RED FLAGS

Melinda L. Richards, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor of Communication Disorders

Middle Tennessee State University 4 November 2006

"Red Flags" for Hearing Problems" All children babble, including deaf babies "

First: vegetative sounds, reflexive interaction  

Second: cooing, vowels and vowel-like sounds

Third: experiment w/consonant and vowel (CV) Reduplicated Babbling à Variegated

“Red Flags” between 6-8 months, stop babbling!

Possibility: significant hearing impairment. This infant needs an audiological evaluation II.

"Red Flags" for Speech  

First year: hearing must be intact  Discuss: Positive for ear infections prior to 1st birthday?

"Red Flags” Statistically significant: to be at risk for articulation problems

Don't wait to "grow out of it" - call TEIS!  This child needs a S/L evaluation by SLP III

"Red Flags" for Language - Children who don't use their words to make requests WON'T.  By 18 months, SHOULD be starting to combine words

"Red Flag” - Children who point and grunt to make requests may have depressed MLU, which later will be called SLI " Normal acquisition of grammatical morphemes suggests children will acquire regular forms (past tense; plurals) before irregular forms

"Red Flag" Children who use IRREGULAR past/plural before REGULAR form MAY be showing an auditory processing problem (CAPD)

"Red Flags" for Autism Spectrum Disorders (PDD) " Autism Checklist Individuals with autism usually exhibit at least half of the traits listed below. These symptoms can range from mild to severe and vary in intensity from symptom to symptom. In addition, the behavior usually occurs across many different situations and is consistently inappropriate for their age.

§         Insistence on sameness; resists changes in routine

§         Severe language deficits (stops talking; especially if s/he was developing normally prior to)

§         Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or pointing instead of words

§         Echolalia, as opposed to repetition (discuss)

§         Laughing, crying, or showing distress for reasons not apparent to others

§         Prefers to be alone; acts in an aloof manner

§         Tantrums - displays extreme distress for no apparent reason

§         Difficulty in mixing with other children

§         May not want cuddling or act cuddly Little or no eye contact Unresponsive to normal teaching methods

§         Sustained odd play; may spin objects or self

§         Inappropriate attachment (obsession) to objects

§         Apparent oversensitivity or under sensitivity to pain

§         No real fear of dangers

§         Noticeable physical over activity or extreme under activity

§         Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf although hearing tests in normal range

§         Uneven gross/fine motor skills. (May not kick a ball but can stack blocks.)

http://www.autismmidtenn.org/

Resources for Early Intervention

Tennessee's Early Intervention System (TEIS)

Tennessee Association of Audiologists & Speech-Language Pathologists (TAASLP)

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) LEA, Dept. of Special Education