Hello Everyone,
This month’s BLOG focuses on my website's offered Extended Book Reviews with < My Thoughts > and Referenced Sources. Also, the Gallery website slideshow presents the book covers and reviews, divided into the following categories ~
AMAZING ADVENTURES
DIAGNOSIS, DENIAL, & DOCTORS
SAVVY SOLUTIONS
SCHOOL ON THE SHORT BUS
This next story is under the website category of Diagnosis, Doctors, & Denial.
A Real Boy: How Autism Shattered our Lives & Made a Family from the Pieces by Christopher Stevens & Nicola Stevens, eBook 2011 Edition; Extended Book Review with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker
Hopefully, these stories will help parents, clinicians, academics, and all people #Autism, in connecting with those who have gone before us on their Autism Journey.
This month’s BLOG focuses on my website's offered Extended Book Reviews with < My Thoughts > and Referenced Sources. Also, the Gallery website slideshow presents the book covers and reviews, divided into the following categories ~
AMAZING ADVENTURES
DIAGNOSIS, DENIAL, & DOCTORS
SAVVY SOLUTIONS
SCHOOL ON THE SHORT BUS
This next story is under the website category of Diagnosis, Doctors, & Denial.
A Real Boy: How Autism Shattered our Lives & Made a Family from the Pieces by Christopher Stevens & Nicola Stevens, eBook 2011 Edition; Extended Book Review with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker
Hopefully, these stories will help parents, clinicians, academics, and all people #Autism, in connecting with those who have gone before us on their Autism Journey.
A Real Boy: How Autism Shattered our Lives & Made a Family from the Pieces by Christopher Stevens & Nicola Stevens, eBook 2011 Edition; Extended Review with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker
Snippets of excerpts from the book by Christopher Stevens & Nicola Stevens –
Stevens, C. & Stevens, N. (2011) 7% The question everyone asks is, ‘When did you first know?’ We usually say that we knew something was badly wrong before David was two years old.
8% When David wasn’t howling, he was adorable. The first time we dared face the idea that there might be something wrong with him – something trivial, something easily righted – he was sixteen months old.
The whole street was painfully aware that David had suffered a series of ear infections. The screams that signaled physical pain were even more piercing, even more relentless, than his usual howls of protest at the injustice of existence.
14% Some other ‘less cute’ behaviors were there too – the rug-chewing tantrums, the incessant way he crashed his head against the slats of his cot.
Nicky (on the computer) showed me the page, and it was scathing. Nicky went back to the Net, searching for stronger evidence, and found the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM - IV section on Autism.
David would have to match at least six of them, from a list of twelve. It didn’t look good. David had achieved top marks on the Diagnostic Criteria for Autistic Disorder.
< My Thoughts > “DSM - IV list of twelve…”
If your child has received a ‘new’ DSM-V diagnosis, which supersedes the DSM - IV diagnosis, then you may be required by school districts, developmental programs, or others, to provide a letter stating the current diagnosis. When you are asked to provide this documentation, clarify exactly what they expect to see. Get that request in writing, if you can.
30% David’s case was on hold. We’d dragged him through the diagnosis because the doctors agreed the best long-term hopes lay in ‘early intervention’; now the council was dodging its responsibility to help him.
Stevens, C. & Stevens, N. (2011) 59% That summer, David was offered respite sessions at an NHS children’s unit called Church House, a mile from his school. Six months earlier, we would have turned the offer down. We didn’t want to admit we needed respite from our own child. It felt like a confession of failure.
71% He has learned to say a lot that he doesn’t understand. Words have meaning for him in the same ways as music: he invokes them for specific situations.
When he acts out his videos, David takes almost all the parts and recites nearly all the script, but a key role is reserved for Mum.
72% The first time I saw him act out a whole movie was in a playpark, when he was six. In the whole performance, he barely uttered a recognizable word: the script was reduced to shapeless phonetics.
I could sometimes guess what he was trying to say – as he flung himself off monkey bars shrieking, ‘Ah-ooo, a-a eee!’ I knew he was imitating Mowgli’s shout of ‘Baloo, catch me!’ But it was obvious David didn’t understand what the words meant, and didn’t care.
Within a few months, that had changed. He was starting to shape words with the same precision he’d applied to song lyrics for years.
Now he could shout, ‘Baloo, catch me!’ and sound like his life depended on it. But he still had no idea what the words meant. The medical term for this use of language is ‘echolalia’, which means ‘speaking in echoes’… a complex phenomenon which serves many purposes.
< My Thoughts > “…use of language is ‘echolalia’ in autism”
Echolalia is briefly defined as a stereotyped repetition of another person’s words or phrases.
Stokes, S. (2018) encourages us that “The presence of echolalia in children with autism can be a positive indicator for future meaningful language development, at least on a ‘surface’ level. She says that use of ‘echolalia’ can be for both communicative and non-communicative purposes. “Sophisticated utterances are usually repeated without a clear or complete understanding of the meaning of that utterance.”
Stokes, S. continues that, communication can be used for conversational turn taking, initiation of interacting vocally, requesting and affirming responses to another person. Example: When asked, “Want to go swing?” the child answers… “Want to go swing?” When echolalia is used for non-communicative purposes the communication may not appear relevant to the situation or context.
It may be triggered by a setting. Such as walking into the lunchroom the child may say to no one in particular, “Everyone find a seat and start eating.” Then there are the utterances that are used to direct one’s own actions. “Wash my hands. Turn on the water. Get the soap.” and so forth.
< My Thoughts > "...the child may say to no one in particular..."
We had a foster child who was stuck in the echolalia stage of communication. One day he came home from school happily singing the name “Victoria”, “Victoria”, “Victoria”, over and over again in a loop. The next day I asked his teacher if she had a new student. "Yes,” she replied rather surprised, “Her name is Victoria.”
Note: For further information on ‘echolalia’, ‘non-verbal’, and other stereotypical communication by children and adults with autism, in my Free ASD Book: Know Autism, Know Your Child with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker. Read online under UNIT 3 What Is Most Concerning? CHAPTER 2 Speech & Language Communication (Including 'Nonverbal' & assisted/alternative communication).
References:
Stokes, S., Autism Consultant (2018). Increasing Expressive Skills for Verbal Children with Autism. Funded under a contract with CESA7 & funded by a discretionary grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Thank you for reading and sharing my BLOGs. Comments are welcomed, to be viewed and answered privately. My goal is to assist families, clinicians, educators, and all people ‘autism’, to continue their journey on the Autism Highway. At the end of each website Extended Book Review, please find a source to have the whole book to read.
Regards,
Sara Luker
Paid Link Disclosure -
These Extended Book Reviews have an Amazon Link for actual book purchases. Please read this Paid Link Disclosure AKA Affiliate Links Disclosure:
Sometimes there are paid links, also known as affiliate links, used on this site. My website, www.sarasautismsite.com, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
I may earn or receive a small paid commission from referrals for book purchases made through posts, pages, and links on this site. But I try to remain unbiased and I do not accept paid reviews. All opinions expressed here are my own.
There is no extra cost to you when purchases are made using the provided links. By using the links I provide you agree that you’ve read this paid link disclosure statement.
Thank you!
Sara Luker
Snippets of excerpts from the book by Christopher Stevens & Nicola Stevens –
Stevens, C. & Stevens, N. (2011) 7% The question everyone asks is, ‘When did you first know?’ We usually say that we knew something was badly wrong before David was two years old.
8% When David wasn’t howling, he was adorable. The first time we dared face the idea that there might be something wrong with him – something trivial, something easily righted – he was sixteen months old.
The whole street was painfully aware that David had suffered a series of ear infections. The screams that signaled physical pain were even more piercing, even more relentless, than his usual howls of protest at the injustice of existence.
14% Some other ‘less cute’ behaviors were there too – the rug-chewing tantrums, the incessant way he crashed his head against the slats of his cot.
Nicky (on the computer) showed me the page, and it was scathing. Nicky went back to the Net, searching for stronger evidence, and found the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM - IV section on Autism.
David would have to match at least six of them, from a list of twelve. It didn’t look good. David had achieved top marks on the Diagnostic Criteria for Autistic Disorder.
< My Thoughts > “DSM - IV list of twelve…”
If your child has received a ‘new’ DSM-V diagnosis, which supersedes the DSM - IV diagnosis, then you may be required by school districts, developmental programs, or others, to provide a letter stating the current diagnosis. When you are asked to provide this documentation, clarify exactly what they expect to see. Get that request in writing, if you can.
30% David’s case was on hold. We’d dragged him through the diagnosis because the doctors agreed the best long-term hopes lay in ‘early intervention’; now the council was dodging its responsibility to help him.
Stevens, C. & Stevens, N. (2011) 59% That summer, David was offered respite sessions at an NHS children’s unit called Church House, a mile from his school. Six months earlier, we would have turned the offer down. We didn’t want to admit we needed respite from our own child. It felt like a confession of failure.
71% He has learned to say a lot that he doesn’t understand. Words have meaning for him in the same ways as music: he invokes them for specific situations.
When he acts out his videos, David takes almost all the parts and recites nearly all the script, but a key role is reserved for Mum.
72% The first time I saw him act out a whole movie was in a playpark, when he was six. In the whole performance, he barely uttered a recognizable word: the script was reduced to shapeless phonetics.
I could sometimes guess what he was trying to say – as he flung himself off monkey bars shrieking, ‘Ah-ooo, a-a eee!’ I knew he was imitating Mowgli’s shout of ‘Baloo, catch me!’ But it was obvious David didn’t understand what the words meant, and didn’t care.
Within a few months, that had changed. He was starting to shape words with the same precision he’d applied to song lyrics for years.
Now he could shout, ‘Baloo, catch me!’ and sound like his life depended on it. But he still had no idea what the words meant. The medical term for this use of language is ‘echolalia’, which means ‘speaking in echoes’… a complex phenomenon which serves many purposes.
< My Thoughts > “…use of language is ‘echolalia’ in autism”
Echolalia is briefly defined as a stereotyped repetition of another person’s words or phrases.
Stokes, S. (2018) encourages us that “The presence of echolalia in children with autism can be a positive indicator for future meaningful language development, at least on a ‘surface’ level. She says that use of ‘echolalia’ can be for both communicative and non-communicative purposes. “Sophisticated utterances are usually repeated without a clear or complete understanding of the meaning of that utterance.”
Stokes, S. continues that, communication can be used for conversational turn taking, initiation of interacting vocally, requesting and affirming responses to another person. Example: When asked, “Want to go swing?” the child answers… “Want to go swing?” When echolalia is used for non-communicative purposes the communication may not appear relevant to the situation or context.
It may be triggered by a setting. Such as walking into the lunchroom the child may say to no one in particular, “Everyone find a seat and start eating.” Then there are the utterances that are used to direct one’s own actions. “Wash my hands. Turn on the water. Get the soap.” and so forth.
< My Thoughts > "...the child may say to no one in particular..."
We had a foster child who was stuck in the echolalia stage of communication. One day he came home from school happily singing the name “Victoria”, “Victoria”, “Victoria”, over and over again in a loop. The next day I asked his teacher if she had a new student. "Yes,” she replied rather surprised, “Her name is Victoria.”
Note: For further information on ‘echolalia’, ‘non-verbal’, and other stereotypical communication by children and adults with autism, in my Free ASD Book: Know Autism, Know Your Child with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker. Read online under UNIT 3 What Is Most Concerning? CHAPTER 2 Speech & Language Communication (Including 'Nonverbal' & assisted/alternative communication).
References:
Stokes, S., Autism Consultant (2018). Increasing Expressive Skills for Verbal Children with Autism. Funded under a contract with CESA7 & funded by a discretionary grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Thank you for reading and sharing my BLOGs. Comments are welcomed, to be viewed and answered privately. My goal is to assist families, clinicians, educators, and all people ‘autism’, to continue their journey on the Autism Highway. At the end of each website Extended Book Review, please find a source to have the whole book to read.
Regards,
Sara Luker
Paid Link Disclosure -
These Extended Book Reviews have an Amazon Link for actual book purchases. Please read this Paid Link Disclosure AKA Affiliate Links Disclosure:
Sometimes there are paid links, also known as affiliate links, used on this site. My website, www.sarasautismsite.com, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
I may earn or receive a small paid commission from referrals for book purchases made through posts, pages, and links on this site. But I try to remain unbiased and I do not accept paid reviews. All opinions expressed here are my own.
There is no extra cost to you when purchases are made using the provided links. By using the links I provide you agree that you’ve read this paid link disclosure statement.
Thank you!
Sara Luker
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