[kenting886]

My 16yr old child has an intellectual impariment. She has characteristic of ASD although I have not taken her to be tested/diagnosed. She has mild speech dyspraxia. She has an imaginary friend that she talks to. When she talks back (as the imaginary friend) her speech is perfect. Should I be worried?

[Elysium]

Hi...

I'm not familiar with ASD, however the symptoms you described are interesting. I don't know if a full scale "RED ALERT" is warranted here, but I can understand your concern.

Have you tried discussing it with her? Do you know if she realizes the changes in her speech patterns?

I'm not a therapist, but I would say that a visit to a doc wouldn't be overdoing it. It would help you to understand what is going on for your daughter and most likely help you help her understand too. I would suggest a psychologist or someone who is familiar with ASD and other disorders, as opposed to a general practitioner though. GP's are great for GP stuff, but this sounds like it might be a little bit over their heads.

Keep us posted if you like. I wish you and your family the best.

[Luce]

Hi. I don't know if you should be worried or not, but it seems the fact that she can talk perfectly as her imaginary friend might indicate that her dyspraxia is emotional in origin? I don't know anything about dyspraxia - maybe it is emotionally based, anyway.
I find it really fascinating that she has an imaginary friend who appears not to suffer from dyspraxia as she does. All sorts of psychology stuff could be investigated there!
Does she see a psychologist or counsellor?

[Rhapsody]

The possibility of DID could always be there with the change in speech as the other friend... but as stated in the post before mine there could be other issues in play here, therefore, I would suggest you take these concerns up with her doctor... and if needed a therapist.

We are here if you need to talk about this some more.