Cathy: re: clinically significant lang.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2003
Cathy: re: clinically significant lang.
1
Mon, 07-18-2005 - 10:24pm

Cathy,

Check out this link...
http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html

If my link doesn't work, look for the OASIS web site - On line Asperger's Support something or other. If you read the criteria section, it explains "clinically sig. lang. delay".

Chrissy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 07-19-2005 - 1:33am

Ah yes, but I will tell you that even how you interpret that is up for debate amung many folks and doesn't cover everything. For instance, you can have a child or adult who has a langauge delay due to cleft palate or hearing disability, but had communicative intent at age 2 and may also be ASD and possibly more appropriately labeled AS. They had delays due to these secondary things but they understood and were able to communicate more effectively.

Conversely (this is my cait) you can have a child who has words at 2 and phrases at 3 but that are innappropriate or echolalic with poor understanding and comprehension. At 3 Cait couldn't follow one step commands, her expressive and receptive language were over a year delayed, her sentences were they odd conglomeration of horrible syntax adn echolalia that no one buy I could decipher. her language problems were definitely consistent with autism spectrum.

Unfortunately, doctors tend to interpret this in thier own way. For instance, "communicative phrases at 3", well what is communicative? Does simply requesting needs, or the ability to talk in phrases count? If they use echolalic phrases to request needs or communicate something, does that count? What if they are repeating lines from movies verbatim but really not using them to communicate with the world around them. they are talking in phrases. Or does it need to be actual independent phrases used appropriately with communicative intent?

I always wonder about these things. I also would like to know what significant delay in self help skills is. I asked our psyche about that. My kids have definite self help delays. She just said there isn't a single person with AS that she knows that doesn't have some self help issues.

Renee

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