3y twin- doesn't know his name?

[twindaddyo]

I have 3y twins.  One is socially and developmentally appropriate. The other has mild speech delay, decreased oral motor tone and is socailly akward.  He frequently calls his twin sibling by his own name.  When pressed,  he does know his name and his sibling's name, but often mixes them up. He does not have spontaneous conversation as his brother does. Rather, he just repeats all the different phrases and vocabulary he knows.  Usually, his responses are appropriate, but occasionally he will just say a phrase unrelated to the topic.  His speech therapist mentioned he may have auditory processing disorder.  We are about to undergo an evaluation by the local schiool system because he has aged out of early intervention.

He has also recently started being agressive with his classmate, mainly girls. He just walks up to them with a big smile, pushes them or pulls there hair and say" I pull Jane's hair."  When he is reprimanded he is very snesitive and instantly breaks out into loud crying.  He is a sweet kid, but this is starting to become very difficult.

Any thoughts on how to help him learn his name and his siblings name and use them appropriately (he tacks on his own name when asking his sib a quesiton-ie. Jack says. "want to go outside and play Jack?" to his brother Dave.  Dave usually corrects him but is starting to tire of it and just ignores it.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

I'm going to defer on this to the speech/language therapist. It sounds like your son displays developmental disorder in a number of areas, and the evaluation you have already arranged is very sensible. He is likely to require some special education services right from the outset (i.e., even in pre-school). The smaller the group the better for him right now so, if you have the option of grouping him with only several children, by all means do so.

[jdtm]

has mild speech delay, decreased oral motor tone
is socailly akward.
his sibling's name, but often mixes them up
does not have spontaneous conversation as his brother does. r,   repeats all the different phrases and vocabulary he knows. just say a phrase unrelated to the topic
started being agressive with his classmate, mainly girls.  he is very snesitive
instantly breaks out into loud crying
is a sweet kid, but starting to become very difficult.


I have isolated those points in your posting that reminds me of my nephew.  He was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was in his teens.  Actually, your son's progress at three years of age is futher than my nephew's progress at that age.  By the way, today my nephew is married, an excellent father, and holds a very good job.  Good luck

[twindaddyo]

From what I've read about Asperger's, it doesn't match his behavior pattern.  He is social, can play nicely with his siblings, other kids and adults and is very engaging.  When he is focused, he can play games and follow commands appropriately.  

I exxacgerated his difficulty with conversation. He can actually have a conversation, but quickly jumps between subjects, requiring redirection.

He doesn't exhibit any stereotypic movements or reptetive behaviors.

Thanks for your opinion and I will research Aspergers further.

[sm8]

I would look more into possible PDD-NOS or under the autism spectrum.  Aspergers is a branch off of Autism.  It is a very broad spectrum disorder and has many symptoms of which a child may have one or many of.  Your son seems to have many of the same symptoms my doughter does.  She just turned 3 also and has phased out of infants & todlers and into the school system.

[always sad]

I would definately look into the "autism" group.  Things like that are hard to diagnose, because not all of the symtoms are displayed.  My nephew was 6 years old before he was finally diagnosed as "high functioning autistic".  At first they thought it was Attention Deficit, then Aspherger's, etc.  Autistic children are usually not affectionate.  This is the total opposite with my nephew.  He is extremely affectionate with those he knows.  He is also a very good reader.  However, he mostly does "parallel play" and has to be prompted to sit in groups and go up and initiate socialization with others.  So, don't rule anything out.  I am no doctor, but it sounds to me that this is a socialization type problem.  Also, keep in mind that autistic children can be aggressive in play.

[things3]

For what this is worth, I would not be overly concerned with autism spectrum disorder at this point.  I am both a provider of services to children and a parent of a PDD-NOS 5 1/2 year-old girl.  

Using his own name in conversation is still very common at age 3.  Especially at age 3 with delay.  Correct usage of pronouns is something that even typical 5 year olds struggle with.  

I can also tell you that Auditory Processing disorder can't be tested until minimally age 5 (and sometimes later depending on the kiddo).  Most of the norms are for age 6 or 7 and up.

Glad you are going through CPSE program.  Your OT and SLP will be on top of things.  All the EI therapy will have provided your little guy with the best possible outcome, whatever that may be.

You probably know, many times kids will vocalize everything in their head...kind of like a stream of consciousness.  So, if they have just watched their favorite tape, you may think they can only speak in Jay Jay, but that is just what is in there, and they are to immature to filter out what should stay inside their head, and what should come out.  

Also, my kids anyway, love to hear themselves talk I think.  They will just say the same phrase over and over and over in different kinds of ways..they don't have anything better to do during play and it is a form of stimulation (that is soothing).  Both of my kids are VERY orally fixated.  

My daughter talks in "tv".  People will say, "wow, she knows a lot about pirates", but she just saw a Backyardigans episode and now that is all she says, for example.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much yet about ASD.  Good luck. Hope this helps.

[childrenrtreasures]

Hello! This post caught my eye because I'm a twin and when my brother and I went to kindergarten (we were 4 almost 5) we both told our teachers that our name was: ChrisKelly (my brother's name is Chris and my name is Kelly).

My brother rarely spoke and usually repeated what I said. I was by far the more verbal/social twin. He didn't really start speaking much until we went to school.

I also wanted to share that I have a friend who's singleton son did not say "mama" or anything else until he was 3 years old. Yet when he was 2 he could play Jesus Loves Me on the piano by ear. He is now 7 and musically/artistically gifted. My friend was very concerned that he was autistic but he is a very well-adjusted, developmentally normal child. This same woman has a son who is 3.5 and does not use understandable words yet. He is normal in every other respect and doesn't display any particular gifting like his brother does. He communicates largely by gestures and vowels sounds. His hearing is fine and he is a very happy intelligent child (if you ask him to point to colors, shapes etc...he can).

I just wanted to encourage you. I truly hope your son is normal in every respect and is simply displaying his individuality.

Kelly