language development or asperger

Thu Dec 16 18:10:18 UTC 2010

Dear Keith,

Thank you so much for your kind attention. Actually one of the cases is my
son.

Due to my study, I have had not time to have a considerable interaction with
him comparing with other mothers. for his first two years only English TV
was on in our house. Although my parents and husband were interacting with
him in farsi, i think this kind of interaction he has had is not that much
comparing with other kids.

Now I have started ABA, an autistic program with him along with an
experienced teacher. She believes that my son has language resistance and he
cannot be diagnosed with autism or asperger. His improvement is fantastic,
he can learn the concept at once.

he has a usual eye contact, sense of humor, and he interprets different
pictures we shows to him. for example, we are working on adjectives. I
showed two pictures indicating empty and full concept. next time I asked him
he talked about the concept and interpreted the picture although in short
sentences and sometimes telegraphic like he is drinking or he has milk or
drinking and even said delicious.

I stopped interacting in English with him when he was two years old  due to
my fear but whenever he hears an English speaking, he is laughing and is
very much interested in hearing and being spoken in this language. he knows
many English songs and sings them pragmatically in the context he sees one
word in English. He generalize English sentences using Farsi words. Of
course I don't let him be exposed to English anymore due to my doubt about
his health.

I wonder if my child can be diagnosed as being Asperger , although he has
these features I  explained which cannot be seen in Aspergers or autistic
children like eye contacts, indexical language and joint attention, humor,
and interpreting what he sees.

I appreciate your response and others' in advance as I feel so perplex with
this nightmare situation I am facing about my son.

Best,
Parisa

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Keith Nelson <k1n at psu.edu> wrote:

> Hello Parisa .    Just a few quick observations.
>        1.  IF a child becomes bilingual by rich social interactions in each
> language with highly fluent and highly responsive adults and older children,
> then we can expect excellent social and cognitive skills to develop along
> with the two languages.
>        2.  The small amount of English learned mostly from TV seems to
> indicate only baby steps in English acquisition, not significant
> bilingualism.
>        3.  Knowing no more than you review in your email, it seems that
> considerable progress in Farsi is clear for the children.   To help
> encourage improved social skills and social responsiveness as well as
> further language advances, it might be wise to explore with the parents and
> other relatives some ways of insuring that each week the children do have an
> increased number of enjoyable and engaging play times with fluent adults and
> with older children who  also will be using language levels above that of
> the children you have described.  Then you can see if the weaknesses in some
> social skills and social responsiveness are reduced.
>
>        Best regards,
>
>        Keith Nelson
>
>
>
>
>
> At 11:05 PM +0330 12/15/10, parisa Daftarifard wrote:
>
>>  To whom it may concern,
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I am Phd Student in TEFL in Iran and recently I came across a confusing
>> case concerning bilingualism and autism or Asperger Syndrom. I wonder if you
>> have ever noticed this feature before.
>>
>> I came across Three bilinguals who have learned English from TV mostly
>> when they were young (less than 6 months to one and half years old). The
>> programs they watched were baby TV channel, BBC Prime and Smile of child.
>> Their mother tongue is Farsi in which they were interacted and spoken to.
>> They had less interaction through English (almost no). At the age of three
>> years old, they showed some features that might be misdiagnosed with
>> Asperger syndrome. The features they show are
>>
>> 1.  language resistance in the way that if I call them they may pay
>> attention or may not (from 20 times, they may look back only 3 times) and if
>> I talk with them or converse with them they would not answer my questions
>> (most of the times saying 8 in 10) but say their own words.
>>
>> 2.  They dont enter play with others although they have symbolic play on
>> their own in the way that they repeat or restate those statements they heard
>> before or were told before with their toys like cars dolls and even
>> helicopter!
>>
>> 3.  They have repetitive verbal behavior (NOT body behavior, they never
>> shake their hand or do something repeatedly) that is they repeat the words
>> they know or sentences they know repeatedly not the whole day but for a
>> considerable time.
>>
>> 4.  They have started their language in one word and soonly in two words
>> in Farsi (first language) when they were 2 and half years old although when
>> they were younger they said some words too like (Aabba means Water).   Now
>> they are three years old, one of them speak in farsi fluently and one boy
>> says three word sentences like (berim khone papa means we go gradpa's home).
>>
>> 5.  the younger boy (three years old and three months) misuse the pronouns
>> first person and second person in farsi. He is using three word sentences
>> and sometimes two word sentences.
>>
>> "about their English state, they are not allowed to listen to or be in
>> contact with English anymore so that their first language develops
>> completely although the younger boy pays a lot of attention when he hears
>> English from TV or a person and in one case he was attending an English
>> class in his kindergarten and there he learned about the statement (show me
>> your nose), at home he talked with himself that "show me your helicopter,
>> /gatar/ = train"
>>
>> The reasons I and some specialists doubt they are aspergers or autistic
>> are
>>
>> 6.  They have eye contact
>> 7.  They use language indexically both to show the object they want and to
>> share their interest with their parents or teachers.
>> 8. They play symbolically and repeat what they have heard in society in
>> their play
>> 9.  They use imagination when they play for example, they use car seat as
>> a horse or a belt as a snake.
>> 10. Recently the younger boy I have seen that tell one scene of a short
>> story (just the one his mother told him) from the picture.
>>
>>
>> I wonder if you have ever noticed these features in bilinguals.
>> Unfortunately, psychologists here are not linguists or SLA specialist and
>> labeled these children as being Asperger.
>>
>>
>> I appreciate your help and notice in advance.
>> Best,
>> Parisa
>>
>> --
>> Parisa Daftarifard
>> Phd Student of TEFL
>> Islamic Azad University of Science and Research
>>
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>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Keith Nelson
> Professor of Psychology
> Penn State University
> 414 Moore Building
> University Park, PA   16802
>
>
> keithnelsonart at psu.edu
>
> 814 863 1747
>
>
>
> And what is mind
> and how is it recognized ?
> It is clearly drawn
> in Sumi  ink, the
> sound of breezes drifting through pine.
>
> --Ikkyu Sojun
> Japanese Zen Master    1394-1481
>
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-- 
Parisa Daftarifard
Phd Student of TEFL
Islamic Azad University of Science and Research

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