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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

We saw Dr.Camarata with our son in August 2013 and then again in August 2015.  We had concerns beginning in 2012 when our son was 3, as he would not talk much.  Our son would memorize books at a very early age, and when he did speak, often it would be a recitation of pages from books, or repetitive statements like pointing out a window and saying "That's mommy's car, and that's daddy's car."

Dr. C  told us in 2013 that our son was not autistic, that he had an expressive disorder.  2 years later, he told us that while some people MIGHT diagnose him as autistic, he personally would not classify him as such.

Our son is now 8,  in 2nd grade in a Catholic school,  a class of 8 kids.  He does very well in most subjects especially math and Spanish, but has some difficulty in art and reading comprehension.  Often he will read paragraphs,  but he cannot seem to articulate what he read.

He is a cub scout,  and takes swim lessons, plays basketball, and rides horses.

Unfortunately,  he does not have any friends.   He does not know how to engage in "normal" conversations with other 8 year olds.  But he is not lonely at all, as he plays every day with his younger brother,  who is 5,  and they are best of friends.

When he approaches other kids or adults to talk,  it consists of him asking them where someone is,  or how old they are,  or when their birthdays are.  He does not know what else to say beyond that.   Inevitably,  he will talk to them about something odd,  like how he needs to adjust his basketball net to make it higher,  or  he will ask them about a generator that he saw down the street across from a river.    Or he will talk about stuffed teddy bears at home

We've done floortime and he's been to several speech therapists, but most have made him depressed and irritable

[/quote]

Back to this. OP, give up on the Camarata's as they are not the right fit now.  You need to find a better SLP fit and interview a bunch.  Ours did all kinds of things including reading comprehension.  If your child is struggling that much it does sound like something more, such as autism at this point.  I would get him into speech with an SLP who can also do a multi-approach including reading comprehension, find a reading specialist as it gets much harder in 3rd with far more demands on reading comprehension and do workbooks at home to address it.  This isn't just an expressive issue.  If it were your child could change topics easier but will probably have a lot of pauses and need more time to think through the answer or just get stuck.  I agree with neuropsych parents at this point because of the reading comprehension issues to get a full one done for the educational component but also get a full language assessment done, maybe at one of the local universities.  Your child might also like speech better at a University where the student SLP's can make it more fun.  Also, remember just because a child tests out of receptive issues meeting low average it doesn't mean that they will not struggle with them longer term.  Its just once it hits low average, schools no longer recognize it as an issue even though it is.  I would expect "normal conversations" but that goes a little beyond a regular expensive issue at this point.  It is more around 5-6 for kids.[/quote]

This is not about a child's receptive language or reading skills.  This kid may have a language disorder but being unable to interact with peers is a big problem at age 8.  This could be autism, selective mutism, anxiety, OCD.  This pp needs an evaluation that's more comprehensive than speech.[/quote]

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