A young boy came to the clinic as part of a speech diagnostic. The child had very little expressive language and was beginning the process of learning some signs. After trying many different stimuli, speech was used to ask where body parts were. The child responded to some by pointing. However, he began to fixate on his nose and started acting like a 'piggy'. Responses were inconsistent but were well within normal limits. Also, OAEs were performed successfully and were normal.
This patient was very energetic and playful. What little vocabulary he had was masked by articulation problems. In the article 'Communicative gestures in children with delayed onset of oral
expressive vocabulary', children with expressive language delays rely heavily on gestures and signs. This was apparent when the child walked in the clinic. He was pointing and handing things to his parents instantly. His nonverbal communication was also very good. He went from being happy to being bored to upset and every emotion was plain as day on his face.
Thai, D.J. & Tobias, S. (1992). Communicative Gestures in Children With Delayed Onset of Oral Expressive Vocabulary. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 1281-1289.
http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/reprint/35/6/1281
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1 comment:
Katie,
I think it is so interesting how we just have this innate sense that if we cannot communicate with spoken language that we resort to signing or gestures. This child was a perfect example of that process. Thanks for the article!
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