya!!!!

This is in reply to the 11 year old sorry I didn't realize that there was another page.

My son is turning 7 this week. He has become very good at asking for things or for help if he needs it, but trying to get him to answer questions is still a challange. If I ask him about school I only get answers to "yes and no" questions, so I try to ask his teachers/therapists to let me know if anything special went on so I can ask him about it and try to get him to expand on his answers. It is hard. I keep telling his therapist that I am so happy with the progress he has made, but I keep waiting for that next "big break" in language. He talks about things all the time, usually to himself, but more and more to us. He'll tell us about his Transformer toys, about playing outside, about videos he likes, but it's not really "conversational" as much as just stating things like "Transformers autobot, Starscream." , "Swimsuit, please", "Outside, please." "Where is it?" This last one is usually followed by us trying to figure out what "it" is while he tears up the house trying to remember where he left "it".
Anyway, on the TV issue, he doesn't really watch too many TV shows even though his 10yr old brother is a Nicktoons regular. He watches videos which is better for us so we can control the content a little better. It's not all "educational", but we try to take his echolalic tendencies and get him to transfer them to appropriate situations.
The best example I can think of happened a couple of years ago. He loved the "Jimmy Neutron" movie and there is a scene where Jimmy says "Mom, Dad, I'm home!" when he comes into the house. My son started saying this when ever we came back home from somewhere (even though "Mom" was usually with him). So I started saying "Hi, I'm home." and pretty soon he was
saying that instead. I really think echolalia can be a good thing if you can find ways to take advantage of it.
Good Luck,
AggieMom