parrot like talking

[z_kahdouei]

I have a student. he is 4 years old. since he was born her mother let him watch some cartoons that name words in English or some channels like baby TV ( his1st language is not English, it's farsi). when he started talking he started saying the English words so his parents were so excited and they started talking English with him but unfortunatly their English were not good and they just talked like this:( what's this? this is... . what's that? that's ...). because he always watches English  cartoons or programs that are for teaching English word he just memorise them and repeat them. for example when u show him a window and ask him what's this? he says: W! W! W! W is for window!!!! just like the show that he learnt window from that. I know he is not autism, he is so clever and he learns very fast but he can't speak neither English nor Farsi! he can't play with other children because they don't undrestand each other! he doesn't answer to questions he just repeat them. when we ask how are you? he answers how are you!  his doctor says he is autism but we know that he is not. he likes to talk about everything but because he can't he reapeat some sentences that he knows. His parent want to teach him farsi but he just repeat everything! what can we do for him? what should we do for him?

[JessC92]

If his doctor said he's autistic, he may very well be autistic. Just because he may be clever doesn't mean he isn't on the spectrum. There are plenty of clever autistic kids.

Echolalia is a big sign of autism. My autistic son parrots everything we say and he's 4.

Yes I realise this was 7 years ago, but I'm sick of people talking like autistic people aren't clever.

[Ashelen]

I agree with Rockrose..I think you're on the right track to helping. My nephew has this problem, but it's not due to a language barrier. his parents put him in front of a tv a LOT, and they didn't spend a lot of individualized time teaching him...so by the time he was 3 he was very far behind and it took his teachers to notice that he was on the Spectrum. up until recently (he's about to turn 4) if you asked him to identify something, he would respond with "What's this? it's a Car. it's a car." and go through that every time you moved on to a new object...he had no way of communicating outside of parroting...if you asked him what he wanted, he would respond with "what do you want?" and if you asked, "do you want a juice?" he would respond with "want a juice?". he is now being treated by someone who specializes in autism-spectrum children and it's clear he's very bright...but because his parents never noticed while his fundamentals were building that he was behind, they're having to retrain all of his communication skills.

it's really good that you're taking such an interest and a passion in helping him....watching my nephew work with someone who knows and cares about his problem is amazing, because in just one semester at his new school he's gone from barely able to communicate, and only through parroting, to now being able to occasionally express things individually and spontaneously. such as "I'm hungry" which is a totally new concept for him.

please keep at it and emphasize the importance of getting him the help he needs because a child with a problem like my nephew (and the child you're describing seems to be) can function fairly normally when taught by someone who knows how to cope with the issues at hand. the difference since he received help is HUGE!!! there will be someone you can turn to who can deal with child developmental issues who can evaluate a child at any level of communication...you've just got to look and ask around, and then offer the options you're shown to the parents and hope they do what's needed to get him help.

[RockRose]

z,  it's so great for him that you are so committed to him.  

When you ask him about things that he knows,  and he "answers very well" -  it seems like that would be a good beginning means of testing him -  or at least giving an evaluator some idea of his skills.  

In the meantime I think just speaking to him in a rich language,  describing things to him,  reading to him,  rather than just asking him those very simple questions his mother asks him will help him a lot.  

Can you talk to his mother and impress on her how important it is for her to speak to him like she would speak to another adult?

I really do think he could be evaluated,  just by having someone who is skilled with diagnosing children's learning disabilities come and observe him in the classroom with you,  and talking to both parents about his history.  

Best wishes.  I think you're really on the right track to get him help.

[z_kahdouei]

Dear friends
The biggest problem is that bcs he can't talk, they can't evaluate him!! it's like you ask an English kid farsi questions. His father comes home very late and her mother is always alone with him so usually his parents don't talk very much and they don't have relatives. when I ask him about the things that he knows he answers very well so I think the problem is that he doesn't know the best way of making sentences, he knows many words but he can't make sentences bcs he has just heard questions like what is this? what is that? what color is this or that ? and etc. It's so sad when I look at him and I see how hard he is trying to talk. can u show me the way to help him?  

[specialmom]

I would suggest to his parents to have him evaluated first by a speech and language patholigist.  There are three components to speech--------  articulation, expressive (saying your thoughts coherrently) and receptive  (understanding what others are saying).  You need all three to have pragmatic and conversational language.  I would start with a speech therapist.  If they feel it is related to autism. they can refer him on to a developmental specialist.  The duel language issues are making it more difficult for him but that would not be the only problem here.  Some autistic children such as aspergers kids actually have high iq's and cognative ability.  goodluck  YOu sound like a kind and caring teacher.  

[RockRose]

If they speak Farsi in the house in a normal way around him and to him,  and he hasn't picked it up by the time he's 4,  he does have language problems,  and it sounds like it's in the umbrella of autism.  Clearly his hearing and speech both "work" - he can hear and repeat televised language.  

I think this goes far beyond thinking watching TV has caused him to be unable to acquire conversational language.