Learning to talk

Hi, yes my boy does do some high pitched sounds sometimes and no he has not said any solid words but does say dada. He loves to say a word to us and waits for our reaction and smiles when we say it back. His word is 'darwar', I 'm unsure if he is trying to say a word. He does babble all the time with the usual baba, daadaa and tttt etc. I wouldn't say has regressed at all and as he used to be quieter and a lot of friends have commented on seeing positive changes in him. He loves to play with his sister and we have some friends who play swinging games with him and he loves this. He always comes up for more. His sister is his twin. My boy has what's categorised as "passive" autism where he hardly has any sensory issues and will  flap his hands if he gets very excited. We try to interact all the time with him and do a lot of play which I feel has really brought on his social interaction. Seemingly 'passive' autistic kids will interact with others if the other person interacts first. Keep on playing with him, ie running if this is what he likes, it's still interaction. Let me know how you get on as it's good to keep in touch with someone in a similar situation as myself. My boy will be 3 also in October.

Yes he's been making more babbling sounds lately although he usually does these high pitched shrieks/vowel sounds. Has your son ever said any words? Or shown signs of regression? My son picks up a word and says it for a couple of days then forgets about it and it is never said again although it gives me hope that he will start talking as he's capable of speech having said words in the past. The speech therapist is based 30 miles away and holds a clinic on the days she was meant to visit but she chose that day to go and see him and never told us she wouldn't be able to make it. Does your son have any sensory issues resulting in hand-flapping etc?I happened to join in running back and forth with my son and he didn't mind me doing it and it was nice to have that connection with him. I agree with what you say that we as parents have to fight for our children on all levels.

Hi, does your son babble a lot? I have also read that if they babble more then hopefully words will come about 4 years of age. Again they might not be full sentences but at least the communication is there. I'm the same as you I was told by the speech therapist that they would only implement therapy techniques at his nursery but I too feel this is no way near enough. Basically I am now finding that a lot is left to us to try and use techniques to help our boy to WANT to communicate. My boy does use a lot of toys but will jump from one toy to another. Yes his concentration is not great unless he is drawing. Yes he will sometimes run backwards but it is rare. He does love running though and enjoys it best when we catch him and give him a swing. Maybe try and see if you can get an activity he really enjoys, like drawing or playing in water and maybe help with his concentration. I think cutbacks are majorly hindering kids with developmental needs. I'm now starting to realise you have to fight for everything and if I was you I would contact the speech and language assistant and ask her to justify why she has not attended the nursery and go above her if you are not happy.

I think the reason that we are being seen by a speech therapy assistant is because of the huge waiting lists in our area. I don't think our speech therapy assistant is qualified as a speech therapist or has understanding of autistic behaviour but as our son only had his official diagnosis last week he has been treated as a speech delayed child. We had been seeing a speech therapist roughly every month and she was supposed to be going to my son's nursery to observe him and make sure that his speech program was being implemented but we found out from one of the workers there that she hadn't been once!I think from our experience that language through play doesn't necessarily work with autistic children and there has to be a different technique although i'm yet to discover this myself!I do agree that speech therapy assistants should have a knowledge of autism and adjust their technique to suit a child with or without a diagnosis of autism and not just treat the child as you would a 'normal' child with speech delay.

Hi - maybe someone can answer this, but are speech therapy assistants all trained in autism or only those who decide they want to work in that area?  It is important to be trained appropriately to understand how best to help the children.  Also I didn't know there were speech therapy assistants who, I presume, are not qualified speech therapists.  So, if I'm right, without denegrating any of the efforts of these people, it may be best to look for a speech therapist who is experienced in helping autistic children.  If I've got any of the above wrong, then unreserved apologies + feel free to correct me.

My son who will be 3 in August has just been diagnosed with Autism and is non-verbal. He has said words in the past which haven't been very clear but has said them only once or twice before forgetting them altogether. We have been seeing a speech therapy assistant once a week since before christmas to no avail. They are trying to encourage speech through play but my son will not play with anything apart from look at picture books. His concentration lasts barely a minute before he gets up and starts running backwards and forwards. Has anyone else experienced this with any of their autistic children? Does anyone have any advice how I can get my son to stay still to interact and play? He does enjoy the trampoline and being outdoors and watching Toy Story (which he can watch from start to finish!) Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi - thanks for getting back to me and your advice is greatly appreciated. We have a video called 'Sooki and Finn' and its a speech and language dvd and we try in engage him in that and point out the objects to him, ie ball, brush etc. He seems to watch and will babble and say 'aaahh' but I don't know if it is making sense to him. We also talk him through getting him ready in the morning and try to interact with him through drawing, playing with his fire truck etc. I just feel helpless as I don't know if we are helping him. He has now been appointed and Home Visiting Teacher (one hour per week) and a speech and language teacher, which I'm thinking will be for the same time. Is this enough, to be honest I don't think so :-(. I will post a new link about assisted nurseries and ask people how they managed to get into them.... just feel he is getting lost in the system and all we are doing is waiting.

Hi - I can understand you being unsure where to start + wanting to do the best thing to help your son.  The way things happened with us was quite a long time ago now.  I think anyone, autistic or not, responds much more positively if they're engaged in something they enjoy doing.  My son loved Thomas the Tank Engine so we wd say single words such as the engines' names, colours, numbers etc. when he was playing with them.  If he freeze framed a Thomas video because a particular bit really interested him we wd do the same.  On a slightly different angle, he wd freeze-frame quite regularly, sometimes second by second to build up the sequence of events so he cd understand.  I wd explain things to him.  When he started talking he wd ask questions about his interests.  Pics of things he's interested in can be used the same way, etc.  If you already do all this sort of thing then sorry for telling you what you already know  but that's all we did + the ST + teachers did the rest.  I do think their efforts "kick started" him.  Until then he hadn't tried to say anything, despite my efforts.  Altho if he needed to know something, he always found a non-verbal way of getting an answer.

Hopefully other posters will have advice to offer.

Hi, thanks for your comments. Yeh my son is great at blowing raspberries too lol. Just wondering if yourself or any members had any tips on any books or visual stimulants that have been shown to help to motivate your child to communicate. I'm just trying to help in every way I can, but it is like a minefield when there is so much available out there. Any strategies would be very much appreciated by all members. Basically I'm a bit overwelmed and don't know where to start.... thanks :-)

Hi again - sounds like he's coming along.  Yes, I found speech therapy made a big difference.  My son v rarely babbled + if he did, only for a short time.  However, he was ace at blowing raspberries!  He went to speech therapy + a nursery till he was in his 4th yr then he went to an autism-specific school.  I'm not sure how much the nursery helped his speech, altho that was the main reason why he was allocated a place.  It was the speech therapist at his school, plus good teaching that did it.  His pronounciation was v poor initially.  He used to write single words down if he couldn't make himself understood.  He was undetterred + used single words + short phrases.  He was unusual in that he inhaled as he talked + she had to teach him to exhale instead.  She sd she'd never met any child who'd done that before.   Also he started to spell each word out verbally, instead of saying the whole word.  As he got more confident he cd do this rapidly, quite often causing me to lose track.  I told him to say the whole word because it was easier + he did.  So yes, a good speech therapist + good teachers who understand your child can't be beaten in my opinion.  Good luck with everything.

Hi, thanks for your reply. He babbles a lot and can say Dada and he tried to say 'bru' for brush and also tried to say 'li' for lid, so we think the words are coming. He has now got a Home Teacher and she is now starting to work with him. My boy has been at nursery since he was one and the nursery teachers think he is coming on. We know he can understand instruction and will go to the stairs when we say bath time or bed time. He will also get his juice bottle when we ask him. The other night he went over to his Dad and said 'Dada' and walked him to the stairs to let his Dad know he wanted his bed :-) He starts speech therapy next week and we try to do a lot at home too. I have heard when kids get speech therapy it can make a big difference. Did you find this?

Hi - it's good news that he babbles.  Has he got speech therapy?  My son didn't speak until he was 5 - then sd a short phrase.  His pronunciation wasn't vg but speech therapy were a great help.  I wd keep words short + simple, accompanied with a picture - a simple example being "cat".  Does he understand some individual words and/or short phrases?  You can incorporate them into your daily activities, such as "get your coat" whilst standing right near it + picking it up to put on him.  That sort of thing.  My son also cd write single words/numbers before he cd talk so development can be unusual.