SLI - specific language impairment

[Mafi419]

I guess I've known that there is something off with my LO for a very long time. It has become more clear with time. At the begining I thought it could be autism or something related to that. I took him to a development doctor and in 3 sessions she just said there was a speech delay and nothing else she could diagnose at the time. The pediatrician was always very moderate and always told me he showed progress and was still within the expected for his age. But I knew some things weren't. Now I think I know what's happening. On the 2 years and a half check up, the pediatrician agreed with me and referred us to a development doctor he trusts, we are waiting for the appointment in October. The pediatrician said it's either a very mild autism or specific language impairment (affecting receptive language). I'm pretty sure it's SLI. Which is ironic since I work with linguistics and so does my wife. I'm so worried, I don't know to which extent this affects him and what the outcome might be. I think my brother probably had this growing up but people just assumed he was lazy and stupid and he drop out of school very early and wen trough very dark paths. I live in a country that doesn't offer many solutions for special needs kids regarding education. My first degree is primary teacher, I have considered giving up my job and home schooling him when it's time for him to go to school. I don't know what to think, I don't want him to think that he will achieve less than his peers, I want him to know that I know he can do anything. I guess I'm writing this post to ask parents with kids with SLI how it has been for you, if your kids are emotionally ok, if they are socially fine with their peers, if they have friends. My LO is such a happy little boy I really want him to be like that forever, always happy. Where I live no one has ever heard about SLI, it's very hard to exchange experiences. Also, for the parents of SLI, did you have other children? And did they also have SLI? I'm 22 weeks pregnant and I'm worried about that too. Thank you for reading.

 

[deafgal01]

Does your child have other communication skills? Like would he be able to respond using sign language or point/gesture to get what he wants?

Just asking because I work with deaf/hard of hearing children and I've heard sign language can help language development in hearing kids too.

 

[Mafi419]

Thank you for your coment. I think that could have been a great idea, I should have done it very early. His issues are not so much related to expressive language, but more with receptive language. Usually I can understand well what he wants or needs, he finds ways of telling me, eather by poiting, taking me and showing me or other ways. Let's say he wants me to do a bowl of cereal, he might say "Papa" (that means baby mash in Portuguese) and if I don't go and do it, he will take my hand and take me to the kitchen, he grabs the pan I use to boil water (I always do his cereals with water), he grabs the water and puts the water inside the pan and takes it to the cooker, turns it on and then points to the cabinet where I keep the cereal/mash and keeps saying "papa!" sometimes he says "quer papa" (means "want mash" in Portuguese). The thing is, it's very dificult for him to understand what he is told. Like he doesn't get questions. If I ask him "what color is this?" he just gives me a blank stare, but if I say "this is green!" he might say "yellow!" (if it's yellow) or just confirm "green!". He also struggles understanding mildly complex structures. For instance, lately he doesn't want to go to nursery and when he spends a few days at home with us, he keeps saying things like "bye bye nursery!" everytime he thinks we are going to take him there. In some situations he might say "Don't want nursery". But if I say something and use the word nursery, he assumes I'm saying I'm going to take him there and starts crying and saying "Don't want nursery" and I can tell him in many different ways that I'm not taking him there but he doesn't listen, he keeps thinking I am just because I used the word.
This being said, he doesn'tlike it when I try to teach him something and just refuses to listen to me He hates it when I try to read books to him. I think it wouldbe very dificult to teach him sign language now because it would require him to pay attention and I don't think he would. But I think it's a great idea to do in the future!

 

[deafgal01]

Try a few with him and see what happens - it doesn't have to require a lot of his attention span in the beginning, just make it applicable to what he's doing in that moment and keep it short/simple- like if it's eating time, use signs around that, or if it's play time, use signs for his favorite toys and talk about the toys like (car red) - this car is red. etc. Worth a try.

I'm curious to know more about this topic - I have one client that doesn't seem to express herself, but she's the opposite like she is able to understand more than she can show/express. I find the brain so fascinating to be honest.

I hope more parents (who have experiences with this) chime in soon. I happened to check this forum, I don't usually check this forum but just happened to peek last nite. If no response, maybe finding a parent group in this topic on Facebook would be able to give advice/feedback on this.