Does my son have a speech delay! Is it autism?

[momof3boys5]

Speech delay! 🗣

My son turned 2 last month, and I’m concerned about his speech. We have his 2 year review with the health visitor next week but I just wanted some advice before then.

He says a vast range of words, dinosaur, shark, dad, all gone, bye bye, outside, shoes, socks etc. He uses them all in the right context. But I’m concerned because he’s not joining words. He doesn’t say ‘let’s go’ or ‘more please’ for example, he just uses single words. He babbles a lot inbetween the words. The babbling is inaudible and then the words that make sense at the end. Is this normal?

My friends son is 5 weeks younger and is talking in small sentences, I know you shouldn’t compare, but it’s hard not too. Why isn’t my son talking like he should. Everywhere I've read/spoken to have said he should be talking in two word sentences by 2.

Does a speech delay automatically mean autism? My two brothers have autism and I’m worried my son may do now, even though he goes to nursery one day a week and they have no concerns. They completed his two year review and had no issues, only to continue to encourage speech in the future plans etc.

Advice please.

My 2 didn’t speak much until 3, both had glue ear, one had grommets. Both had SLT. No autism.

My friends little one could speak in sentences when he was 1. I wouldn’t have believed it until I heard him.

@Toottooot

I think the fact he has a vast range of words means you can rule out a speech delay. Not combining words at just turned 2 is not a concern.

This. Sounds like he's just great op

When I was a small child my parents worried that I didn’t talk. They asked a relative (a senior child psychologist) to have a look. His diagnosis - ‘she’s just watching and taking it all in - she will talk when she has something to say’ (also suggested it wasn’t that unusual in bright kids because they were observing what was going on).

Then mum said I just started blarbing on one day and wouldn’t shut up (which possible explains how I started school at 3).

My DD had far fewer words at 2 and the only 2 word sentences she was saying were "bye bye daddy" "bye-bye ball" "bye-bye dog". By 2.6 she was saying 8 word sentences. She does have an atypical speech sound disorder now at 3.9 but that is all about the physical generation of the constanants and definitely not autism (probably more to do with the fact that the majority of her speech development was during the first lockdown).

DS2 had grammatically immature and poorly formed speech at 4. He is dyslexic. He is now a teenager and when he deigns to speak to me it is absolutely normal speech.

Try not to compare, my daughter was speaking 9 word sentences at 16 months old , our friends son of the same age wasn’t speaking at all but he could do all of his shape sorters perfectly and even put on his own shoes at that age which my daughter couldn’t do at all. They’re just interested in different things at different times. When they’re 20 no one will care if they could or couldn’t speak at two because it won’t matter. They all catch up by school anyway

Mine was only saying a few words at 2 - now at 2.5 she doesn’t stop. Don’t worry yet.

As an additional point the babbling to fill in the gaps can show that he understands the structure of language and conversation. He knows there needs to be more words but hasn't yet worked them out.

No you absolutely shouldn't compare. He's 2 for a start.

Speech delay doesn’t ‘equal’ autism. My son (now suspected ASD) was noticeably advanced in language skills at that age.

No, speech delay doesn't automatically mean autism

My DD1 was speech delayed. She had speech therapy and now she's equal to her peers re speech and language.

My daughter got her explosion of language at 2y 4m. before that she said less than your son but her babble was very expressive. She has caught up completely now.

He sounds fine OP. My DS hardly had any words by age 2, he's now 12yo and doing really well at school.

My son had an advanced vocabulary at 2 and was speaking in full sentences. He’s autistic. So a speech delay alone doesn’t mean a child is autistic.

Maybe read up on other signs to look out for at this age to see if anything else is recognisable in your child & you can discuss with the HV.

I'm diagnosed with autism and I was an early talker.

My DD never said a word until she was 3 and only repeated never said stuff spontaneously into she was 3.5.

Also autistic.

It's probably too early to tell but he sounds normal range for speech.

Do you have a local speech and language therapy helpline? I did and to be honest it was the only thing that calmed me about DS speech. My eldest was talking in full sentences fully conversant at 18m and I could see that youngest is delayed but it wasn't until we recently started going to playgroups and things that I say just how behind he is. I worried and worried about it for a few weeks then called the helpline and the SALT was amazing, she gave me some hints to help encourage his vocabulary, reassured me that it was completely normal for a lockdown baby/2nd child to chatty sibling/boy. She told me the exact process to follow if I didn't see improvement in 3 months time.

Some hints they gave me;
Don't put pressure to repeat, just help him mimic your easy sentences so If you are giving dinner say constantly 'we are having pasta tonight, do you like the pasta, oh careful the pasta is hot, can you pick up some pasta with your fork?' I sound crazy at dinner time but he is responding.
Take him to as many groups as we can manage
Get some 1 on 1 time with him to chat to him
Give him a reason to speak...don't just instantly hand him his juice or open it out of instinct, wait for him to ask. (This one is really difficult for me because youngest is so well coordinated...if I don't do something quick enough he takes himself off and does it himself )

@Sexnotgender

My 2.5 year old is only in the last few months linking words together.

Same here, my daughter was exactly the same as your son just after her 2nd birthday

I wouldn’t worry. My son had no words at 2 and has just started linking 2 words at 2.5 (only understood by me/DH). Apparently they should have 50 single words at 2 and I was worried sick from 18 months until now. Mine also had some other signs of autism, such as not playing with toys the right way and not pointing, but is now only delayed in speech.

The very first thing to suspect with a speech delay is a hearing problem - according to the ENT specialist My son had glue ear but fooled doctors, creche staff, and wven a speech therapist. Glue ear waxes and wanes so hearing may vary. They can hear something but maybe not well enough to form normal speech patterns.

My son was very good at picking visual clues and probably taught himself to lip read a bit. Try talking to him from behind where he can'tsee you and see if he responds. I offered my three year old a chocolate bar which he loved and didnt get often. I was behind him and there wasn't even a flicker to show he'd heard because of course he hadn't.

@Rangoon

The very first thing to suspect with a speech delay is a hearing problem - according to the ENT specialist My son had glue ear but fooled doctors, creche staff, and wven a speech therapist. Glue ear waxes and wanes so hearing may vary. They can hear something but maybe not well enough to form normal speech patterns.

My son was very good at picking visual clues and probably taught himself to lip read a bit. Try talking to him from behind where he can'tsee you and see if he responds. I offered my three year old a chocolate bar which he loved and didnt get often. I was behind him and there wasn't even a flicker to show he'd heard because of course he hadn't.

This was exactly the same as ours and the consultant showed us how he was lip reading. This means they pick up on specific words and don't always get the whole sentence.

Hi there - DS1 is 16 months old, has recurring glue ear but also only mild hearing loss (we were referred to an audiologist by an ENT having seen flat lines in the probe test - timpanometry- in the ear). At the audiology tests (the one where kids have to look at the speaker making a noise) he appeared to respond to the tones - but I’m not convinced his hearing loss is mild. He doesn’t respond to his ne or loud noises, and he had a few words (no, dada, mama, good) but seems to have lost them. He is scoring 5/60 on communication development according to the health advisor and we are concerned about ASD but want to resolve the glue ear first? He has repeated throat infections and thick congestion- he has been ill consistently for 4-5 months. Does anyone have experience with this? I wonder whether the ENT will recommend grommets if the hearing loss is only testing mild at this stage.