Hello everyone,
DS1 is 3.5 years old and has some problems. We don’t know if it’s autism or a communication disorder or what, but his speech is pretty random (when I pick him up from preschool, he doesn’t say hello mummy, more like watermelon or something). He doesn’t answer questions and doesn’t seem capable of spontaneous speech. Everything he says seems learned, eg “Good morning Christine” even when he’s speaking to Helen, etc etc.
I feel I have to do something, so I’m going to get the local joiner to build me some monkey bars in my living room. Just wondering how long you think it will take him to be able to brachiate? And how long til we see results in his speech and language?
Many thanks xx
How long is a piece of string? :laugh: You should be able to get him to hang for a few seconds immediately, but the rest will come down to his and your motivation. If you had it in the hallway and asked him to use it instead of walking down the hallway each time or placed it somewhere so it’s use was regular… Anyway as to results I don’t think anyone can answer that one sorry. It’s not a guaranteed solution but a potential for improvement. I think you could teach your average three and a half year old to do it in a month with daily practice, I am basing this on my kids who are fairly coordinated and could have learnt it in a week or two. My girls could do it at 2 my son hasn’t had a chance to try.
All the best I think it’s commendable that you are putting in the effort, you child is lucky to pull your straw out of the haystack of mummies 
thank you, so kind. his preschool report doesnt read well at all… cant just leave him to rot. as master uguay said in kung fu panda film, “there are no accidents”. i believe i came across diman because i need him. a;; the best to you x
My daughter sounds exactly like your son. Her speech is actually very advanced for her age and she speaks very clear and correct. She does scream out mummy and comes running to me out of excitement when I pick her up from daycare. She does all the things your son is doing, she is going through that stage of repeating everything she hears immediately after hearing it but is more than capable of spontaneous speech.
She knows who everybody is, at daycare, her relatives, her parents etc and if you ask her to name them all she will correctly tell you but on odd occasions she will blurt out Tina instead of mummy even though I’m not Tina or call me daddy or whatever, rarely, but it’s just so random at times. Like we could be talking about fruit then she starts talking about Dinosaur’s stomping their feet. She is full of energy and never stops talking.
She does ask questions like who’s this?, what’s that noise?, what colour is this? and things like mummy/daddy what are you doing? mummy are you ok, why are you sad?. She only just started learning that because I was making sure to always ask questions and leave a pause for her to answer. She is quite capable of spontaneous speech like I said and will incorrectly name someone even though everybody has heard her say it correctly many times in the past.
I did have the same concerns as you but her Pediatrician just laughed when I asked if she could be autistic as he said she is incredibly smart and her speech is advanced and is advanced in all areas but gross motor skills she is a bit behind there. Her daycare think she has a problem but my daughter doesn’t speak the same language to them like she should be and speaks sooooo fast that only as the parents, can she be understood but they refuse to listen, to them she is blurting out random baby noises, to me she is blurting out full and correct English conversations.
She is doing so well now. She does answer questions, didn’t before but I talk, talk, talk and keep on talking and asking and that has really helped. Same goes for brachiating, practice and practice! I have a gym bar attached to her door, for pull ups, then we go to the park for the monkey bars and holds for a few seconds. I would get him evaluated to give you reassurance. Is he happy at his daycare? My daughter is only very selective on who she wants to talk to.
I forgot to also mention, when my daughter is blurting out Dinosaurs stomping their feet, I think she associates that with people tapping their feet to music or she is repeating what she sees in an episode of playschool as the Dinosaurs are stomping their feet. I think most of it all is out of excitement and showing off as she knows calling me Tina is going to get my attention. Brachiating should happen for a couple of seconds immediately the rest comes with practice. Perhaps he is just a late talker?
Thanks Nic, that is very interesting. So she learned to brachiate in a few seconds?
I am currently asking local joiners how much it would cost to fit Doman’s door bar as recommended in the physically superb book.
There is some kind of speech issue where the brain races faster than the person can speak, but I only heard it from a friend who was researching for me.
How old is your DD? How long was it before she started to speak?
He doesn’t seem to be a late talker. (well, obviously he is) but I think there is more to it. He doesn’t have what I call “joined up thinking”. The other day all the kids went to preschool in fancy dress adn he always takes a toy in. I thought it was cool that he wanted to take a toy camera in that day, like he understood. However, I am sure he didn’t line up the kids and take pretend pictures of them. I’m sure he just stood in the corner by himself, tapping the camera against the wall, or soemthing.
“Joined up thinking” also means things like, when mummy points, he looks (started recently) and when mummy blows bubbles, Anthony comes to look (spent days blowing them by myself) or speech in context or waving to someone who has waved at him. THings like that…
All the best, `