How many non verbal children did you know growing up? How many do you know now?

None and none.

Growing up, how would you know this level of detail about a disabled child? They didn't attend mainstream, you wouldn't be mixing with non verbal children day to day.

It's a bit like when people say 'there were no autistic kids in my class/school' - how would you know? 40 years ago I could have been in your class. Kids back then hadn't even heard of autism, the adults barely understood it, so I don't really consider childhood memories as a good way to assess whether anyone was autistic or non verbal

None, and 2, children of friends.

Far too much of a blunt tool @MaryMaryVeryContrary

As adults now (many with children) we are much more likely to notice a non verbal child than we were as children. Certainly none of us would have remembered non verbal kids aged 3yrs!

For many posters growing up “non verbal” children weren’t in the main classroom or even in the main school whereas now this is more likely.

Any replies from sen teachers SALT etc will skew your “results”.

Non verbal at 3 is a variation in development (at the edge of the normal range) which no one would be concerned about. A better age would be 4.

One child growing up, two now (not including the one I knew in childhood who is still non-verbal but whom I have not seen for about 20 years).

My brother went to a hospital school in the sixties, so I knew two non verbal children who were severely disabled when he was there. Now I know four little non verbal children. Two of which were born at 28 weeks and one who was brain damaged through birth.

Oh but he’s not autistic so if we’re limiting it to non verbal and having autism none and none.

One (my cousin) and none now. I still know the cousin but he’s nearly 50 now so no longer a child and still can’t speak.

Didn't know any growing up and I don't know any now.

None and one

I knew one growing up. My brother

I now know 3 I can immediately think of however they all have one thing in common, they have parents of mixed nationalities and are spoken to in more than one language. In very basic terms I think they just have more to learn and need a bit more time. I’ve seen notable developments in each child as they are getting older.

Well I have no idea what was wrong with the children growing up but they spent years and years not speaking. People who are diagnosed as non verbal can begin to speak at a later date. It doesn't mean they weren't non verbal at one stage.
Tbh this is just another goudy autism thread and it's getting tiring. Non verbal children 30 years ago weren't in main stream school and didn't mix with other children. Today thankfully we don't isolate disabled children.

One, my mum's friend child who came to visit once and watched the washing machine the whole time, said nothing. They were about 12. Otherwise none. I think that's because they were at special schools and institutions though, not that there's nessersarly more now.

2 growing up, 1 now...all different children. 1 growing up was next door child. With knowledge now definitely autistic. I occasionally watched him whilst his mum did something. Often wonder how his mum and he are. She was amazing with him and the estate looked after him like a village. Moved away 20 years ago. The other one was at school but left after a year.

None and none.

Just a thought, my now 4 year old ds, born during the first lockdown, was very delayed with his speech until about 3 years old (but never mute) and by his 2nd birthday, when we were getting concerned, his nursery teachers and the speech therapist we saw all told us that a huge number of kids of a similar age to my ds were delayed with their speech.

The lack of socialisation, faces covered in masks etc for much of their first year or so of life was a possible factor in preventing/delaying the development of communication skills, including verbal communication.

Non verbal is not the same as situational mutism or late speech development.

In fact the parent of the child I know who is deaf, autistic and does not speak prefer the term 'non speaking' because their son uses BSL to a high level and an electronic 'talker' (AAC) and is highly communicative whereas 'non verbal' means no words. He is also teaching himself lots of different languages and can read and type in them, including ones with different alphabets.

Just seen I've cross posted with @theDudesmummy

None and none.

Non verbal is not the same as situational mutism or late speech development.

In fact the parent of the child I know who is deaf, autistic and does not speak prefer the term 'non speaking' because their son uses BSL to a high level and an electronic 'talker' (AAC) and is highly communicative whereas 'non verbal' means no words. He is also teaching himself lots of different languages and can read and type in them, including ones with different alphabets.

0 and 0.

Growing up I knew 2 who were either non verbal or had selective mutism , they can talk as adults.
These days I know one child who is completely non verbal no speech at all and then I know one child who has selective mutism.
My own sibling went through a period of mutism as a teenager also

I've never known anyone who was completely non-verbal, but we did have two little boys at school who had significant issues with speech delay due to their autism.

I had never met any growing up. I now have a 15 year old non-speaking DS. I say non-speaking as he is most certainly not non-verbal, he has excellent language, he just cannot speak. I think many people use non-verbal to describe people who are actually non-speaking, not non-verbal.

None ever