My youngest gets some speech therapy during the school year. Currently they are working on pragmatics. He is 10. Although I do recognize that this is an issue, he talks and talks, doesn't really care if you listen and only about what he wants to talk about. At home the bigger issue is volume. Per SNL we say he has "voice emodulation disorder". He really seems to have no clue just how loud he speaks. We have spent years clueing him to an "inside voice". He just can't seem to do that. He can whisper, but for about a minute until he goes back to regular voice. My question is this, is there a real name for this? Is this something his speech teacher could work on? What would I need to ask about to have them do this?

We have had 4 speech teachers in 2 years, often with a big gap between finding someone new. We are so understaffed that really kids don't get services. He is far from needy so he gets skipped a lot. When we started there was a very experience teacher who wanted him twice a week for 45 minutes. When the new young just graduated person came in, she saw that he only receive language and dropped him down to 30 mintues once a week. I can really tell a difference.

Oh one more question...what can I do at home to help this. Currently we do a lot of reminding, and we do a lot of modeling. But really it has been years now. It is starting to be an issue going with friends, no one wants him in the car, I keep getting a lot of parent comments on just how loud he is.

By Pamt on Sunday, July 6, 2008 - 11:55 am:

Your son talking too loud is part of a pragmatic disorder. Pragmatics encompasses how you engage in conversation (starting, maintaining, ending a conversation), how close you are, eye contact, what you talk about, how loud you are, how much you touch when talking, etc. So, it sounds like your DS needs to work on conversational skills such as topic maintenance and turn-taking/conversational sharing, as well as learning to modulate his volume.

Since he'll have an IEP, you have to have an IEP meeting and you have to agree to the services they are offering. If you aren't comfortable with 30 minutes a week, then refuse it and demand that he gets more services. You can do squat in 30 minutes/week because that includes getting your DS and the other kids and taking them back to class. It's probably more like 20 minutes a week. Also, an IEP is a legally binding document and he HAS to be seen as often as it states he will be seen. That means even if there is a gap in service providers.

As for what you can do at home, I would try role-playing where you, DH, and your other kids all take turns talking really loudly. Hopefully that will help him recognize how annoying it is. You can also videotape him at various times, like dinner time, then watch the video together and analyze it. You can point out how loud he is and he can hear it for himself. Also, be sure to find a lot to praise him about too--like turn-taking, using polite words, etc. And you will just have to stay on him about it too. Also, if you haven't done so in the past year or two, I'd have his hearing evaluated as well.

By Kaye on Sunday, July 6, 2008 - 06:18 pm:

That whole being in compliance with the ard is another thread in itself. I did agree for less time only because I was fighting a bigger battle, but this is going to change too. We are doing a full 3 year reeval by oct 24 and at that time things are really going to change. We/they are changing his qualifing disability from LD to AU, which opens up some new different services for him. His speech therapy has really been lacking, they have been without a speech person for at least 4 months this school year, which meant NO services, period. The young chicky who filled in for some time is 20 and working on her degree, but they were very careful that info didn't get passed on to parents, only because I sub did I know. Gotta love the school.

I love the video taping idea, I will have to do that for him. I will also ask his doc about hearing testing, I know he does the school testing, but I don't know how accurate that is. He is what we term a sensory seeker, he does all things harder and more intense than other kids, including how he speaks. Thanks for the info.