Does your 5 year old talk on the phone?

[Bobalob]

Mine won't and I'm trying to get a sense of whether this is unusual.

If you try and suggest he might want to talk to whoever is calling he basically just moves away and shouts no. It's always been this way and it's the same whoever it is on the phone.

So as not to dripfeed, he's on the waiting list for an autism assessment but most of the behaviours that persuaded us to get a referral have disappeared or reduced significantly (it's a loooong waiting list). But I see lots of parents phoning home on their lunch break at work and having little chats with their kids and it made me wonder if it's just a quirk or whether it could be linked in with the autism stuff.

Thanks

My 5yo DS will say about a sentence or two on the phone and then get bored and run off. He lays a bit longer on FaceTime but only because he makes stupid faces at the other person.

My 3yo and 5yo will chat happily on the phone but that may be because of our situation where we move house every couple of years and dh works away for months at a time. They've had to get good at phone calls to actually speak to family! Agree FaceTime often works better

If there’s absolutely nothing else more interesting in the room they’re in and or they have something that they think is very interesting you may get 10-45 seconds attention from them. Then it will drift off or they won’t be listening or they’ll just chuck phone at nearest person and move off. They’re selfish little critters, what good comes from wasting your time listening to someone talking on a phone is probably what they think. It’s a bore for them. I wouldn’t focus on this area too much as neurotypical children are not fussed either.

Are u hearing both sides of those chats that you hear others having though? People may think that when I phone my son but it will usually be on hands free on other end with another adult encouraging child to keep talking or come back!

Sorry, got caught up cooking dinner!

LikeLemondrops Not tried facetime, but he's not impressed with skype either. He's gone a few days without really seeing me or DH (shiftworkers) and even then he won't talk!

Vinyl Lol, I have heard a few like that! And I see your point, but don't think it's boredom, he seems more disturbed by the prospect Hand's free is a no-go either, he just clams up completely.

Oh well...only another 14 months before the autism assessment

Dh works away sometimes for over a month so the kids have been talking to him on the phone before the they could really talk but DS(5) gets shy and refuses to talk to anyone else, I don't think he likes not being able to see their face or what they're doing as he's not sure if its really them or not.
We've bought him a toy phone which is now his favourite game and I think building his confidence on the phone so you could maybe try that? Or having conversations on the phone with him when your in the same room and then upstairs?