Higher Level Language Skills?

Rachel Sonnier

Does anyone know what this higher level language skills are? DS's SLP said that she wants to retest him soon using a different test. When I asked her why the different test, via email, she wrote back saying that she wants to look at his language skills in a different way, because he seems to be having more difficulty with higher level language skills. I had never heard that term, so I tried googling it, but I'm not getting anywhere. 

Anyone know what type of language skills she is making reference to? 

thefuturemrskudla

Maybe she means intraverbal skills, which are answering questions, back and forth conversation.

Rachel Sonnier

Thanks for all of the info ladies!! So I guess it could be a number of things. 

Auntie, I really don't know what test she plans to give him. He is close to 4 1/2, but he is smart and despite the apraxia and all of the language issues he has an excellent vocabulary. All she specifically told me in the email was that "Because C is such a bright little boy and appears to have more difficulty with higher level language skills, I would like to use a different test than what was used before just to look at C's language skills in a different way." She was not the SLP that evaluated him the first time. He switches every time one of them goes on maternity leave. 

I think that he expresses himself verbally pretty well. He def gets his needs met. He can be abrupt, but if you ask him to try again, he can use the polite words. He knows the right way to ask for things, but he doesn't always do it automatically. 

He can usually do OK with nonverbal cmcn of people he knows well. Adults and older kids he can interact well with. However, I find that he struggles with reading peers and younger children. 

He is very literal. He tends to get upset if my husband were to say something like "Hey, why don't we have carrots for dessert instead of cookies!!" He has a hard time telling when someone is serious. His teacher had commented about it as well. She said that they were playing a verbal color game and she told the class "everyone throw blue at me" and he picked up a blue crayon and threw it at her. When she asked him why he did that, he said because she had told him to.

He struggles with jokes (DH too, in a major way). He wants to learn jokes and is interested in them. He made me look up some jokes to teach him a few weeks ago. 

I taught him a knock knock joke that I felt like a 4 could handle:

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Lettuce.

Lettuce who?

Lettuce in its freezing out here!

He could do it every time that night. He memorized it. The next day he came home and said "Hey guess what?? I told Audrey the joke about the cabbage!!" 

[-X

So DH said, "Ok buddy let's practice it! The Lettuce knocked on the door..." 

X_X

I know that he does struggle with these things for sure. His SLP has spoken about his theory of mind lagging behind, and some possible receptive language issues. Maybe that plays into all of this as well? I had discussed with her the social thinking program that you told me about, and she said she actually does use some of those techniques in working with him, so I was glad to know that.