Just wondering,

Did any of you have expressive receptive delays as kids? My nephew (who's 4) has this, which means that his speech and immediate understanding is delayed. He speaks, expresses emotions, but has the verbal skills of a 3 year old. We can't either ask him complex questions, because he doesn't grasp them. Conversley, he's been reading since he was 2 years, 9months. Not just memorising words, but actually READING and sounding out words. He just read 100 books through a library program (my sister's so proud ;))

Anyways, just curious if you had these issues as kids. The doctors havn't ruled out add (he has soooo many of the symptoms).

I hear the language skills even out as the child grows older...Anyone relate here??

Precocious reading ability and language delay make me think of Asperger Syndrome.

Really?

He's been tested for the entire spectrum, and the docs have ruled it out....he does seem very expressive in his emotions (but maybe its my lack of understanding on what Asperger entails.)

It made me think of asperger syndrome as well. Maybe you should try the book "Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome." Maybe you could use it to see if it is anything like your nephew, I think Asperger syndrome overlaps quite alot of AD/HD symptoms and many people are diagnosed as ADD first, then later diagnosed with AS and vice versa.

I recommend this book because it is written by a boy who has AS and lives with family members who have either autism, ADHD or Dyslexia and has some information on each thing but mostly Asperger Syndrome and Autism.

In the book it mentions that this boy (The author) couldnt read at all, but then suddenly just "clicked" at a very young age and he could read really well, he could read better then the average child his age.

I hope I was of some help :)

Precocious reading ability and language delay make me think of Asperger Syndrome.

I thought asperger’s syndrome myself. Dyslexia also slow development of speech delays however the reading thing would pretty well cancel out dyslexia.


but maybe its my lack of understanding on what Asperger entails.)

Perhaps these hyperlinks will help with the explanation of symptoms.

http://www.aspennj.org/bauer.html
***quote
In contrast to more typical autism, where the interests are more likely to be objects or parts of objects, in AS the interests appear most often to be specific intellectual areas. Often, when they enter school, or even before, these children will show an obsessive interest in an area such as math, aspects of science, reading (some have a history of hyperlexia--rote reading at a precocious age)***End Quote

http://cie.asu.edu/volume1/number7/#language

Thanks! I'll look into the book, boone. Meadde, I did check out the websites you listed--it does help to read more on the subject.

My sister started taking him to docs when he was about 3 years old, and his play-school teacher suggested that he may be autistic. But since then, the doctors have ruled that out. But then when I read more about aspergers, it just sounds so much like my nephew. When he was 2-3, the most frustrating thing for his paretns was that he didn't seem interested in interacting with the other kids. But he was happy being on his own, so it didn't hurt to see him in a corner playing with train track, or reading a book. But now, he def. loves playing with the other kids, and most other kids include him in play, but when it comes to complex make-believe games, he doesn't really follow, and now he's starting to feel a bit left out (and doesn't seem happy about it).

Actually, the first time he initiated conversation was about a year ago when I vistited with my cat. He loved him! And would try to speak with him (which was not usual). My sister just got him a kitten, and it's done wonders in his social skills.

Anyways, I'll read tha book boone. I just want my nephew to grow up happy, but also excell in whatever areas he's bright in. He's already showing great reading skills, and is actually very musical as well (he can sing better than most adults, and can easily mimik tunes and inflections).

Thanks for the advice :) Oh--and I'm pretty sure my sister is severe ADHD, but she refuses to believe it. That doesn't help when she's trying to now also take care of my nephew (which requires a lot of organization and patience).