Hi Panzer,
On the Descriptive Pragmatics Profile rating of the CELFP-2, DS scored a 54 on the clinician's rating form, which is below the criterion level of 70. This indicates that despite average to above-average language skills, DS is having some difficulty using language to interact with others. He demonstrates inconsistency in responding to peers' attempts at
conversation and some unwillingness to initiate with peers."
That is very characteristic of a gifted child with ASD. The standards for what is age-appropriate change a lot over time; deficits can become more evident as the child grows and their social language use looks atypical with respect to what peers can do.
"When DS is speaking with peers, much of his
conversation is one-sided. It revolves around restricted topics that interest him, such as mazes, numbers/math, games he invents involving "levels", and computer-related topics.
When peers are talking to him about a non-preferred topic, DS will often be unwilling to engage with them. Often, DS's peers do not seem to grasp what he is talking about, either because they cannot follow his train of thought, or they are unfamiliar with his vocabulary, which is advanced for his age."
A couple of things here:
--looks very, very like my 2E DS12 (PG/autism) at that age
--failure to adjust register to suit audience is characteristic ASD. That is, noticing that there are things you can talk to an adult scientist about that you cannot talk to a preschooler about. It's a lack of awareness of what's in other people's heads. This skill will probably come if you work on it.
I find it odd that with those comments his score on expressive vocabulary was 100% average. Also, I spoke to the speech teacher after the assessment and he said DS wanted to continue with the test but was told he had to stop because the next section was for kindergarten kids. This almost sounds like they just tested to a certain point and stopped?
Likely. I don't know the mechanics of this test, but preschool testing is generally like that. Each test comes with its own distinct "stop criteria."
Have you ever done a neuropsych workup privately? Could be useful, if you find someone who can handle the idea that you have to test out-of-grade-level to capture the complexity of the child.
How can you accurately assess intelligence if you don't even get close to the level the child is at?
You can't. But if the IU people are screening for disabilities (only), they're not looking for an accurate IQ, they're looking for deficits.
I will also say that IQ and achievement scores for young kids wiht ASD can be compromised by the lack of social skills. They tend to go up and become more coherent as the ASD social communication deficits are remediated.
It is hard to understand how the IU can just dismiss all of our concerns and call everything my son does well a "splinter skill".
Again, your child is far outside of what they normally deal with. And yes, it's VERY ANNOYING. I wish we could get rid of the term "splinter skill" and instead talk about "skills." Because you are entirely right that these strengths can be used to his advantage.
Advice:
--call a reputable children's hospital autism center and get on the waiting list for a full neuropsych workup. Ask them what funding options there are. Sometimes a county will pick up diagnostic testing fees. Sometimes they will work with your insurance.
--*DO* use the IU's information about speech/language to get help from a SLP specializing in pragmatic language. It took us years to get this into place because it was hard to find someone. Proper social language use is a learnable skill and prevents a lot of problems in school if it can be worked on early.
DeeDee
