Is "language explosion?" real? Feeling anxious about toddlers speech

[kookit]

Just feeling a little anxious today and love some positive stories! My DC is 22 months old and still no words or speech - Health visitor came to do an assessment and agreed he is showing potential traits of ASD. We've been sent some forms to fill in for the next stage of assessment and I'm just suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed with it all.

My DC can't point or gesture yet but will drag us to things they want, babbles constantly and in different tones so it sound almost conversational but no words in context and any words they could say (up / uh oh / mama) have gone. I keep reading and hearing about language explosion after 2 and I was wondering if your child was similar at this stage, did they end up speaking? I am trying to follow tips from speech and language therapists online as well, modelling language clearly, pausing while we wait for him to answer etc. I point to things and we read every day, lots of singing and actions too. We've been doing basic sign since he was a baby but he hasn't caught on to this yet. He attends nursery couple of days a week.

Anyway I apologise for the length of this post! To sum up, if your DC wasn't talking before two, what age did they start and what helped the most? Thank you

Day after his second birthday. A few months later and he has 7 word sentences.

Don’t panic. I was you, my little boy was diagnosed at 2.5 and had no words. Lost every word he ever said. He has just restarted saying words and having a bit of a language explosion at 4.5. Nothing I did helped this. Nor did speech therapy which we’ve spent thousands on. He did it in his own time and space when he was ready. I did notice that being able to follow an instruction and understanding developed before words.

I posted on a similar thread the other day.

My DS didn’t really have any language the same age as yours, maybe mummy, daddy and an attempt at his brothers name.

Same as you, we were referred for ASD and since that time his speech has come on amazingly (he’s 4 now). I wouldn’t say it’s been an explosion, more a steady increase in words and understanding.

We went for the ASD review in July and the Dr didn’t think he has it, but has referred for SALT. His nursery disagree with the Dr, and they think that he does have ASD. He talks pretty much non stop now, but it’s not really the same speech as his older brother had at the same age. Its hard to describe, but it’s perhaps less conversational and more descriptive of what he/someone else/something else is doing or will do.

I’m not sure what will come next. I think we’ll just have to see what SALT say, but looking back one year to when he has just turned 3, I could never imagine him talking at the level he is now.

I guess I used to worry constantly about it and although I still worry, it’s not as much. Physically he is in line with his peers and he does other things like getting dressed himself (slowly), uses cutlery, recognises numbers and letters.

Im just hoping that he will be ok come school next September 🤞

This was the other thread https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4943179-2-year-old-ds-just-said-his-first-word?page=2&reply=130784013

@UnravellingTheWorld oh wow that's amazing! Thank you. Sounds really silly but I simply can't ever imagine him doing that, I'm holding out lots of hope. Was it just speech they were behind in?

He's pretty much average at everything. I looked up the ages and stages questionnaire and while he scored high enough to not be a concern, there's no section that he was doing absolutely everything.

I know what you mean though. I think I had it in my head that he was a boy who didn't speak much. Then one day it's like, "oh, the alphabet! Okay then" and the fact in your head gets disproved.

But yeah, he went from 1.5 yo language skills to 3yo language skills in a matter of months. I'm still a bit shaken from it 👶

2 children. One could talk their socks off at 18 months, full sentences etc- ASD. One didn’t talk until they were 3 - not ASD. It sometimes doesn’t mean anything

My son wasn't talking at that age either. Turns out he had glue ear and needed grommets which made a big difference.. He has been assessed for ASD and the Dr is really unsure so wants to give him more time to develop. However, he has just been diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia by his SALT. The diagnosis may make a difference as I think kids with communication disorders can be mistaken as having ASD.
He continues to make good progress, his understanding of language is coming on faster than his ability to verbalise. He's 4.5 now.