17:34 Sounds like we have similar kids. Did yours have an issue with reading comprehension at all? Mine only seems to be able to answer questions when the language tracks pretty closely to the story.

My child has SPD and experienced pragmatic speech delays. We were successful in receiving an IEP for pragmatic language through Montgomery County which I have since learned is very difficult to obtain. We had received services through infants and toddlers and a big focus of the service eligibility was the difficulty it was causing for my child in preschool so I think that probably helped receive the pragmatic language services. With that being said, given how few kids seem to qualify for services based on pragmatic language issues, we had a really hard time finding an appropriate group through the county since the majority of children are there for articulation. Good luck!

Hello. My child, a boy, also exhibited just this kind of a delay at age 3 to 5-ish. Very chatty, but seemingly unable to participate in a conversation. He had speech therapy with a heavy emphasis on pragmatics, but it really didn't help. Diagnosis? ADD (or ADHD-inattentive, which means no hyperactivity). He was not able to converse "normally" other than using conversational "patterns" because his short-term memory was so hindered that he really could not follow a conversation. You have to remember what is being discussed from one moment to the next in order to stay on topic and actually participate!

Not saying this is what might be the case for OP and PPs, but adding a new idea to the mix. Once my son went on a low dose of meds, his pragmatics improved DRAMATICALLY, as did his ability to focus and learn in the classroom. Ironically, because he was an early reader, we were clued in to his issues because of his social and pragmatic delays rather than the usual academic delay indicators.

He is now 8 and is almost even with his peers in pragmatics ... I suspect there will always be a bit of a delay, but it is just so much better. Good luck!

pp, would you be willing to share your SLP's name at Lab? or how you went about finding them? i have a friend looking for this very same type of help. thanks.

So, how long does this last? I mean, when she's 18 will she be able to have a normal conversation? How about 14? How about 10? Are we doomed to raise children that literally carry on entirely different (memorized) conversations?

My daughter (not ASD, but ADHD) has mixed receptive/expressive language disorder and has pragmatics sessions with an SLP at the Lab School, it has been very helpful. Also, she has a very advanced vocab but has problems with retrieval...

btw, we're in MoCo and I'm wondering if she'll be eligible for speech through the county for pragmatic speech. Any experience with this?

OP here...we should get together with our girls. Seriously, it's good to know I'm not alone. It's such a uniquely frustrating situation.

PP here. Both. She will randomly say things that are out of context and have no real reference point. IUt has gotten a little better, but it's still a somewhat dominant part of her speech. She also uses lots of repetition and echolalia. At first we thought it was because she imitated my son, whose main tool of conversation was repetition and echolalia, but even after she has had lots of opportunity to interact with regularly developed children, she resorts to it.

It doesn't really strike most people as odd initially, but it becomes apparent when people try to converse with her about something she mentions. She will easily use 8-9 word sentences but what is very obvious is that these are pre-constructed sentences. She hears them and learns how to use them in that exact way without exchanging any words or infusing her own thought. It made evaluating her very challenging and I was glad that the speech therapist noticed this without relying on my reports.

I suspect that some of this will resolve itself as she gets older (with speech therapy and other interventions), but some of it seems pretty severe. The discrepancy between her expressive and receptive language is about 16 months. She understands as much as a 20 month old child but expressively knows as much as a 3 year old.

Oh my God! Another NP here. All THREE of you have my child! I thought I had the only DD like this!

We do OT, ST (focus is strictly on pragmatics) and a social group. She's 5. She's a good reader, but it's still hard to have any kind of conversation with her.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 3 year old girl with the exact same issues. Her brother is autistic so we had her evaluated, and she is not. She has a HUGE vocabulary, a great memory, but yet she cannot answer the most basic questions.

The speech therapist said it definitely looks like auditory processing difficulties because she often answers with a huge delay. She doesn't actually have conversations with us at all and her speech is somewhat random. It's true what PP said, to some degree the treatment is similar. My son learned through modeling and we are doing the same for her. We constantly repeat the concept of questions and answers to her and she can finally tell people her name.

She just started school today. She will get speech therapy at school and she is currently in a special ed classroom to give her extra time to understand how to follow the routine. (she frequently cannot do things because she doesn't understand them)

PP, when you say that her speech is random...does she talk about things out of context or repeat herself often? (OP here).

I have a 3 year old girl with the exact same issues. Her brother is autistic so we had her evaluated, and she is not. She has a HUGE vocabulary, a great memory, but yet she cannot answer the most basic questions.

The speech therapist said it definitely looks like auditory processing difficulties because she often answers with a huge delay. She doesn't actually have conversations with us at all and her speech is somewhat random. It's true what PP said, to some degree the treatment is similar. My son learned through modeling and we are doing the same for her. We constantly repeat the concept of questions and answers to her and she can finally tell people her name.

She just started school today. She will get speech therapy at school and she is currently in a special ed classroom to give her extra time to understand how to follow the routine. (she frequently cannot do things because she doesn't understand them)

Anonymous wrote:This was hard for me to understand for a long time, and still is frankly. My DD was completely verbal at 2, had an amazing vocabulary at 2-3, great enunciation but I realized when she started school at 3 she wasn't interacting at all with peers. We've learned its not an issue with speech, and traditional speech therapy doesn't really help at all. My DD learns by ROTE and learns conversation patterns. She is great when answering a factual question and can communication anything she wants to but can't follow a conversation. Its not necessarily a spectrum disorder, but its hard to "treat." Modeling conversation helps and scaffolding conversations will help when she's older -- you literally have to spell out, 'when someone says this, you can say this or that." i keep hoping it will come naturally, and it does a little bit but SLOWLY.

OP here...wow, PP, your DD sounds so much like mine. Have you determined what's at the root of her issues? Does she have a dx of SPD or PPD? My DD will interact with her peers but can only go so far because her classmates are having conversations and my DD can't follow them. I have a hunch she has auditory processing issues but I know that can't truly diagnosed until she's older.

This was hard for me to understand for a long time, and still is frankly. My DD was completely verbal at 2, had an amazing vocabulary at 2-3, great enunciation but I realized when she started school at 3 she wasn't interacting at all with peers. We've learned its not an issue with speech, and traditional speech therapy doesn't really help at all. My DD learns by ROTE and learns conversation patterns. She is great when answering a factual question and can communication anything she wants to but can't follow a conversation. Its not necessarily a spectrum disorder, but its hard to "treat." Modeling conversation helps and scaffolding conversations will help when she's older -- you literally have to spell out, 'when someone says this, you can say this or that." i keep hoping it will come naturally, and it does a little bit but SLOWLY.

My DD (3) has a good vocabulary but she really struggles with conversation...anything beyond the familiar. She is very communicative and always talking and interacting but lacks pragmatic speech. She has no hearing issues. Anyone else going through this? What has been helpful? She gets OT once a week through the county but she didn't qualify for speech since she doesn't have a "typical" delay. Thanks.