Positive stores with speech delay - really stressed

This simply isn’t true. Lining things up is part of a schema which (almost) all children go through. Hand flapping again is entirely normal and is a way for children to feel and express emotions while they are pre-verbal. The difference with autistic children is the extent that they do these things, and the age at which they grow out of them.

To say in your next post that you’ve never heard of a regression in relation to autism symptoms shows that you really shouldn’t be handing out autism diagnoses on the internet, @RedcarBluecarHadARace. OP’s child may well be autistic, but it won’t be diagnosed on the basis of his infrequent flapping and lining up of toys.

No explaination and it was described as a 'severe and sudden regression'. He is unique in comparison to his peers at school, those who are non verbal have always been non verbal. They also didn't smile or make eye contact and they were quickly detected by their HV. I had to ring my HV and say you need to come and see my DS, something terrible has happened. We have videos of our son dancing along and doing the actions to nursery rhymes and other videos of him pointing and saying words. It was devastating.

Of course. He would avoid eye contact completely with people he did not know, had very repetitive play (stacking the same three blocks over and over again, for hours, despite being offered new or more interesting toys), stimming (spinning, hand flapping), and didn't have normal toddler 'tantrums' over not getting his own way, but would completely melt down over loud sounds like sirens or even pipes creaking at night (was absolutely terrified of public toilet hand dryers and would refuse to go in).

He now gives eye contact to everyone, I'm sure some would say too much but I find it preferable. He still hates loud noises but noise cancelling headphones work well. He has done amazingly on his mocks so far, but needs a scribe. And his special interests have become a strength, I love seeing him get so animated when he talks about them.

Wow! That’s heartbreaking for you all.

I didn’t even know it was possible for a child to be clearly saying words at 16 months to then regress permanently.

Could the doctor’s explain how/why this happened?

@chasingpirates

He has started to line things up and ocassionally spins or flaps his hands but sometimes that’s less than once a day so not obsessive at all.

As soon as I got to this paragraph, I thought, yes he has autism.

Children without autism, don’t usually flap or require things to be lined up perfectly.

Your DC is understanding though, and currently says phrases, so his speech will develop if he’s currently behind.

Hi OP I have a gestalt language processor who didn’t start talking fully till 5. Complete chatter box. Don’t worry give it time. Get on the NHS referral list for speech therapy via your health visitor. Private speech therapy is rubbish in my experience and they have zero experience in gestalt anyway. You could probably do it yourself from all the online resources.

My second child remained mute until well over 2. The older sibling simply did all the talking for him. I was beside myself with worry, and we had an appointment lined up with a speech therapist. Then one morning he was behind me in the high chair, and a voice behind me said clearly ‘Please can I have more toast?’ The little so and so had apparently been talking perfectly normally when playing with sibling in their room for months.

I don't think this is the positive story you are hoping for but I hope it gives you some comfort. My DS8 had a severe regression at 16 months old. He had a handful of clear words and we had no concerns about him until he woke up one morning and he was an entirely different child. It broke me. I grieved my son and was also having to come to terms with the fact my child was ND, but nobody could predict to what extent that would be and what our future would look like.

7 years down the line my son is entirely non verbal, still in nappies, he has global developmental delay and is profoundly disabled. He attends a special needs school and he is in a class of 4 children with 4 adults.

I know how horrific that sounds and if you had told me this when he was 3 it would have been devastating. However, as difficult as life is and as much as I will worry about him until the end of my days, he is the absolute light of my life. He has changed me for the better. He brings me so much joy and we are both happy and life is good!

Whatever happens, it will all be ok.

I don't know but I do know that having expectations of limitations doesn't help anyone with additional needs achieve their full potential. Start helping him.by never assuming or allowing others to assume what he will or won't do. My ds was meant to not walk properly, not speak. He does both perfectly well. Get comfortable with working on a different timeline and reframe success for your child so you celebrate what they can do rather than focus on what they cannot.

Three is very young and you’re doing the absolute best for him by being aware of his needs and getting him private therapy. A lot of people don’t end up getting therapy until a lot later and I found getting it younger really does help a lot
one of mine was similiar, he was diagnosed asd and wasn’t speaking at 3, he started a bit more about 5 but was in speech therapy until about 7 or 8 to help him learn all of his speech sounds due to verbal dyspraxia
Now at 16 he is actually an amazing speaker as in if you give him a debate topic he will give you a full on speech, delivered beautifully with so much confidence! He will happily have conversations with anyone, you would never know he had problems with speech, which is not something I would have expected back when he was 3.
I really credit his private speech therapist a lot she was fantastic, and don’t underestimate the value of your own input with your child as well - your involvement also makes a huge impact.

There are lots of positives in your post, although I appreciate it may not always feel like that. It’s great that he shows understanding.

Has the SLT done a speech sample assessment to find out what stage of natural language acquisition (GLP) he’s at? As the best strategies to support him will flow from there.

Yes. It’s all a load of bollocks so far as I’m concerned, largely pushed on us by nursery workers who have read a couple of books and therefore think they have a phd in cognitive development. Your health worker will have a better idea.

Out nursery (and I use the term loosely) flagged up a whole bunch of developmental issues with my son. Then Covid came and I brought him home. He went from being non-speaking to doing his entire alphabet and starting reading on a matter of months. Because basically they were crap and just not bothering to interact with him.

Once it starts, it’s like a floodgate for some children. At 8, he’s now reading three years ahead and had a very wide vocabulary.

Ds was diagnosed with autism at 3 on the NHS.

He didn't say a single word, not one, until he was over 6 years old. I was losing hope and thought I'd never hear his voice.

Then one day at dinner he just started. Full sentences and seemingly bemused that we were so excited. Now you couldn't stop him talking if you wanted to, he certainly made up for lost time!