Speech evaluation

Adam had his speech evaluation today. He went with the therapist, Neisha, easily. Nisha went over the assessment with me. As far as articulation, she only noticed a difficulty with /l/, but at this point, it is not a concern. What she was concerned with, however, was his language: receptive language in particular. There were a large number of items that he missed where Neisha did not think he was understanding what she wanted. He didn't seem to understand the concept of 'all' and doesn't respond to the W questions (who, what, where, when, why, hoW) well. He had a very difficult time following two-step directions. Neisha also seemed concerned that she was only hearing 2-3 word sentences from Adam.

It was an eye opener for me. I had always thought that Adam's language difficulties were expressive, that he was like me and didn't always know how to put into words what he's thinking. but now, I'm seeing that maybe it is actually his receptive language that is delayed, and that his expressive language is being affected as a result.

Niesha recommended coming twice a week for therapy instead of the once a weekthat was already scheduled. She also encouraged having his vision assessed. She wasn't sure if he was avoiding eye contact or couldn't see well. SoonerCare covers it, so I guess we might as well.

As we ended the visit, I brought up Adam's repetitive speech. An example I like to refer to is a 'conversation' Adam and I had a few months ago:
"Mom, you like chicken?"
"Yes."
"Mom, you like chicken?"
"Yeah, I like chicken."
"Mom, you like chicken?"
"Yeah."
"Mom, you like chicken?"
"Yes, Adam."
"Ok. You likes them, Mommy?"

Neisha says this is perseveration. It can be a commonly seen behavior in autism.

All in all, the visit went well. I just wish someone would have mentioned to me that Adam was not actually wearing any pants when we went to the appointment! Fortunately, I don't think anyone noticed because they were solid colored boxer briefs.