To ask for your very late talker success stories?

My DD didnt talk til past 5 years old, shes diagnosed AuDHD and now at 16 never stops talking. She is also diagnosed moderate hearing loss and wears hearing aids. She went for hearing tests at around 3 years old in connection with her lack of speech, and passed them all. Hearing loss wasnt diagnosed until she was 11.

My son didn't speak until he was nearly 5 and in Reception. You can't keep him quiet now and what that boy can't tell you about isn't worth knowing. My daughter also was a later talker. Didn't speak until she was 3. Again, can't keep her quiet now!

My DS didn't really speak until he was 3. Turns out he had glue ear in both ears and enlarged tonsils and adenoids blocking his airways.

He chats just fine now.

My son didn’t start saying single words til about 2.5. Showing other autistic traits too. I was so worried. By starting reception age in a SEN unit (4y7m) he could put 2 or 3 words together if asked, but didn’t follow instructions or speak spontaneously very much. Not toilet trained either (did manage it slowly and mostly trained by end of reception). Now he’s 6 (y2) and also never shuts up! Talks in quite a formal way sometimes, as he picks up such a lot of language from books (he was a very early reader). He’s a gestalt learner so often learns whole chunks of speech / text and repeats them but also does have great interesting and spontaneous chat. Recent questions from him “does Antarctica have a language?” “Mummy can I say godparents or is that naughty? should it be goshparents?” (After asking him to say oh my gosh not oh my god!)
although he’s still young he is flying at school with fantastic support. I really believe that if we are able to keep him in the right school he’ll go on to university and do amazing things.

My nephew didn’t talk at all until he was 2, was still baby talking at 4 and diagnosed autistic at 6. He now speaks three languages (bilingual parents who lived in a third country), although as a teenager this is mostly focused on swear words he thinks we don’t understand! He’s a lovely articulate boy when he wants to be. He’s on the quiet side but so was I growing up - it’s one of the reasons we get on so well. He has a thriving social life, does well at college and has a weekend job in customer service. As a PP said, sometimes the biggest issue is to get him to stop talking now 😆

My sibling said barely a word until he was 3.5. Then a full sentence (I remember the shock)!

He got a 1st from Imperial College and has had a fab career

My eldest had basic words but very high levels of understanding. She didn't say much at all really. Until she was 3. And then started talking in sentences.

It's very much in line with her personality - she doesn't like to "fail". She likes things to be just right. So I think she was listening and listening and then was happy to talk once she was confident she could hold a conversation

Me! Didn't speak until I was 3, then people couldn't shut me up... I've a family, a job, a social life, etc.

Does she express herself/communicate in any other ways at the moment? Signing, music, symbols, etc?

My youngest. Siblings spoke for him! He soon caught up. We were given exercises to oblige him to talk.

My autistic daughter was barely fluent when she started primary school.

Doesn’t fucking shut up now 🤣

My eldest was 2 1/2 before he started speaking ... went from 1-2 words to full sentences in a matter of weeks. He's a very talkative 10 year old now. 😂

My eldest son didn't talk until he was 7. He was in nappies until he was 6. He was violent. We were told that he would never talk, would need to be in a group home, that he needed to learn makaton, that we were in denial about him.

He is now 25. He's just walked through the door right now after an afternoon at the gym.

He took public transport there because it's more convenient than driving into the city. He is a driver though and has his own car. He owns 2 rental properties in his dad's home country. He has a degree and just finished his masters and we are waiting to learn his results.

My sibling didn’t speak at all until after 3. Then they had single words, and went to speech therapy to progress. They are in their 40s now, and definitely have autistic traits (undiagnosed as our parents never pursued a diagnosis although they were recommended to by many professionals🙄). But they are quite successful in their career, educated to degree level, have a partner.

The autistic traits are things that cause challenges but are not insurmountable - e.g. they are very sensitive to noise and are particular in unusual ways about food textures and living environment; socially anxious and often say things others are surprised by; changes in routine stress them out; they become fixated on subjects and want to talk about little else etc.

But they are also funny, interesting and have a busy social life. I don’t think you need to worry too much just yet.

My eldest was a later talker, 2 1/2 and as a poster above, went to full, complete sentences within a a few weeks. My youngest was also late talker, but with a reason - diagnosed with speech Dyspraxia, had sp&l therapy from reception - Yr 2 which really helped, still struggles with odd words when tired but largely you'd never suspect an issue now.

Me! Mine didn’t speak for around 4 years. When she did it was only me who could understand her.

Selective mute at primary school. Told by reception staff that she had the greatest need of all the children in her class.

Made it to grammar school as a healthy, popular, sporty child.

My 15 year old didn't speak until he was three. He was diagnosed ASD at 4. In speech and language until seven. Now can very eloquently tell me how unreasonable I am for not letting him play Minecraft 24 hours a day.

Me! (not autistic though)

Apparently I was nearly 3 when I started to talk and then it was in more or less complete sentences! My mother tells me my first words were "Mike's car broke".