GLP and autism

[Claire123ee]

Hi fellow parents
I am a mum to a lovely 21 months old and would like some input on GLP and how it presents please . Needless to say , we have seen GPs and Hv and have gone nowhere .

What she can do

1. follow my point and use all the gestures
2. 100 plus words with two words string together
3. She can identify things in books and family photos correctly
4. She can answer simple questions but very sporadically and she always says yes .
5. Follow simple commands like : stop , wait for mummy and no
6. Answer positively to simple instructions: feed dolly or brush dolly’s teeth , pick up that you and bring it to mummy , bath time ( she runs to the bathroom)
7. She pretends cook and brings us books to flick through/ read , bring dolly for a walk and pretend mix with a tea cup . She is very gentle with dolly and gives a Cuddle all the time .
8. She is very affectionate and her tantrums never lasts more than a few seconds
9. Sleeps through the night since she was 12 months .
10. She brushes her own teeth and can point to all of her and our body parts

I am wondering if what I am about to list is cause for keeping an eye on .

1. she started walking at 12 months on the dot and started tip toeing on and off since she was 15 months ( doesn’t do it with shoes ) . We have taken to an orthopaedic and he gave the all clear
2. She can count to 10 and tries with her fingers as well .
3. She is a bit of a picky eater but eats all vegetables, especially raw ones like carrots , celery and cucumber and loves fruits like bananas and apples but still pull faces when trying new food
4. She is a bit of a nervous one but parallel plays with others kiddos and waive and engage by smiling and talking with people outside her family .
5. My biggest concern and the point of this post is the echolalia : she tends to repeat the last word of what we say but I was told it is normal for toddlers .
6. Scripting ? I don’t know if she is scripting . I will give you an example , sometimes she says “ what’s that’s? It is a quack , good girl ? Whilst holding a duck and pointing at it . Is this normal ?

I guess I’d like to know how GLP works in girls as I know it presents differently . Is it all done by memory for kids with GLP . I saw an instagram mum explaining how her GLP daughter was having many words and identifying things in books before she was two but none of it was her own language but It was learned from memory .

Any advice massively appreciated

She’s not even 2! My 3 year old often struggles with choices.

It really sounds like you’re looking for something when it seems from what you’ve written you have a typical 21m old whose learning lots

@Claire123ee I think you need to relax a bit and just model good language for your DD.

DD1 has ASD (not diagnosed until 15) and learning disability. Her language was really quite disordered as a toddler/young child. For example, she would say 'it pink and it go wee' instead of 'slide'. She'd say 'chicken and handle' instead of 'satay stick'. She referred to herself in the third person (still does, often, at almost 19). She missed out connectives (I not know what to do).

https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/procedures-and-treatments/speech-and-language-development-12-24-months/ This might reassure you.

My nt dcs all repeated the last word of what we said - v normal toddler speech

Autistic female cousin was very different with speech at this age - would repeat the intonations of words without actually saying words, or repeat the same syllable over and over

Is this for real?

Seriously OP, your child sounds bang on track. So what if she doesn't make choices, she's not even 2!
I was exactly like you and really regret the time I spent stressing about my baby instead of just enjoying him. Seriously, what will be will be. If she's autistic, she's autistic, but NOTHING you are saying here says that to me.

The HV won't refer you because there's nothing to refer you for and services are so stretched that even children who desperately need it can't get seen!

My 6 year old sometimes can't choose between things either. He is definitely NT.

OP I think you should see someone about this anxiety, you are excessively worrying about your child who is developing perfectly fine.

A GP and HV will not refer a child that is ticking the boxes of all of their developmental milestones, which your child is.

Just to say, my DS was nowhere near this stage at 21 months. He's 7 now and absolutely fine. Xx

I am a SALT and passionate NLA (another term for GLP) practitioner.

Your child has some features but it's really early days. Plus its a difference in language acquisition not a disorder or problem. They may just work through the stages on their own with no problems and develop a full language system

Use rhyme rhythm and songs to help them learn and have a look at meaningful speech - on most social media platforms for more information. They even have an on demand parents course you can purchase which to be honest will tell you as much as.most therapists can as it's still relatively early days in my profession in the UK

Relax and enjoy your child. Very few signs imo.

Hi
yes I suspected she has some features but I have read that GLP is always linked to asd and it is never a natural acquisition of the language but then information is so confusing. A mom whose daughter is a GLP has told me that more of her single words at my DD’s age were from tv shows and cartoons and were learned in chunks . My dd’s words evolved over time . What features have you noticed please so I can make notes ?

I have worked with children with complex needs for over 30 years.

Your child sounds fine.
All the professionals who have seen her say she is fine.

Yet you have clearly decided that there is something wrong that you need to worry about. Please listen to the professionals who have actually seen her rather than looking for validation from strangers on the Internet.

hi
thank you for your message .. I am sorry that I have come across as this type of person but I am a first time mum and have no idea how things like language should develop or following simple instructions is like at 21 months and what is the consistency.

Children repeat what adults say. They rehearse it because they're playing and practising language. Her language sounds functional and her development sounds like it's following a typical pathway.

Your post starts with telling us that you've consulted GP and HV and "have gone nowhere".

They've told you there is no cause for concern. They won't refer you because they have no concerns. This isn't nowhere. It's a good place to be.

Thanks for your message .. I think most of my anxiety comes from the fact that when we look at books for example and I ask “where is the train “? She never pointed and from there I started down this rabbit hole

Understanding "Where..?" is 1-2 years. Which doesn't mean she has to have mastered it by her 2nd birthday, just that most children will understand it some of the time at roughly that age.

Step away from the rabbit holes.

The internet often seems to suggest that most kids are neurodivergent. Most are fine. Even most ND kids are mostly fine. Don't look for trouble. She has years and years of development ahead of her and most kids will have some kind of wobble along the way.
But most of them will be fine.

She also can’t make a choice between two options that i offer her
She isn't even 2!!
I'm sorry but you come across as wanting her to have a condition, she sounds just as she should be.
Stay off insta!

I mean this kindly, but I really think you might need to deal with your own anxieties rather than trying to find a problem in your child that doesn't sound like it exists.

I think you might need to step back from social media and try to enjoy the child you have. As others have said, she sounds very like other children her age.

Gestalt is a very new term for a type of language development and nothing to do with Asperger's. Gestalt language learners tend to focus on sound and chunk language as opposed to developing language by building up a word bank.

My three year old son is a gestalt learner. He babbles and adds English words at the end, he is three and has a vocabulary of about 20 words, new struggles to process new words but I think that is part of his global delay.

He is also autistic and can not do pretty much any of what you listed in your first post.

I really don't think that you have any thing to be concerned about. She has a large vocabulary so o wouldn't recommend seeing a speech and language therapist/ the wait times are huge (took six months to see mine) and an autism assessment is a two year wait in my local area.

I think because she is meeting expected milestones, social, communicative, has clear cognitive abilities and motor skills. I'd wait it out and see how she develops over the coming year.

my children didn’t speak at all at that age, both applied / applying to Oxford University. They were close to 3 before they spoke in sentences. In my opinion your daughter sounds quite advanced / normal for her age. Don’t spoil the younger years worrying over nothing.

Just a minor gripe also about some posters on this thread, Aspergers is not a 'disused' term at all, it is the working diagnosis of many people, including family members of mine.

And as others have pointed out, there is plenty of concern about all ND being put under one category now, from professionals and clients alike

Sorry to digress OP

Gosh, they were advanced if they were applying for Oxford at 21 months…

(sorry! They sound great and you must be proud)

Why are you worried about autism? My son is severely affected by autism but I didn't really think about it seriously until 2

My daughter only had 5 or 6 words at age 2. I didn't know this was an issue at the time. She was later diagnosed autistic. The speech levels etc you describe seem very normal.