Speech....A

[Guest guest]

<<How old is your child and does he/she talk at all? How does your child

communicate? Does/did PECS and Signing work at all or what kinds of modified

communication was used?>>

Hi, Everyone....Adrienne.....Gareth (17 y/o) has gone through a lot of

stages for communication. He was taught sign in Infant Stim classes and did

sign

before he had minimal speech....around 3-4 y/o. He lost his speech and

resorted to 'growling' all the time for communication purposes....different

tones

of growling for anger, wants, etc. His major breakthrough in *spontaneous*

speech came when he was 10 and was started on Risperdal/Prozac. He was then

(slowly) able to start communicating in one-2 word sentences.....milk,

please: no byes (meaning he didn't want to leave the house): school 'day?. Even

today, it's hard to get a 'full' sentence out of him, but at least his word

bank

is good enough that he can carry on conversations if he chooses to. He also

has a stuttering problem....that doesn't help matters. BUT....the odd thing

is, that Gareth could read a sentence in first grade. The kid has always

been able to 'talk' a sentence out, but has never been able to turn around and

say the sentence without looking at the words.

Take care, Everyone

Margaret