Speech Regression at 20 months

[Notamillenial]

My DS is 21 months old, around two/three months ago his vocabulary was forming really well. He could say lots of words and would repeat them when you said them. He seems to have stopped talking as much in the past few months and I'm worrying about autism.

He can still say the words, and sometimes will without prompting, sometimes if we prompt a lot we will get the words out of him.

He still makes eye contact, smiles, comes and sits on your knee, brings you toys etc.

But I'm worrying about his speech. He's had issues with constipation for a few months and has been really upset with it so I'm not sure if this could cause a regression but obviously when you Google all you see is autism.

I just need some advice/experiences if possible

My son is going through something similar at the moment. He was saying roughly 10-12 words when he was 14months and slowly we have regressed back to about 6 words consistently. I agree that I too only read about autism, but none of the other signs are there with my son. We have just asked for a speech and language referral and then we are hoping to get a hearing test done. Does this seem like it could be a relevant path for you too?

You’re definitely not alone though. We’re at a point too with our son where he will not even copy sounds that we say. Yes, he explores different sounds and we occasionally will hear anew sound or exclamation- today we had “wow”, but he doesn’t imitate us when we make sounds.

I will try to keep you updated on our journey as it is so worrying!!

Hi Notamillenial
We are similar to you, my little one just turned two. A few months ago he used the words bird/bubble/ball/mama/dada. Well they were mostly sounds but I could understand him. Now we haven’t heard those words for a few months and he doesn’t copy our sounds or actions either.
He does copy some sounds from the TV!!

I am thinking about possible autism too because he has never pointed at anything. He also never waves or claps.

It does sound good that your little one is still bringing you toys.

Thank you both. I called the health visitor yesterday and it was quite promising. They asked a few questions:

Does he understand instructions/questions
such as get your shoes/do you want this?

How does he let you know he needs a drink? (I told her he launches a cup at me 😂)

She also said that at this age they can be mastering another skill, such as fine motor skills, and this can cause a regression in other thing such as speech and sleep.

I'm going to keep an eye on him until the two year review. I'm unsure if I have a reason to worry or just because of Google! I'll keep you updated, hope you both get some answers/support too!

Hey- thanks for your update. Just to let you know too that we are now on the SALT waiting list although apparently it can be very long. We went via our GP as they’re more likely to refer us that a HV.

All the best everyone!

@Jbirds @SAHM2021 @Notamillenial
Hi guys, currently in the same boat and wondered if you might have an update qt all

Hello @Popping13👋
I can do a little update for you. Henry went to the children’s hospital for a hearing test last week and his hearing was fine- this was our first step when we thought his speech was behind. We were also able to see two paediatric consultants and asked them about his speech and neither of them seemed worried about it- he is now 2 years old. We haven’t had a ‘penny drop’ moment, but he is definitely still picking up speech and managed to say a two word sentence before his second birthday, which was “Dada gone”. He is now picking up one to two new words a week- although doesn’t us them consistently, but we have really tried to encourage him to talk now by giving him options. E.G. do you want the apple or banana? And he will often try and say which he would like. I think seeing the consultants helped us a lot. One of them said it is really common at the moment with children being behind with their speech because they haven’t had much social interaction because of lockdown and we have all been wearing masks when we’re out and about so children can’t see our mouths as we form the words. Another consultant told us that children often pick up language before 2 years and 3months and now HV delay the 2 year check up because of speech as they were just having to refer too many children to SALT.

Hope that helps a little. If you have anymore questions- please get in touch. All the best!

Hi Popping13!
That all sounds brilliant Jbirds, so glad to hear your little is coming along with his words ☺️
Popping13 how old is your little one?
We have a bit of a different story because my little boy has now been diagnosed with autism at 27 months.
He is starting to imitate some sounds and words but he doesn’t really know what they mean. He tries to copy little phrases from his favourite TV shows but he doesn’t understand them! This is classic echolalia apparently which a lot of ASD children do. His understanding is very low at the moment but we are getting there bit by bit!
All the best

Hi @Jbirds thank you so much for replying.
Such a stressful time not knowing what to expect or where to go.
I am so happy to hear Henry has started speaking more now, very reassuring.

@SAHM2021, My girl is 20 months tomorrow, and since around 18 months, I noticed she had gradually stopped communicating and using words etc. She still did all other typical things, like climbing, eating etc, but wouldn't seem to hear me or respond to my commands anymore.
K thought maybe it's just stubbornness etc and that she has stopped talking because she is progressing elsewhere.
Then it was complete silence and withdrawal. Around 19.5 months, she said, ball, bubbles and baba in context and loads of babbling. I'm just worried she's not able to communicate what she wants.

Please could I ask what led them to go down the autism route?

Joint attention is what’s really important if they’re considering an autism diagnosis. So does your little one point out things to you to share it with you? Does she lean out of the pram and point to a dog to show you? Does she bring toys over to you to play with? My little never did any of these things.

My little one also does a lot of hand leading and even tries to use our fingers or hands as a tool. He won’t use a spoon or a cup himself. He uses my finger to make toys work.

He also has a very restricted diet because he finds it very difficult to try new things. There’s lots of other things too!
Have you spoken to your Health Visitor about your concerns? Our health visitor pass this onto a nursery nurse Who was extremely helpful in starting the process

Hi,
All of that she used to do and has stopped. Which is my main concern out if everything. There's so interaction whatsoever.
She will follow me out of a room etc, but won't really bother showing me things anymore nor will she look when I show her.
She used to love dogs and ducks and would point them out when she saw them, but then just lost interest.

I've spoken to HV who is going to do an assessment soon, but inwantes to hear of other people's experiences as it feels so lonely that you are kind of booted out of your 'typical children group.

I know it’s so hard isn’t it, I hope you’re ok. It’s so hard when you can’t go to normal toddler groups!
I have heard that some toddlers can have a period of regression but then in the future they make big leaps of progress. Therefore their development is not linear like NT children but more sporadic. So she might begin to progress again at some point.
I hope the health visitor can do an assessment soon and get you some help.

@Jbirds @Popping13 @SAHM2021 I'm a bit late to this thread but I'm hoping some of you are still active and wondering how all of your little ones are doing now?
My son is 22 month, at about 18 month he stopped talking, waving, pointing, responding to his name. Now he's started to wave again and he's pointing at everything but I still haven't heard a word from him. Sometimes he sort of whispers what I think might be the off word like woof but that's it. I've been goggling for the past 4 month and it's starting to wear me thin.
My health visitor only really said that at the moment with his age she is only calling it a speach delay and referred to earing test but 2 month later we still haven't heard anything.

Thank you

Hi @Peeshy123 . I’m so sorry that you’re going through this with your little one. I just recall how stressful it was and watching other children his age talking and trying so hard with H. But I’m please to say that H is now in school with no problems at all. In fact he has been graded greater depth in reading, writing and maths. I also know of another woman whose son didn’t at all talk until he was 3 and he is also top of the class academically. I know not everything is about academic, but it’s also nice to know that there isn’t a direct correlation between speech delay and academic ability later on in life. Another friend of mine also had a child who didn’t talk until he was 3 either and again, he is completely fine. Great at sports, especially football.

One thing we were told was to check their understanding over their speech. Do they understand you and seem to understand certain words? I remember H used to point and go “eaah” a lot, but this was almost him saying “that one”.

oh and a quick one about the wave, H would never wave for some reason and knowing him now he is quite shy. I imagine he just didn’t want to wave. But again it was hard watching other children wave hi and bye and H just stare at them. He’s much more sociable now though, although due to his personality I placed him into a few club when he was old enough, so he could start making friends and tried as much as I could to meet up with other mums so he had loads of social interaction with new children, which has helped him a lot. Although not a natural extrovert, he’s much more confident talking and socialising with children now. I’d definitely recommend doing this when your LO is old enough if you feel the y are more shy.

I hope this update helps a little. All the best.

@Jbirds Oh that's amazing im glad he's doing so well. My son does point to stuff again now but he used to point and say "looker" "awww looker" but now he just points. I've been trying myself to get him around other kids, he's been to two different caravan holidays and to soft play almost every day this month 🤣 i do put rhe waving and pointing coming back from this but it's been expensive! Is there any specific things you did to help get him back talking?

Hahah clubs are SO expensive! It’s painful every month hehe.

We did lots of reading books to build his vocabulary and I purchased lots of noisy books to encourage sounds. We always waited for him to finish speaking too and never corrected his language or put words in his month for him.

I hope you find some help there.

Jbird this is the thing, he loves books and has hundreds. At the beginning of his regression he lost all interest in sitting and reading. I had to put him in his cot and sit on the outside if it just to contain him and have him look. But this has also improved. He's sitting and pointing to things in them and he's also bringing random books to me. We made cakes last week and he found a book with a cake on it and kept bringing it to me and pointing 🤣 needless to say he ended up having far too many cakes that day hahah