DS turned 4 in July and he has speech delay. I wouldn’t use the term non verbal to describe him because I believe this is a child who is either mute or has extremely limited language. DS has quite a wide vocabulary but for whatever reason, doesn’t often use language to communicate and has instead developed amazing non verbal methods which he prefers to use. Examples of his vocabulary are: the alphabet, counting to 20, finishing songs off (I will start a song and leave out the final couple of words which he will usually finish), he’s brilliant at labelling things if you point and ask what they are and he can read a few words in books.
We have been under the NHS SALT team for a year but haven’t seen much progress. They have told me he has excellent communication skills but isn’t motivated to use language because he finds it easier to communicate in other ways and that he will start talking when he feels ready to. They gave us communication boards which he happily used for a few weeks but then grew bored of them I guess and now refuses to even acknowledge them.
He has started reception this week and I’m suddenly realising the differences between him and his peers. I never wanted to compare him previously and didn’t necessarily have to when he was in a private nursery but now I am hearing the other children discussing their feelings or telling their parents what they did that day and it has left me feeling pretty upset. I always ask DS how his day was regardless but he never responds.
He is incredibly independent so will always try to do something himself first and only ask for help if necessary. He takes himself to the toilet for example and will always try to grab something himself before asking for help, even if this means climbing onto the worktops! He asks for help by pulling us to whatever it is, pointing and saying ‘that’.
He may have ASD, I am starting to come to terms with this as a real possibility but I’m just wondering if anyone has any advice on the speech delay really. I’ve contacted a few private SALTs, they’re quite pricey but will have to shift some finances around to try and make it work if that will benefit DS more than the NHS one.