Gentle help with a teen with expressive language issues?

[summerreading]

My oldest has an evaluation coming up. I am 90% sure his issues with communicating - word retrieval so reverts to "stuff", taking a long time to finish a sentence, smart but not very articulate in general - are from stealth dyslexia. 
 
He's becoming rather shy and I'm looking for anything to help him. He is joining a robotics club this fall, hoping just being around other teens consistently will help. He doesn't want to try acting, I asked. 
 
Is there a way to work this into his lessons? I am looking at Writing Strands' book Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. Has anyone used something like that with good results?

[PeterPan]

Is the eval psych or SLP? SLP will have recs while psych will be hit and run, maybe scores and a referral. There are books for word retrieval but that may not be (or be the only) issue.

[kbutton]

I highly recommend testing with a speech therapist, but finding one that has tests for teens is hit or miss. We've recently found that our teen has some issues with language as well and has covered with logic for a long time. The testing is helpful.

 

Some of the names of speech tests are CELF, CELF metalinguistics, CASL, TOPS-2 (adolescent), TONL. Linguisystems has a lot of the tests listed with descriptions and related products. 

 

Once you know more, then you can find out of the SLP has specific therapies, or if these are things you can work into your schoolwork (or both). 

 

My son's issues were really brushed off as EF issues in many situations, but it's turning out to be a real language thing, not just trouble organizing in his brain.

 

We have had some psych testing that is helpful and some that is less so. 

 

 

[liber]

We went to speech therapist for help.  He was in therapy from age 13-18.

[Crimson Wife]

There is also a Test of Word Finding, but its norms go only up to age 12 yrs 11 mos. It could be used out-of-level as what is called a "criterion-referenced" assessment. Meaning that the evaluator is looking at what he can and cannot do.

 

My child will sometimes be assessed using tests designed for preschool to 1st graders even though she's 8 and going into 3rd this fall. The goal is to figure out where the gaps are. Everyone already knows that she is outside the normal range for her age. So tests designed for kids her age are far too difficult and don't provide all that much useful information. Whereas if a SLP tests her using a test designed for younger kids, the questions/tasks are at a more appropriate challenge level and will show "ok, she can do A, B, and C but not D, E, F, and G".

 

ETA: As it turns out, there actually *IS* an adolescent version of the TWF. So that is what you would want to see if you can have run. I'm going to leave the above comments about criterion-referenced assessment just because it can be an important part of a speech eval.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Crimson Wife

[PeterPan]

Yes, my dd had word retrieval testing when she was that 12-ish age as part of her neuropsych eval. Her combo of word retrieval plus low processing speed is particularly nasty. She literally just loses speech when she's tired. It's part of what is driving her dorm placement this fall, because being with people with that going on is really fatiguing. 

 

She's not diagnosed with dyslexia, btw. She has some mild praxis issues and ADHD. So that's why you have to just do some testing and see what you unearth. We never did a full SLP eval to sort through what was really going on, only the testing by the neuropsych. 

 

Total rabbit trail, but retained primitive reflexes can affect language.

Edited June 16, 2017 by OhElizabeth