Diagosis queries - Autism Spectrum Message Board

Iovis · 04-07-2004, 04:02 AM

Two questions on autism-spectrum diagnosis:

1) What exactly does
"failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level"
mean?

2) If a child can understand and attempts to use language, does a speech impediment (severe enough to make the child's speech almost completely incomprehensible) count as a delay in language development?

Redhead23 · 04-08-2004, 01:46 AM

"1) What exactly does "failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level" mean?"

It usually means that the child does no get along with children his or her age, does not have any friends his or her age and may either play only with much older children (or talk to adults) or much younger children.

"2) If a child can understand and attempts to use language, does a speech impediment (severe enough to make the child's speech almost completely incomprehensible) count as a delay in language development?"

Not usually, speech and language are two distinct things. Has this child had their hearing tested? Failure to develop understandable speech sometimes can be caused by a hearing impairment, and hearing impaired and autistic children can sometimes behave in similar ways when little. (i.e. failure to respond or make eye contact etc.)

Iovis · 04-08-2004, 04:10 AM

There is no problem with the child's hearing.

The speech problem is that the child speaks very quietly and very rapidly without pronouncing certain sounds - 'R' and 'L' sounds are completely omitted; other sounds are sometimes not pronounced, depending on how rapid the speech is at the time.
The only way to make the speech understandable is to get the child to slow down considerably and emphasise every sound in the word - even then it is difficult to understand.

The child is regularly seeing a speech therapist and produces the required sounds during the sessions, but this has made no improvement to the child's speech in general.

Redhead23 · 04-08-2004, 08:55 AM

Has the child been diagnosed with anything at all? Is he/she showing any actual signs of autism?

And what nature, if any was given, does this speech impediment have according to the speech therapist? Rapid, disorganised speech can be indicative of many things.

Iovis · 04-08-2004, 09:19 PM

The child has not been diagnosed with anything - no professional diagnosis or evaluation has been sought at this time.

There are many signs that could indicate autism - most probably HFA or AS.

The child is very bright and is obsessed with numbers and counting - hours are spent looking at old calendars and counting, sometimes into the thousands. The child will organise or arrange toys in a specific order and make patterns (which must be perfectly symmetric) with blocks or tiles, and will spend considerable amounts of time dragging toy cars along the ground then lifting them to look at the wheels or playing with spinning-tops.

There is extreme sensitivity to touch. The child can detect light touches through heavy clothing or shoes and is difficult to bath due to incessant struggling. Many foods (of different textures or tastes) make the child gag.
The child displays insensitivity to pain - when upset the child will headbutt walls or the floor without any noticable pain reaction and, when given an injection, will not report any pain. Once the child, using a knife, (accidentally) cut deeply across the base of three fingers one one hand without producing a pain or even a fear/panic reaction.

The child has no friends and does not attempt to interact with other children, but this is understandable given the speech problem. When relatives visit the child will often passively avoid them, but generally prefers the company of adults over other children. Eye contact is poor.

According to the speech therapist the speech impediment is not indicative of an underlying problem. The impediment is primarily due to a combination of a lack of oral coordination during speech and trying to speak too quickly.