Nonverbal children using this method

[Guest guest]

Dear list,

I just emailed one person on this list about this question, and

then decided to email the whole list.

My son who is almost seven, is completely nonverbal. He has no

spontaneous speech whatsoever, and he does not echo language. He

also has extreme difficulty imitating sounds. He gets stuck on one

or two sounds and those are the only sounds that he can say. Whenever

he adds a new sound, he also drops a sound. Right now, he says " ttt "

for everything. A few months ago, it was " ba " . His speech

therapist says that he is apraxic. We have tried to get him to

vocalize sounds for what he wants, but he always just seems to say

the current sound of the week.

At age two, Jonny was speaking in sentences, and then he had an

autistic regression and did not ever regain his speech. Have any of

you ever used this program for an older child who is unable to

verbally imitate sounds? What did you do to help them make the

sounds?

Although Jonny is not improving at all verbally, he is

progressing in other areas of his program. He is successful using

activity schedules, and is beginning to learn to read (at least a

little). He has words on his choice board, which he uses

appropriately. He just seems to be unable to vocalize other than a

couple of sounds at a time.

Has anyone encountered this problem? Especially with an older

child?