Autism causes caused developmental delay that often severely tampers with speech development. Our son not only has autism, (inherited from the family,) he also has additional issues with speech. (Also inherited from the family.) He has had many "Eli" words for many of his favorite things for a long time. For example, "Go-Go" was Gordon the train from Thomas and Friends for quite a while. I just had to write a little post to say that we have had some things going for us in the speech department lately.
Eli's doctor has put him on a pretty high dosage of vitamin E, which of course he monitors. He said that it helped with speech development. Also, at Eli's new autism preschool he receives significantly more speech therapy than he used to. (Next week the speech therapist is even meeting with me to teach me things we can to at home with him. Exciting!) The result of these changes has been just pure awesomeness. Yesterday after some coaching Eli learned how to say "Thomas" correctly. He has always loved Thomas the Tank Engine, but for the longest time he has called him "Boo-Ess," then he was "Mum-Ess." Now at age 4 and 1/2 he can finally call him Thomas! We could not be prouder. Now if I can just get him to stop saying "Bups" for "Grapes."
4 comments:
That is fantastic! May I ask how you are to administer the vitamin E? I've heard about vitamin therapy, but know nothing about it... any input would be great! Thansk!
To really do this type of therapy it would be helpful to read the book, Changing the Course of Autism by Dr. Bryan Jepson. It really is best to have a doctor oversee this kind of therapy. Follow this link
http://www.autism.com/dan/index.htm
to find a doctor in the DAN! program in your area.
Thank you so much for your help. I definitely want to read that book - the reviews on it are awesome! I didn't know if we would be a good candidate to try the DAN! approach b/c of my sons oral defensiveness. He is 3 1/2 and only tolerates baby food, pudding, smooth (homogeneous) yogurt and applesauce. We have tried many things to help him accept more foods, but he is so resistant to anything with texture or strong tastes. We have even pureed actual fruits and vegetables (since he eats fruit and veggie baby foods) to the same consistency of baby foods and he knows the difference and can tell even when we put a small amount of it with his regular baby food that he does like! To supplement his calories, he gets about 3 - 4 Pediasures a day to ensure that he gets all the vitamins and nutrients, calories, proteins, etc that he otherwise does not get in his diet. Pediasure is GFCF and so are his baby foods (not the yogurt though) -- but I'm not sure how we would be able to work with an additional "diet" or other food modifications, seeing as how he barely eats anything as it is. I do think its time to contact a DAN! doctor though and see what we can try. Thanks again for your help!
Sincerely,
Lola
*hugs* to Lola
I think that you will find amazing progress with the DAN! program. Don't get overwhelmed yet, just take it one step at a time. It is a difficult thing, I won't lie. But it is easier than having a child who is more severely autistic. It is the most awesome thing when little by little the program starts making a difference and you start seeing a more happy child who can enjoy their world more.
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