Speech Issues

[tnasha]

Hi,

I am looking for advice from this forum reagrding my son (just turned 3) who is exhibiting behaviour which I suspect might be autism. He is healthy, loves to eat and play with his sisters but speaks very less. He has no issues understanding my commands but just refuses to speak or react vocally. Disturbingly enough, he sometimes tends to exhibit violent behaviour like banging his head on the wall. I have no doubts on his cognitive skills, but I am a bit worried why he does not express himself vocally. Is this a sign of autism or something else?

Can anyone share similar experiences and/or guide me on how this can be treated while he is still young? I am starting to worry now as I suspect he might face challenges in preschool amongst with his peers.

Omg he just doesn't want to speak yet. Believe it or not, not every single child has autism but parents doctors etc seem to love labelling every second child with if. He will speak soon enough

Hi op,

Ignore the above response it isn't helpful. Autism is a lot more than just communication difficulties, do you have any other concerns other than his speech? If it's just speech related it is highly unlikely to be autism. Does he have any speech at all? Does he point to indicate what he wants? The fact he has good understanding of language is very positive.

The head banging is most likely due to communication related frustration. Ds did exactly the same thing and still occasionally does. Good news is that there are things you can do to help reduce his frustration.

Have you spoken to your health visitor about this?

Thanks for the responses so far.

Yes, he does utter a few words, like "Papa", "Mamma", "ball" etc. but sadly, these are just about it. When prompted, he does reciprocate back the same words with a bit of struggle from his side - what worries me is that my forceful prompting is the only trigger which evokes a vocal response from him. Other kids of his age pickup regular triggers from their surroundings i.e. music, smell of good food, flashy lights, etc. etc. but sadly, his vocal response to these usual triggers is comparatively diminished. His reactions are more facial/emotional along with some indistinct mutterings. He does seem to enjoy his own solo company trying to rip apart toys (signs of a scientist/researcher?)

I am yet to speak to a health visitor. All efforts so far have been from my end trying various tricks to make him speak like other kids ...

At this point I'd personally ask for a referral to speech and language. The waiting list can be quite lengthy so it's definitely worth getting him on the list. You can ask your health visitor to do this or gp. In some areas you can self refer. If things improve in the meantime great but you'll have it to fall back on. Salt should be able to give you some tips and tricks on how to encourage his communication. Nothing you've said really suggests autism to me but salt will be able to access him and pass him onto other services if required.

When you say when prompted, does he copy what you say?

I totally disagree with the catty comment above. 3 is really getting on the old side to be barely speaking. Maybe it's autism. Maybe it's some other speech pathology. Maybe it's him being him and he will catch up when he feels like it. The older he gets though the less likely he'll catch up independently. I think you're right to be concerned and that's not being derogatory to you or your beautiful child it's just the truth. It's great that he understands but again this might be behind and you're not even aware of it. Most kids from about 18MO can follow simple instruction and by 3 are able to follow 2 and 3 step commands amongst other things. What's his imaginitive play like and is he attempting to ask for things in any other way eg pointing? I'm a big fan of watch and wait before the child is 2 but I think after this the clock is ticking for getting effective intervention. I would be asking for assessments galore and speech therapy. Comments like the above are not helpful especially when they don't have a clue what they're talking about. Good luck xx

How do u know I don't know what I'm talking about? I have a 3yo just like the above poster and no way does his SALT think autism. She reckons he will catch up soon and he is doing so and making changes every day and surprising everyone so yes I do know what I'm talking about

You absolutely don't know what you're talking about. Op asked for advice and you went off on a bizzare rant. What was described is not normal for a 3 year old and absolutely should be investigated by a salt at the very least. Autism can be a cause of communication difficulties so of course this would be a concern for the op. Just because it isn't in your little ones case doesn't give you the right to speak to other people like you did. Some children never speak so your logic is totally off.

OP I stand by what I said. This might resolve itself but 3 is very late to be not saying a thing. The majority of our language learning capability happens in the first 3 years. I think he needs investigating. One person's story doesn't necessarily mean that your child will follow the same path.

Its good to hear all kinds of experiences (ranging from mild to extreme), More importantly, I want to act early in my son's case and not lose any more time thereby minimize further impact/damage as much as possible. As you all rightly advised, I'll get in touch with the GP/SALT asap to take this further and ensure the assessements happen to get to an objective evaluation .