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We have a twenty months old son who does not speak or understand.
He likes to play with us and other children and shows emotional response to the events happening to him.
As far as I can tell his motor skills and intellectual developments seems to be in the normal range.
But because of his inability of understanding a very simple word and his hyperactive personality, we are very concerned and try to understand if he is OK.
I know that there are professionals who can help us understand the situation better.
But after reading "Einstein's Syndrome" (the book about a bright late talker), I'm wondering if there is any scientific evidence that early intervention before age 3 has any effect on the progress on the child if the condition is from neurological disorder.
I guess I'd like to know more about this issues before seeing a specialist and discussing the choices.
There are many sites around stating the scientific studies done that show a correlation between early intervention and child progress. It can be useful for any child that is behind a little, whether it be in speech, physical, occupational, etc needs. I would start by googling 'early intervention research' and a ton of info comes up.
The Einstein Syndrome book also has some great information on characteristics of children that are 'exceptional late talkers' so maybe that can help you a bit more.
And dont forget Early Intervention Services are FREE, so it never hurts to give them a call and see what they can offer you. Good luck
EI would be the BIGGEST predictor of success for your child. Research clearly states this. As the other poster suggested, the services are free, so seek them out! At least go and get him evaluated! There is nothing wrong with getting him services to give him a little boost!
You might want to read, Educating Children with Autism published by the Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism, National Research Council. It summarizes the research on Autism and has a chapter on instructional strategies.
You might want to read, Educating Children with Autism published by the Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism, National Research Council. It summarizes the research on Autism and has a chapter on instructional strategies.
I would also point on that there isn't anything to suggest that this child has autism......
although some strategies may still be effective. Please don't try to diagnose the child yourself. Get them involved in EI and get a comprehensive assessment done.
I am no Dr. nor would I ever try to make any kind of diagnosis. But the first thing that came to my mind was have you had his hearing checked? That probably wouldn't have anything to do with his hyperactivity but who knows?? Perhaps the inability to hear well would cause frusteration? Just another idea..... Good luck with your little one.
The inability to understand, etc can be highly linked to frustration and "hyperactivity" (also, most 20 month olds would be considered "hyperactive".... I wonder what you are basing this on).
You absolutely need to have a full developmental eval done immediately because all of these are assumptions (also, how do you determine his intelligence is "normal" if he doesn't understand.....not saying it is, just saying all of this is full of assumptions)
The inability to understand, etc can be highly linked to frustration and "hyperactivity" (also, most 20 month olds would be considered "hyperactive".... I wonder what you are basing this on).
You absolutely need to have a full developmental eval done immediately because all of these are assumptions (also, how do you determine his intelligence is "normal" if he doesn't understand.....not saying it is, just saying all of this is full of assumptions)
I don't think it is related to hearing problem since he is quite sensitive to sound.
One of things which concerns me a lot is that he is not responding to his name. But he responds to some words like "Jump".
Because he likes jumping around, whenever we told him to jump, he did.
But he does not understand more complicated instructions or his name.
He also knows how to play his favorite "Wiggles" DVD by himself.(turn of TV, change the input source, turn on DVD player, and pressing play).
He shows this kind of behavior which indicates that he can memorize simple instructions and understand simpe machanisms of some machines.
You are right that many things I saids are assumptions especially since he is the first child.
As I said, we are planning to have hime evaluated withing a month.
The question I raised was more general one about the current understanding
of autism and the early intervention.
From what I read about autism, there is no concensus of the cause of autism except that it is neurological disorder.
If there is no objective way to diagnose autism except observations, I'm not sure how you can increase the range of autism to austims spectrum disorder.
To do this, I think it has to be shown that austism spectrum disorder has a bipolar distribution, in other words it is not just outside of normal range of social behavior.
I don't think it is related to hearing problem since he is quite sensitive to sound.
One of things which concerns me a lot is that he is not responding to his name. But he responds to some words like "Jump".
Because he likes jumping around, whenever we told him to jump, he did.
But he does not understand more complicated instructions or his name.
He also knows how to play his favorite "Wiggles" DVD by himself.(turn of TV, change the input source, turn on DVD player, and pressing play).
He shows this kind of behavior which indicates that he can memorize simple instructions and understand simpe machanisms of some machines.
You are right that many things I saids are assumptions especially since he is the first child.
As I said, we are planning to have hime evaluated withing a month.
The question I raised was more general one about the current understanding
of autism and the early intervention.
From what I read about autism, there is no concensus of the cause of autism except that it is neurological disorder.
If there is no objective way to diagnose autism except observations, I'm not sure how you can increase the range of autism to austims spectrum disorder.
To do this, I think it has to be shown that austism spectrum disorder has a bipolar distribution, in other words it is not just outside of normal range of social behavior.
I don't think I totally get everything you are saying here, but regarding the diagnosis for autism, make sure that someone who is a licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in administering the ADOS and diagnosing autism is doing the eval. You can also start with a more general eval done by a team that can help. Regarding the research between autism and EI, research CLEARLY states that early intervention is key for success. Regarding the autism spectrum statement, I don't think I understand; however, the diagnosis of autism can include children who are very high functioning, or very, very low functioning. This is why it is considered a spectrum disorder.
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