# 4 and not talking



## wantmore

Hey guys,

I have a 4 year old that still doesn't talk much. We've had him tested in the USA for things like autism, ADHD, hearing loss, and the list goes on. The only thing we got back was that he had, "early childhood developmental delay - not otherwise specific." That was a year ago. My family isn't helping much either. One side still thinks he has autism because he flaps his hands (that and the not speaking are the main signs he has in common with autism) and the other side says, "oh, there ain't nothing wrong with this boy." sigh...

I'm in need help on figuring out how to encourage him to talk. He always seems distracted. He doesn't associate very many words with objects. Any ideas are welcomed! 

He is in physical therapy right now that does work with his speech a little but they won't put him speech therapy until he starts associating words with objects.


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## Thurinius

Makakton signing really helped my son. Creating opportunities for him to say something, eg with blowing bubbles 'bubbles up or bubbles down' and then giving him time to answer if he would.
Repeating words, eg 'would you like some squash? Squash?'
All things they taught me in speech therapy


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## Reid

We're in a similar situation 
My son's 4 in April and doesn't speak alot at all.
He was seeing a speech therapist who came to the house she said she couldn't do a formal assessment on him as he wasn't at that level yet but she done things like sat close to him to see if he was comfortable with her in his space then would take turns of say blowing bubbles and stuff she said things like this and pointing are the very basics of communication.
We actually just got my son moved to a nursery much more suite for him to its 6 kids (including him) in the room with 3 members of staff all are trained in makakton and pecs he's already making progress in the few weeks he's been there.
We're in the UK so sounds a bit different from the US I can't believe they won't refer him I'd keep pushing for that xx


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## Reid

lynne1983 said:


> We're in a similar situation
> My son's 4 in April and doesn't speak alot at all.
> He was seeing a speech therapist who came to the house she said she couldn't do a formal assessment on him as he wasn't at that level yet but she done things like sat close to him to see if he was comfortable with her in his space then would take turns of say blowing bubbles and stuff she said things like this and pointing are the very basics of communication.
> We actually just got my son moved to a nursery much more suite for him to its 6 kids (including him) in the room with 3 members of staff all are trained in makakton and pecs he's already making progress in the few weeks he's been there.
> We're in the UK so sounds a bit different from the US I can't believe they won't refer him I'd keep pushing for that xx

I ment to add his new nursery has speech therapist that go in to work with the children to x


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## mummy2o

I notice your living in Japan so I'm guessing your teaching him English and Japanese? Maybe focus on just one language for now and introduce the 2nd at a later date once he's talking as that can confused some people with speech delays.

My son was non verbal at 4 minus a couple of words. Bus and cake are the two that jump out at me. He will be 8 in April and now talking more like a 5/6 year old, so still behind, but more of an improvement. We did a lot of speech therapy at home and school, he made a little progress (about a toddler level) he then went to a special needs school in September. The transformation in him has been amazing. Not only with the language, but other areas he was behind in also.

That being said, my uncle with no learning difficulties didn't speak until he was 4 and when he did he said a whole sentence all at once. He was just storing it up until then.


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## wantmore

Thanks for all the encouragement! I am only teaching him English (I wish I knew Japanese!!) I'm not surrounded but very many English speakers and his PT only speaks a little English. I will look more into the makakton signing. I have tried signing in the past and I managed to get him to do one sign in 3 months and that was "all done" at the dinner table. lol 

At the moment, I've just been doing flash cards and having him repeat me. That is a struggle some days and yet others, he repeats with no problems. I'm hoping that as my youngest gets older, she will start talking and it will help encourage him too. Fingers crossed!!


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## Thurinius

wantmore said:


> Thanks for all the encouragement! I am only teaching him English (I wish I knew Japanese!!) I'm not surrounded but very many English speakers and his PT only speaks a little English. I will look more into the makakton signing. I have tried signing in the past and I managed to get him to do one sign in 3 months and that was "all done" at the dinner table. lol
> 
> At the moment, I've just been doing flash cards and having him repeat me. That is a struggle some days and yet others, he repeats with no problems. I'm hoping that as my youngest gets older, she will start talking and it will help encourage him too. Fingers crossed!!

I have a younger son and his presence has definitely helped my asd son with his language. They pick words up off each other.


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## mummy2o

wantmore said:


> Thanks for all the encouragement! I am only teaching him English (I wish I knew Japanese!!) I'm not surrounded but very many English speakers and his PT only speaks a little English. I will look more into the makakton signing. I have tried signing in the past and I managed to get him to do one sign in 3 months and that was "all done" at the dinner table. lol
> 
> At the moment, I've just been doing flash cards and having him repeat me. That is a struggle some days and yet others, he repeats with no problems. I'm hoping that as my youngest gets older, she will start talking and it will help encourage him too. Fingers crossed!!

If that is the case, then picture exchange communication system (PECS) might be better for the whole language barrier. My son did this for a while. He basically started with a couple of cards, then ended up with a whole folder. I know you might be against this idea, but I don't know how you feel about using food as a reward. But start with a picture of chocolate buttons, biscuits etc. We taught him to give the card to us and try and say the word, then he got his reward of the chocolate button (just one at a time otherwise you'll end up broke!). We did this for about a week, just to make sure he got the idea, then added more food. So he could have a crisp or button. Then a choice of 3 the following week. Then we had his choice of what he wanted in his sandwiches, ham or cheese. Then after a month, we got to things he wanted to do. Like play on the computer, watch a dvd or go outside. We made sure he said, or try to say the word he wanted to help encourage his language. At the end before we gave it up he was making sentences like, I want a green smartie. I want to ball outside.


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## AP

Makaton isn't used in the USA:Japan from what I am aware of, so it may not be a "universal" thing for where you live, however you have obviously found some signs work so keep going if you think it helps. Signing never worked right away for us, but when it did start happening it was incredible. Signing actually activates the speech part of the brain too, they are meant to be adjacent.

PECS is a true universal method but there is a way you should implement them and you need to be shown how to use them properly. There are different stages of use.


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## Blue12

I know you are looking for suggestions to help him talk but I wanted to share something. (I will also ask my friend for advice in this area - she does work similar I this). 

Part of the autism spectrum includes a diagnosis called PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental delay- not otherwise specified). That almost sounds like te title o the diagnosis that you have been given. Not sure if this info helps you or not. My friend I mentioned above works with many kids on the autism spectrum and her and I have worked with kids with PDD-NOS.


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## Blue12

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/pdd-nos


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## wantmore

When DS was tested, they said it was not autism. I have wondered if maybe they were mistaken. But then again, the main thing that links him to autism is his speech and the hand flapping, that I can see anyway. I've done so much research and can't find one category that he does fit in. A combination of ADD and Auditory Processing Disorder is one that I keep going back too but if we are talking about 2 or more categories, he fits into a lot of those. He has a hard time mimicking the sounds I make, but since I have been working hard with him on sounds and repeating he has been doing much better. I do reward with candy! That's the only way I could get him to repeat. Otherwise he crosses his arms and says no. 

I guess the most frustrating thing is kind of being in limbo. I haven't be able to find much information on the diagnosis that he received and so I'm not really sure what I should be doing. I do appreciate all of the comments. 

I have tried to find resorces for Makaton, but it seems like I will be a littl out of the loop on that one. If only they offered the workshops in Japan and in English! :) I did try regular ASL when he was younger but after 3 months of constant signing for a couple of words, he learned 'all done' so he could get out of his high chair and play. I think there was a little motivation for that one. 

Since he is repeating me regularly, I have been making him ask for things that he wants like, "can I have an apple?," or "can I play with the train?" He been trying to repeat most of the time. It just seems like progress is really slow. I've been working with him intensely for about 6 months and the main improvement is that he has more sounds and will try to repeat words. 

How long did it take all of your LOs to start using words when you started them on a program?


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