I’m so excited, I have to share!
My twins are 4, both are autistic and non verbal but DT1 is absolutely obsessed with the alphabet. Until recently neither of them showed any signs of understanding spoken words at all.
This morning he brought over his box of magnetic letters and starting handing me the letters to get me to say words starting with each letter.
When I said a is for alligator, he tried to spell alligator.
Then he went through each letter and spelled ball, cat, dog, elephant (but left out one e) and fish when I said the words.
After that he stopped spelling the words I said and started spelling other words - goat, house, jump and key. He must have gotten these words from books. I thought he was starting to read but still amazed at how much he can spell.
I’m so excited - I went through a long legal battle to get them into the right school and they’re both coming on so well. They both understand so much more and and now DT2 will give me a kiss when I ask for a kiss so he’s understanding more too.
DT1 has shown he can copy words and spell some words from memory like numbers, but this is the first time he’s spelled words from speech.
Here’s his attempt at alligator - I’m actually pleased he makes mistakes in some words as it suggests he’s trying to remember how to spell them and not just regurgitating things he’s remembered.
I have no idea if this is age appropriate and just seems advanced because he is delayed everywhere else but I’m so proud of him - it’s so much harder for him to learn things and he is trying so hard.
We had two years where we just saw no progress at all and now they are both coming along so well. I feel really hopeful that they will be able to learn to communicate which means life will be much easier for them.