Development delay

My daughter is very delayed in speech but in no way is that autism. Does your child display any autistic traits that make you think that way? My daughter’s been delayed in every milestone like eating walking etc so I’m not overly bothered about the speech because she is constantly improving even if it’s words I need to translate at the moment xx

Don’t worry about it too much, just keep talking to him and slowly he will pick it up. Is he brought up multi languages? My boy is almost 2 and just saying a few words only too but we are raising him multi languages.

My son has a speech delay, I totally get where your coming from by feeling that you've failed but honestly you haven't failed! All children are different, my little boy doesn't really speak and his eating has been horrendous from weaning really. They will get there just in their own time, hopefully the support you'll be getting will help massively xx

Lack of communication doesn’t necessarily equate to a child being autistic. He may just have speech delay. Did they suggest a referral to speech and language for more support?

@Hayley thanks Hayley. My son was also delayed in his walking too. When he gets excited with something he kicks his legs 🦵 around like he’s dancing but I don’t know if this so called “normal” or a sign of autism. I probably shouldn’t compare him to other children. It’s just upsetting . Have you been doing anything to help with your daughter’s speech? xx

@Pei-San thank you , yes he is half Brazilian half English x

@Bethan thank you ❤️

The important thing to do as a parent is to not compare your child to other children. Your son is fine, it’s only worrisome if by the age of 5 and he still doesn’t know any words at all. Every child develops at their own pace, some will be able to learn and do things faster than others but it does not make them any lesser for not getting there as just as fast as others do. Let him walk at his own pace, you’ll see soon enough that he’s growing and learning exactly how he was supposed to.

Darling children develop at different ages and little boys in particular (not always but more often than not - from first hand experience with son and nephews and friends kids) take much longer to grasp everything than little girls and the biggest one is speech. If he doesn’t go nursery / doesn’t regularly spend time around other people / doesn’t listen to or watch nursery rhymes or videos such as from Ms Rachel - those are all contributing factors. Obviously I know there are benefits and negatives to some of those things such as screen time - but personally controlled and limited screen time helped my boy so so so much. But the more he watched the more I started picking up on what’s actually educational and interactive for him and what he just gets lost in a trance with you know? If he is getting screen time and it’s got the opposite effect on your little man - then definitely limit it and try to focus more on him listening to things as opposed to watching? Like a toniebox xx

@Dianne no they haven’t but I will contact them.

I definitely agree about the raising them bilingual or trilingual as is my son’s case also being a leading reason! So I thought he was soooo confused and not getting anything we were saying to him because he was exposed to 3 languages. Out of the blue, he started saying things and once it starts its like a landslide it builds up rhythm and he won’t stop surprising you! They are just storing it all away until they understand and will eventually surprise you with what they’ve picked up on that you weren’t even actively trying to teach them x

My son is 2 he don’t say many words at all his pediatrician told me that some boys are slower to talking waking etc.. and to not worry keep talking to your child and he will slowly will pick it up don’t worry mama your doing a great job

My son is 2.5 and is speech delayed it got picked up on his 2 year review but I think his hv feels its more then that as he's on a my plan at nursery and has also been reffered to SCAAS. You can do a self refferal to speech and lanuage also but the wait time is a fair few months I did a refferal about 4 months ago and havnt had an appointment yet. But honestly don't beat yourself up easier said then done but if the hv isn't concerned I wouldn't worry to much. I use alot of picture books with my son I also use alot of picture cards aswell I've also booked him onto a mackron class for March just so he can communicate abit better.

My son just turned 3, he’s saying nearly 40 words, but in May when we took him for a hearing test he was only saying 3, so a massive improvement for 7 months, and they’re coming more often now

My son is 2 on Friday and only words we get out of him is mama dada baba byebye and asshole. I wouldn't worry🤣😅

@Bianca then they start speaking later as well as he is getting more languages. Mine is half Brazilian too

Speech delay is not equal to autism. There many reason why your child is not talking at his peers level. Below are some reasons why a child is speech delayed that has nothing to do with autism 1)hearing problems 2)developmental disorders that have nothing been observed and diagnosed by you or professionals 3) speech or language disorder (example: apraxia) 4) intellectual disabilities 5) environmental factors 6)neurological issues 7) oral/ motor problems (jaw or tongue issues for example) There are some and not all reason and I want to make it very clear that I don’t know or speculate what’s going on with your children but just listing off reason why an individual MIGHT be having a hard time with language acquisition. If you feel concerned, go see a speed therapist. Get a consultation and if comfortable get your child evaluated to see where they are compared to children his age.

@Alysa thank you xx

@Courtney 😂

My son is 3 and has a speech delay but he also had his grommet and aedonids and tonsils sorted and is now coming on so much more and his eating is pretty rubbish tbh but even that’s getting better thanks to nursery he was delayed walking as well he does sign language thanks to mr tumble it’s gives him a voice and a way to communicate where he can’t say the words it’s been fab we are not worried he is better than he was X

And he has speech therapy as well which helps as well he has a plan at nursery as well

As a mom to 9, and 3 high needs I can assure you they all speak at different times and delayed speech doesn't always mean autism. My son didn't say a single word that anyone could understand till last 3, by the time he started talking he never shut up he definitely made up for the yrs he didn't! He does have ADHD and phonic delay was on a IEP at school (individual education plan, basically help him learn a bit different pace) he's now 18 graduated with tech honors, he's just hands on! My daughter with some ADHD and delays spoke at 1 yr old lol , my other kids were around 2 but most sentences came around 3, my son that's likely to have high functioning autism knew all his numbers and letters by 2, my autistic 2 year old now won't talk at all but sings songs she can say her ABC song and count to 20, she sings skinamarinky and other random songs she hears from her shows .She's full on autistic , hand flapping , repetitive routines very little eye contact and won't look when her names said!

Yours sons can be referred to a speech and language therapist. Tyke talk is where my kids went! It's great. Look into something similar in your area. Basically they told me to just narate her day. Say everything and when playing over exaggerate words in a happy tone lol

My son was an ex Prem at 27 weeks. He was diagnosed at 2 1/2 with autism and then he was tested again at the age of four autism because the doctor felt it was necessary before putting a label like autism on my son that he wanted to be sure it wasn't just a developmental delay as boys are known to be behind compared to girls. My son didn't walk till he was 36-37 months , he doesn't answer to his name. He doesn't like to make eye contact. He flaps his hands when he's distressed or hit himself very hard in the stomach when he's distressed and he likes to spin their traits of autism if your child are doing that it could be a possibility but I'm not a doctor. My son can say at least five words and he's now five. So if your son is showing any signs of what I've mentioned, maybe it wouldn't hurt to get in Assist I had my son also assessed cognitively at the age of 5 to determine whether or not he was ready for school or keep him back for another year and start him at age 6.

We also had my son cognitively tested at the age of 5 to determine whether or not he was ready for school or whether we should keep him back and start school at age 6. This gave us a very good insight on what Ash is going on in that brain of his and whether he's mentally and physically mature enough to start school and whether he'd be able to cope with the vigourous demands that School brings. And in the testing it determines my son had a mild intellect disability. It was deemed by the Department of education that my son attend a specialist autistic school for the first two years of his school journey they felt by doing so that will give him the learning,life and coping skills for when he transitions into mainstream school in grade 2. . That's another autistic trait hand flapping when they're very excited is another autistic trait so if you feel that your child is presenting any of these it wouldn't hurt to get assessed unless you know where you stand and then you can support him.

The thing with autism and not a lot of people know is that some people are high functioning autistic which means that they are able to mask their symptoms and their sensory issues very well just to cope in society and they are now finding a lot of adults in their 30s getting tested for autism because their parents Didn't really notice anything different about their Child other than they didn't focus in class and they didn't apply themselves. I need to find out when these kids grow up and they're in their 30s. They still found that they had trouble creating friendships. They had trouble being with people they had trouble Carrying conversations with others feeling really really claustrophobic when it comes to group settings etc. And so they went and got themselves tested and to find out they were autistic or their life and if they had known when they were younger they wondered what their life was actually could've been like if they had the support and diagnosis early..

@Akasha thank you for all your advice very helpful x

@Peanut Shell thank you x

@Peanut Shell so true x

You are not alone I feel the same my 2.5 year old son and his two cousin are only months apart and they can say a couple of words already and communicate their feel/needs while my son grunts,screams or just babbles,i feel like a failure when I see younger babies being able to do more then him. I'm currently looking for a speach therapist that takes my insurance,so I can get him help he's a smart boy and understands a lot of things I tell.

So many responses, I didn't read through them so apologies if this is a repeat. Speech therapy and occupational/physical therapy. My son started speech therapy at 19m. He's 3.5 now and they're working on pronouncing the C, G, Rs, etc. but he's speaking and likes to tell jokes. We were going to start him with physical therapy but he started walking at 19m then ran two weeks later. He's 3.5 but we were concerned about his lack of climbing. He's getting there. Speech is playing based and it's soooo much fun! Side note, he's in food therapy too. Also play based and he's branched out to some fruits and salmon where previously he only ate chicken nuggets and French fries.