To ask for your very late talker success stories?

[YoucancallmeBettyDraper]

I don’t know if I’m being foolish to hope. My child is nearly 2 1/2 and basically non-verbal, and probably autistic. I’d love to hear stories of children that talked very late, especially autistic children. I mean are able to hold a conversation.

I just need to counter my feeling that my child will never speak to me, which is my dominant fear at the moment and which feels inevitable.

Thanks in advance

Me! (not autistic though)

Apparently I was nearly 3 when I started to talk and then it was in more or less complete sentences! My mother tells me my first words were "Mike's car broke".

My 15 year old didn't speak until he was three. He was diagnosed ASD at 4. In speech and language until seven. Now can very eloquently tell me how unreasonable I am for not letting him play Minecraft 24 hours a day.

Me! Mine didn’t speak for around 4 years. When she did it was only me who could understand her.

Selective mute at primary school. Told by reception staff that she had the greatest need of all the children in her class.

Made it to grammar school as a healthy, popular, sporty child.

My eldest was a later talker, 2 1/2 and as a poster above, went to full, complete sentences within a a few weeks. My youngest was also late talker, but with a reason - diagnosed with speech Dyspraxia, had sp&l therapy from reception - Yr 2 which really helped, still struggles with odd words when tired but largely you'd never suspect an issue now.

My sibling didn’t speak at all until after 3. Then they had single words, and went to speech therapy to progress. They are in their 40s now, and definitely have autistic traits (undiagnosed as our parents never pursued a diagnosis although they were recommended to by many professionals🙄). But they are quite successful in their career, educated to degree level, have a partner.

The autistic traits are things that cause challenges but are not insurmountable - e.g. they are very sensitive to noise and are particular in unusual ways about food textures and living environment; socially anxious and often say things others are surprised by; changes in routine stress them out; they become fixated on subjects and want to talk about little else etc.

But they are also funny, interesting and have a busy social life. I don’t think you need to worry too much just yet.

My eldest son didn't talk until he was 7. He was in nappies until he was 6. He was violent. We were told that he would never talk, would need to be in a group home, that he needed to learn makaton, that we were in denial about him.

He is now 25. He's just walked through the door right now after an afternoon at the gym.

He took public transport there because it's more convenient than driving into the city. He is a driver though and has his own car. He owns 2 rental properties in his dad's home country. He has a degree and just finished his masters and we are waiting to learn his results.

My eldest was 2 1/2 before he started speaking ... went from 1-2 words to full sentences in a matter of weeks. He's a very talkative 10 year old now. 😂

My autistic daughter was barely fluent when she started primary school.

Doesn’t fucking shut up now 🤣

My youngest. Siblings spoke for him! He soon caught up. We were given exercises to oblige him to talk.

Me! Didn't speak until I was 3, then people couldn't shut me up... I've a family, a job, a social life, etc.

Does she express herself/communicate in any other ways at the moment? Signing, music, symbols, etc?

My eldest had basic words but very high levels of understanding. She didn't say much at all really. Until she was 3. And then started talking in sentences.

It's very much in line with her personality - she doesn't like to "fail". She likes things to be just right. So I think she was listening and listening and then was happy to talk once she was confident she could hold a conversation

My sibling said barely a word until he was 3.5. Then a full sentence (I remember the shock)!

He got a 1st from Imperial College and has had a fab career

My nephew didn’t talk at all until he was 2, was still baby talking at 4 and diagnosed autistic at 6. He now speaks three languages (bilingual parents who lived in a third country), although as a teenager this is mostly focused on swear words he thinks we don’t understand! He’s a lovely articulate boy when he wants to be. He’s on the quiet side but so was I growing up - it’s one of the reasons we get on so well. He has a thriving social life, does well at college and has a weekend job in customer service. As a PP said, sometimes the biggest issue is to get him to stop talking now 😆

My son didn’t start saying single words til about 2.5. Showing other autistic traits too. I was so worried. By starting reception age in a SEN unit (4y7m) he could put 2 or 3 words together if asked, but didn’t follow instructions or speak spontaneously very much. Not toilet trained either (did manage it slowly and mostly trained by end of reception). Now he’s 6 (y2) and also never shuts up! Talks in quite a formal way sometimes, as he picks up such a lot of language from books (he was a very early reader). He’s a gestalt learner so often learns whole chunks of speech / text and repeats them but also does have great interesting and spontaneous chat. Recent questions from him “does Antarctica have a language?” “Mummy can I say godparents or is that naughty? should it be goshparents?” (After asking him to say oh my gosh not oh my god!)
although he’s still young he is flying at school with fantastic support. I really believe that if we are able to keep him in the right school he’ll go on to university and do amazing things.

My DS didn't really speak until he was 3. Turns out he had glue ear in both ears and enlarged tonsils and adenoids blocking his airways.

He chats just fine now.

My son didn't speak until he was nearly 5 and in Reception. You can't keep him quiet now and what that boy can't tell you about isn't worth knowing. My daughter also was a later talker. Didn't speak until she was 3. Again, can't keep her quiet now!

My DD didnt talk til past 5 years old, shes diagnosed AuDHD and now at 16 never stops talking. She is also diagnosed moderate hearing loss and wears hearing aids. She went for hearing tests at around 3 years old in connection with her lack of speech, and passed them all. Hearing loss wasnt diagnosed until she was 11.

Mine was over 3 before they spoke. Went from barely anything to chattering my ears off within 6 months. They caught up very quickly. Suspected adhd/asd.

My son didn't talk until 2.5 years, selective mute in primary, barely spoke in secondary and college, did a degree and masters, now doing a PhD. Talks a little more now but not much.

Look I don't want to rain on your parade but your child will follow their own trajectory, I have a non verbal 14 year old and I used to cling to these kinds of threads but ultimately your child is very young and may well develop speech or maybe not gey the ball rolling with assessments and reach out for aa much early intervention as you can.

My eldest didn't say a word until 3 and a half. We went through speech therapy and nothing worked. Then he just started chatting, he was just waiting until he had figured it out! No SEN, even though I was leaning towards that. My speech therapist did say some kids just like to know everything first. Very quick speech progression once he spoke though.

My sister never spoke a word until she was 5. My parents were told she was deaf and dumb ( 60+ years ago) One day she started talking in full sentences and basically never shut up again until she died 50 years later. She could talk the hind legs off a donkey. They never knew why she choose not to speak or take notice of any sounds until she was 5.

None of mine spoke until between 2.5 and 3. One of my grandchildren was completely non verbal till a month before he was 5. Now 7 and doesn't shut up
Oh and no autism

Following! My son is just over 2.5 (31 months) and has over the last month started copying and mimicking so many different single words. He was completely silent before then! We were referred to speech and language a while ago and had our first assessment over summer. We have been told to work on language as being functional rather than just repeating (so instead of just saying the word finished, we're to use to in context after a game or dinner which is working pretty well!) Also learning to point (as he doesn't point or gesture) he's also on the pathway for ASD.

What we found helped a lot was scaling language back to its most simple basic form. For example if my DS was playing with a car id chat all about the car and what colour it was, how fast it was etc. But it's like learning a new language - if you go to France and somebody just talks at you in French, you won't understand and find it very overwhelming. Where if the French person speaks slowly and uses single words to start with, and by pointing to that object, it's much easier to retain. We also try not to ask too many questions and leave lots of pauses and gaps to let him try and fill the space (with no pressure)

Also Yakka Dee on CBeebies has been a massive hit! It's 5 minute long episodes of the same word being repeated but with different visuals. My son has gone from saying one word to almost all of them, he loves it! Worth a try!

My eldest didn't speak until 4. Five years later, he just asked me what 'anti-disestablishmentarian' means